Category: Scott Kneller

Turning the tables in NZ

26/8/2011

Australia's top ranked ski cross athlete, Scott Kneller, regained the upper hand over his protege in the final of the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games at the south island's Cardrona resort today.

The World Cup winner and Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport skier was twice beaten by fellow squad member, Anton Grimus, in two days of competition in the Suzuki National Snowsport Championships at Victoria's Mount Hotham earlier this week.

However in New Zealand today, Kneller reversed the recent results.

Kneller, 22, finished less than a ski length ahead of the hard-charging Grimus, 20, in a cliff-hanging final, with Swiss up-and-comer Kevin Amacker in third place.

Today's race down the 1070-metre course, consisting of 20 features, almost seemed like there was more at stake than the win.

While Kneller and Anton are training partners and good mates, a friendly rivalry is emerging, which acts as a healthy incentive for both AIS / NSWIS squad members to ski faster and achieve better results.

Kneller, the more experienced of the duo, has been mentoring his younger teammate, along with AIS ski cross head coach Matt Lyons, and today's victory seemed to act as a reminder to Grimus that Kneller still has the team's top spot.

But Kneller did not win without having to fight. On two occasions Grimus tried to make passing maneuvers but the winner of a World Cup event in Italy last December held his nerve and his line through turns to reach the finish line first.

At one stage Grimus was so close to taking the lead that he clipped the back of Kneller's ski, which momentarily reduced some of Grimus' momentum.

Lyons said that he was impressed by the form shown by Kneller and Grimus and added that there are signs for a good World Cup season in the northern hemisphere later this year.

He said that he was also impressed by the performance of 16-year-old Australian Lee Garner, who qualified for the small final.

In the women's event, Katya Crema, who is also a member of the AIS ski cross program, went close to downing Swiss world number four, Fanny Smith, for the second time in one week.

Crema, who defeated Smith at Mt Hotham last Saturday in the first of two races, set the day's fastest qualifying time, about 0.5 of a second faster than Smith.

However, Smith seemed to find another gear in the final, crossing the line about a ski length ahead of the Australian, with Kiwi Michelle Greig in third.

Two out of two for Grimus

22/8/2011

Young gun Anton Grimus showed exactly how well he has learned from his mentor, Scott Kneller, when the "student" showed the "teacher" a clean pair of skis in the final of the Suzuki Australia-New Zealand ski cross championships at Mount Hotham today.

For the 20-year-old Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport skier, the win gave him back-to-back victories in the championships, finishing today's final ahead of two Japanese skiers, Kenji Kono and Hiroomi Takizawa, with World Cup winner Kneller in fourth place.

Despite Kneller, who is Australia's number one ranked ski cross athlete, clocking the fastest time in qualifying and comfortably winning each race on his way to the final, Grimus bolted to the lead as soon as all four athletes left the start gate.

The Mt Buller-based athlete then held the lead all the way to the finish line in a performance that underlined Grimus as the athlete to beat when the series concludes at Cardrona, New Zealand's south island, on August 26.

Grimus also defeated Kneller, the winner of a World Cup event in Italy last December, by a slender margin in yesterday's final to cap off the best consecutive events of his short career.

Grimus said that Kneller, his fellow AIS / NSWIS squad member, has been a source of learning during the last 12 months that they have trained together.

"Scott has a good reputation from at the Olympics and also from winning a World Cup event so to beat him is a great result," Grimus said.

"Scott is very tough to beat and there is no doubt about it, I have learned a lot from him during the last 12 months.

"How he goes over the features and keeps his body position is pretty impressive and I have sort of tried to mimic that and learn as much as possible from him."

Katya Crema, another AIS/NSW squad member, finished in second place in the women's final behind Swiss ace and world number four, Fanny Smith.

Crema scored an emphatic win over Smith in yesterday's final but today the Australian was unable to repeat the victory, finishing ahead of Japan's World Cup skier Chiyako Hioki.

Crema, who trains at Perisher, was second fastest in qualifying behind Smith and leaves Mt Hotham after the two days of competition knowing that she is capable of competing with the world's top echelon of ski cross athletes.

Big lift with season end rankings

20/3/2011

Australia's Scott Kneller has ended this year's international ski cross season with a World Cup ranking of 12, 31 places higher than two years ago.

