Cameron Alexander managed a lifetime-best result in Val Gardena, Italy last Friday when he finished fifth in the World Cup super-G event there. It was his sixth career top five.
The Whistlerite found himself less than one-and-a-half tenths of a second away from medal position, but it was Mattia Casse (1:28.23) who edged out Jared Goldberg (1:28.24) for victory on home snow. Marco Odermatt ended up third (1:28.66).
"This hill suits me and how I ski and felt really good about my skiing and how I executed today," said Alexander in a press release. "I thought that it could be an opportunity starting early today, but you just never know. It’s always a good feeling to come down and see the green light and be in the leader’s chair, but people can jump up from anywhere here in Val Gardena so it was a bit of a long wait at the bottom. Feels great to get a PB here and to be back in the super-G top 10 [season standings], especially after a tough couple of races in Beaver Creek."
Alexander proved unable to equal or better his super-G result in Saturday's downhill, but still placed a respectable ninth. Fellow Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) alum Brodie Seger was 11th as Odermatt (2:03.10), Franjo von Allmen (2:03.55) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (2:03.56) nabbed gold, silver and bronze respectively.
Remarked Alexander after the downhill: "Overall really happy with the Val Gardena weekend. Be nice to have a couple of days off to relax and have Christmas with the team and then we’ll start training runs for Bormio.”
"This course can sometimes speed up for the later bibs, so I knew there could be a good opportunity to punch in today,” Seger told reporters. "Val Gardena is one of my favourite stops, and I was having a blast on the Saslong track this whole week. I did my best to keep my head down and stick to my plan, and I’m glad it paid off! Feels good to get another solid DH result to back up my first top 10 in Beaver Creek a couple of weeks ago.
"It’s nice to have consistently finished in the points so far, but I feel I still have room to improve especially in super-G. I think what I have been doing well is trusting myself and my race plan, so I need to stay focused on that in order to keep building."
Complete results from Val Gardena can be seen here. As previously alluded to, the Canadian men's speed team is headed off to Bormio, Italy for races on Dec. 28 and 29.
