Riley Seger didn't quite have the World Cup debut he hoped for, but he was glad to have achieved the milestone.
Lining up at Soelden, Austria on Oct. 27, Seger completed his first run, but with only the top 30 competitors advancing, he did not qualify for a second run.
The Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus qualified for the race through time trials held earlier in the week, and the 22-year-old was excited to wear the maple leaf on the World Cup stage for the first time.
"I was really happy to earn this spot and be on the team. I feel I've been working towards that after last year, so it felt good to be able to do that," he said.
While the margins were slim and with even established World Cup presences such as Dominik Paris unable to crack the second half of the race, it was no piece of cake. However, Seger said he'd been skiing well and felt up to the challenge heading into the contest.
"Obviously, the goal is to get two runs," he said. "I had some good turns in between the mistakes. I'm trying to take the positives and hopefully next time have some more good turns and make it to the second run."
Seger said it was apparent from the start he was taking a few steps up from the continental and junior tours he'd previously raced.
"There were 20,000 Austrians and Europeans there cheering," he said. "It was definitely a different atmosphere. The excitement around the sport is so much bigger over there. Everybody's pulling for you and having fun."
Being his debut, Seger was admittedly a little bit taken aback by the massive stage, but managed to keep perspective throughout.
"I was definitely nervous, being that it was my first World Cup, but also at the same time, I was feeling loose coming over," he said.
It's lining up to be a busy winter for Seger, who will aim to race all the NorAm Cup giant slalom events in search of a title, which would clinch him a World Cup spot in that discipline for 2020-21. He'll also race on the NCAA circuit representing Montana State University, where he is attending his first year of business classes.
"Personally, I really enjoy having something different to do," he said. "It's a lot more work than I've done in a long time.
"So far, the first semester has been going really well. It's been nice to have stuff to do in the afternoon and I've been spending way less time on Netflix."
As well, Seger has a Europa Cup race in January and obviously wouldn't turn down another World Cup start if Alpine Canada affords him the opportunity.
In terms of other Canadians, Erik Read opened his campaign with a giant-slalom career-best of seventh. Read sat fifth after his first run, slipping a couple of spots in his second and ultimately finishing 1.29 seconds back of winner Alexis Pinturault of France. France's Mathieu Faivre and Slovenia's Zan Kranjec rounded out the podium. Trevor Philp, meanwhile, took 26th.
In the women's race the day before, no Canadians completed two runs. New Zealand's Alice Robinson nicked American Mikaela Shiffrin and France's Tessa Worley for the win.