The 21-year-old NSW Institute of Sport and Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder made the quarter finals in Myrkdalen-Voss, Norway, last night to the finish the World Cup final round in 12th place.

The result helped to secure Kneller's career best end-of-season ranking.

The race was won by Canada's Christopher Delbosco, followed by Switzerland's Conradign Netzer and Czech Tomas Kraus, while Austria's Matt Andreas was the runaway World Cup series winner, 209 points clear of Delbodsco.

Given that Kneller finished 2009 in 43rd place and 62nd last year in an injury affected season, the Thredbo athlete can head back to Australia pleased with his World Cup results and hold high expectations for further improvement in 2011/2012.

Added to his huge improvement in the rankings, Kneller scored a World Cup victory in Italy in December.

AIS ski cross program head coach Matt Lyons said that during Australia's winter Kneller will focus on further improvement with race starts and revisit some technical aspects, in readiness for next year.

The season delivered equally positive improvement with the younger members of the women's ski cross team.

Twenty-year-old Katya Crema finished with an end-of-season ranking of 18 in the world, 36 places higher than two years ago and 15 places further up the list compared with 2010.

Crema also made last night's quarter finals finishing the day in 15th overall, behind the winner Sweden's Anna Holmlund, who also secured her first World Cup series victory, while Canada's Kelsey Serwa was second and Swizterland's Katrin Mueller was third.

Australia's other women's ski cross team members Sami Kennedy and Jenny Owens did not compete in the invitation only event.

Kennedy finished the year with a ranking of 21, which is also her best ever.

Australia's best performing ski cross rider Jenny Owens, opted out of the final round and finished the season ranked 11th.

World Cup finals appearances for two Aussies

13/3/2011

AIS ski cross riders Scott Kneller and Katya Crema have qualified for the invitation only World Cup finals in Voss, Norway, on March 19, capping off a year of significant improvement for all team members.

It is the first time Australia has had two athletes in the ski cross World Cup finals.

Crema earned her place to ski against the best in the world with a hard fought quarter finals appearance in Branas, Sweden, last night while Kneller had guaranteed his spot earlier in the season.

Crema finished in fourth place in last night's quarter final race, which left her in 14th place for the event overall, behind Sweden's Anna Holmlund, Canadian Kelsey Serwa in second and Norway's Marte Hoeie Gjefsen in third.

Kneller also made the Branas knock out rounds and finished 15th for the day with Austrian Andreas Matt, Canadian Christopher Delbosco and Switzerland's Conradign Netzer making up the podium positions.

Team coach Matt Lyons said he was pleased with his athletes' improvement compared to previous years.

Kneller is currently ranked 14th, whereas he finished 2009 in 43rd and 62nd last year. Crema was 54th in 2009, 33rd in 2010 and is currently sitting in 18th place. Sami Kennedy was 44th in 2009, 31st in 2010 and is ranked 21st after finishing in 20th place in Branas.

Jenny Owens, who cut short her season due to fatigue, is currently 10th on the standings, which is 29 places higher than her injury affected season in 2010. She ended 2009 in 12th while her best season was 2008 when she finished the year in 7th place.

The other team member, Anton Grimus, is competing at World Cup level this year for the first time.

Race for ski cross top 10 still on

7/3/2011

Australia's Jenny Owens and Scott Kneller both qualified for the World Cup ski cross finals in Meiringen-Hasliberg, Switzerland, last night but were unable to progress past their first knock out round.

Owens and Kneller, both Australian Institute of Sport and New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holders, finished in 15th and 20th places respectively.

The women's event was won by Sweden's Anna Holmlund, with Swiss skier Katrin Mueller second and France's Ophelie David in third place, while Finn Jouni Pellinen was victorious in the men's final ahead of Austrian Andreas Matt and Germany's Daniel Bohnacker.

Matt's second place means that he has won this season's ski cross World Cup, now that he holds an unassailable lead of 244 points over Canada's Christopher Delbosco.

Last night's results leave the Australian women's and men's number ones in a battle for a place in the top 10 World Cup rankings.

Owens, who is currently in ninth place on the standings, having slipped one position after her performance in Meiringen-Hasliberg, appears to have secured a year end top 10 ranking with two rounds remaining before the close of the season.

However, Owens still needs to ski well in the two remaining races in Sweden and Norway to hold out Austria's Andrea Limbacher, who is currently in 10th spot, 23 points behind the Australian, and Czech skier Nikol Kucerova, just a another 12 points back.

Both Owens' top 10 rivals finished higher than the Australian in last night's results, making her task a little less cut-and-dry.

Kneller also dropped a place, going from 12th to 13th and is 24 points behind the current 10th ranked skier, Switzerland's Alex Fiva.

Both Australians finished third in their knock out finals, which is based on a system that allows only two of the four skiers from each race to advance to the next round.

Teammates Katya Crema and Sami Kennedy narrowly missed the 16-place women's finals, qualifying in 17th and 19th place, just outside the cut-off.

The team now heads to Branas in Sweden for the season's penultimate round on March 13.

Owens back on World Cup podium

11/2/2011

Australia's Jenny Owens stepped on to the podium for the first time in more than two years when she finished third in today's ski cross World Cup on Blue Mountain, Canada.

In a season that is gathering momentum with each World Cup round, the performance comes just a week after the AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder grabbed fifth place in the Freestyle World Ski Championships in the United States.

Today's final was won by Germany's Anna Woerner, with Swiss skier Fanny Smith picking up second.

It was a top-class field, with Owens finishing ahead of fifth place getter and Canada's newly crowned World Champion, Kelsey Serwa, and the World Cup's current number one Heidi Zacher from Germany, who was back in seventh. Owens added 60 points to her season tally, which has consolidated her place in the world's top 10 rankings with four rounds remaining this season.

The podium finish is the fourth recorded by Owens since joining the World Cup ski cross tour in 2006.

AIS ski cross head coach Matt Lyons said that a pre-race plan of skiing wide paid handsome dividends for Owens.

Lyons anticipated that the track conditions would become more icy and faster towards the end of competition, so he and Owens decided that her best option would be to ski out wide throughout the day.

Lyons' prediction was not anticipated by most other athletes with many of the field falling victim to racing incidents brought on by the challenging icy conditions.

Lyons attributes much of Owen's rejuvenation in recent World Cup rounds to a change of mind set.

"She is enjoying skiing again and just having fun every time she competes, nothing more than that," Lyons explained.

And to give the women's team even more reason to celebrate, 22-year-old Sami Kennedy recorded a career best eighth, the first time she has scored a top 10 in World Cup competition.

Kennedy's encouraging result came from a determined second place in her quarter final but her hopes of joining Owens in the final were dashed when she finished fourth in her semi-final.

Fellow scholarship holder Katya Crema also had reason to smile with a season-equal-best result, placing 13th.

Unfortunately the men's team of Scott Kneller and Anton Grimus were not able to follow in the women's footsteps, finishing the day in 24th and 28th.

Both earned a place in the knock out rounds after recording the 18th and 25th fastest times respectively in qualifying but were unable to advance to the quarter finals when they finished fourth in their heats.

Kneller made an error while leading the four man heat, which put an end to his day.

The men's final was won by Canadian Christopher Delbosco, with World Cup points leader Andreas Matt from Austria in second and Czech Tomas Kraus in third.

The AIS team now has a week's break before heading to Grasgehren, Germany, to train with the home team. Lyons said they will work on head to head speed with the Germans and polish their starting techniques in order to finish the last four races of the season in the best possible way.

World Championships one to remember for Owens

5/2/2011

AIS skier Jenny Owens delivered her best result in two years with an impressive fifth place in today's FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships ski cross final in Deer Valley, USA.

Canadian pair Kelsey Serwa and Julia Murray were consistently strong throughout the four race knock out finals series picking up the gold and silver medals while Sweden's Anna Holmund was third across the line.

Owens qualified for the first of the four rounds in 12th place but drew on the experience acquired from nine years as a national team member to advance to the quarter finals with a second place in the first knock out race.

The Australian won her quarter final ahead of today's newly crowned World Champion, who advanced to the semis with a second place.

However, a racing incident, which often goes with the hustle and bustle of this exciting ski discipline, cost Owens the chance of advancing to the medal round.

Finishing the semi in third place, she had to be content with a berth in the consolation final.

The Australian Institute of Sport skier was determined to make a point and crossed the line in the consolation final in first place, ahead of Poland's Karolina Riemen, German Heidi Zacher, who is currently leading this season's World Cup points standing, and Norway's Marte Hoeie Gjefsen.

Teammates Katya Crema finished in 17th and Sami Kennedy finished in 18th after a freak equipment mishap which saw her lose a binding out of the start gate.

In the men's event, leading skier Scott Kneller had a day he would like to forget.

Qualifiying for the first knock out round in 6th place, the NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder and winner of this season's round two of the World Cup tour, experienced a slow start and failed to finish in the top two places required to advance to the next round.

Anton Grimus, who qualified for the finals in 30th place, did not finish his first knock out round race.

Canadian Chris Del Bosco made it double gold for Canada with a win in the men's event.

World Championship lead up boost

30/1/2011

Australia's ski cross World Championship preparation received a confidence boost last night with a strong performance in Germany.

Competing in the World Cup sixth round in Grasgehren, all three women team members finished in the top 13, a team best this season.

Jenny Owens, a veteran of 29 World Cup starts and three podiums, lead the charge by finishing seventh, her fourth consecutive top 10 place this season and will go into next Friday's World Championships in the United States with solid prospects.

The final was won by Sweden's Anna Holmlund, Germany's Heidi Zacher was second while Switzerland's Katrin Mueller finished third.

Fellow AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder, 22-year-old Sami Kennedy recorded an individual season best performance by qualifying ninth fastest, just one place behind Owens, and ended the day in 11th, her best finish since making her World Cup debut in 2008.

A further two places back in 13th, Katya Crema also enjoyed her best World Cup finish of the season after qualifying in 12th.

But as far as the Australian team was concerned, the day belonged to Owens who finished in second place in her quarter final after challenging for the lead throughout the race but unfortunately the Perisher based skier missed the start of her semi-final, which cost her any chance of advancing to the final.

Owens turned around her misfortunes at the starting gate in the consolation final and quickly gained second position only to be overtaken towards the end of the race by a fast finishing Andrea Limbacher from Austria.

AIS Ski cross head coach Matt Lyons said that Owens skied well despite being physically exhausted before the World Cup sixth round.

Owens' preparation for this season's World Cup was not as rigorous as she would have liked due to a recovery period after knee surgery last March.

Lyons added that Owens will benefit from several days of rest before the World Championships, an event she finished 15th in two years ago in Inawashiro, Japan.

In the men's event, Mt Buller-based 20-year-old Anton Grimus finished 24th after making what Lyons described as a "rookie error". He finished behind event winner Andreas Matt from Austria, compatriot Patrick Koller and Switzerland's Armin Niederer in third.

The team's number one men's skier, Scott Kneller, missed the Grasgehren event to compete in the X-Games in Aspen, United States.

All members of the AIS ski cross team will now travel to Utah for the World Championships event later this week.

Ski Cross top 5 and top 10 in France

17/1/2011

Australia's ski cross team has continued to improve their results in the lead up to next month's World Championships with a strong performance in the French Alps resort of Les Contamines last night.

Jenny Owens was the team's leading light when she delivered her second top 10 finish within four days.

The AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder ended the day with a season best fifth position thanks to a second place in a quarter final, third in a semi-final and notching a victory by two ski lengths in the consolation final.

Had it not been for a comparatively slow start in the semi-final she would have been in medal contention.

The round added 450 points to Owens' improving season ranking, which sees her break into the world's top 10 for the first time in 2010/2011.

The women's final was won by local skier Ophelie David, with Canadian and tour leader Kelsey Serwa in second place while Sweden's Anna Holmund came in third.

Fellow AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder Scott Kneller , who had to endure the disappointment of a ski waxing error on the neighbouring mountain of Alpe d'Huez this week, bounced back with a solid seventh position.

After qualifying down the list in 24th, Kneller won in his first knock out heat, came in second in a quarter final, and third in a semi-final, but crashed out on the last turn of the consolation final while drafting an opponent.

Although the 21-year-old Kneller, who won the second round in this year's series, has the talent and potential to be a regular World Cup podium finisher, he was happy that today's result on the steep 1180-metre course saw him jump two places into eighth position into the world.

Canada's Christopher Delbosco recorded his first World Cup victory of the year, while Austrian Andreas Matt tightened his grip on the series with a second place. Russian Egor Korotkov made it on to the World Cup podium for the first time in his career with a third place.

AIS ski cross head coach Matt Lyons said that he was pleased with the day's outcome but added that several lost opportunities could have provided even more impressive results.

"Everybody executed our race plans well today and it was pleasing that the lost opportunities were not from skiing errors," Lyons said.

"This is a rough and tumble sport where you always need to take chances. Sometimes they come together, other times they do not.

"We need to now work on consistency and that will come from training a lot harder."

Talented young gun Anton Grimus failed to qualify to his potential and was eliminated from the finals in the round of 32, finishing the day in 29th position while Katya Crema and Sami Kennedy were unable to advance to the women's quarter finals, finishing in 17th and 26th respectively.

Gritty Owens grabs top 10 finish

8/1/2011

Australian ski cross racer Jenny Owens delivered her best World Cup result in 12 months with a hard fought performance in St Johann, Austria, last night.

The event, the third of the season, provided encouraging signs for the 32-year-old Perisher- based AIS athlete.

The huge crowd lining the steep and icy 750-metre course saw Owens qualify in 12th place, finish second in her quarter final, fourth in a semi-final and fourth in the small final.

The encouraging results placed Owens in eighth overall, behind German winner Heidi Zacher, Norway's Hedda Berntsen in second and Germany's Anna Woerrner in third.

Head coach Matt Lyons said that while he expects more improvement from Owens, he was impressed by the turnaround compared with her first two World Cup rounds of the season in Italy last month.

"Jenny has the ability and today we saw her start to get back the confidence she needs," Lyons said.

"She was disappointed with the way she skied in Italy but today was very encouraging."

Owens spent much of the Christmas-New Year break in an extensive training block with the Swiss team, which has given her renewed confidence in her ability and prompted her to make small technical modifications and rethink various race strategies.

Australia's two other female competitors, Sami Kennedy and Katya Crema finished in 21st and 23rd places respectively.

While the women's team enjoyed their best result of the year, the men's team had a frustrating event.

Scott Kneller, winner of the last round in Italy last month, could manage only 31st place, which saw him fail to make the quarter finals.

American John Teller, Canada's Nick Zoricic and Austrian Thomas Zangerl captured the first three places.

Kneller appeared to ski tentatively, which was a complete contrast to his performance in Italy that enabled him to record Australia's first ski cross victory.

Mt Buller's Anton Grimus also shared the frustrations finishing in 43rd position.

Grimus makes encouraging World Cup debut

19/12/2010

World Cup ski cross debutant Anton Grimus underlined why many people in the Australian ski community have high expectations of the 20-year-old when he qualified second fastest in Italy overnight.

Grimus clocked 53.88 seconds, just nine one hundredth of a second behind pace setter Finland's Jouni Pellinen in the World Cup season opener at the Innichen/San Candido resort.

Despite his strong showing in qualifying, the AIS athlete was beaten in his first elimination final, finishing the day in 17th place in the field of 67.

In other Australian ski cross results Scott Kneller finished 19th and in the women's event Olympian Jenny Owens placed 17th, Sami Kennedy, 19th and Katya Crema in 23rd position.

Australia's five-person ski cross team compete again tonight in the second round double header.

Kneller and Crema collect gold at Hotham

24/8/2010

Scott Kneller has maintained the great form that took him to seventh place at Vancouver 2010 in February, winning both rounds of the Australia New Zealand Cup ski cross at Hotham.

Olympic team-mate Katya Crema also made the podium in both races, winning the first then collecting silver in the second.

Kneller, 22, was too good in the final of the opening event, out-skiing the Russian duo of Georgy Kornilov and Alexandr Koryakovtsev, while Mt Buller's Anton Grimus, the fastest qualifier, finished in fourth position.

Grimus took silver in the second event behind Kneller, with Kornilov adding a bronze to his weekend's tally, while Luke Laidlaw filled fourth place.

Crema claimed gold in the opening women's event ahead of the Russian pair of Julia Livinskaya and Violetta Kovalskaya, but lowered her colours to Livinskaya on day two.

Sami Kennedy was the best of the remaining Aussies, finishing in fifth place in each of the two races.

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