2011 British Telemark World Cup Report
With Slovenia's Bohinj World Cup event called off the previous week due to the lack of snow the British organising committee agreed to run a replacement Telemark Sprint in Rauris in addition to the scheduled British hosted races. With 12 nations competing there was a buzz around town as it filled up with locals and spectators from further afield who had descended upon Rauris to watch the exciting international races take place over the weekend.
The conditions were near perfect and the racers gave spectators their fair share of thrills with huge jumps and some impressive spills. Both Giant Slalom and Sprint courses were technically difficult, the terrain on the Kreutzboden piste was particularly challenging with a shallow start giving way to an icy and fast track about half way down that lasts to the finish. The jump which was perched rather precariously on the edge of the transition meant racers were exposed to a fast landing with the next gate situated only a few metres from touchdown. The Rappelokke (360 banked turn) was well placed and provided onlookers with the perfect place to see world class athletes in action. Finishing off both Sprints was a tough skating section at the bottom of the course which really put the racers endurance to the test.
In the first Sprint the Norwegians and French dominated the top ten with Phil Lau taking gold, the young Norwegian Sondre Kristenstuen took silver and bronze medal went to youngest of the French Lau bothers, Sven with the top three all within a second of each other. In the first of the ladies Sprints Amelie Reymond convincingly took first place with almost two seconds between her and fellow Swiss racer Sandrine Meyer who was closely followed by Susann Schubert from Germany.
The following day was the Giant Slalom and French Coach, Denis Gacon, set a fast paced first course which really complimented his team's style with Sven Lau taking first place by almost a three second margin followed by Norway's Harald Kvaerner and Thomas Bergfors from the Danish team. Again in the ladies race the Swiss took first and second places with Amelie Reymond just ahead of Sandrine Meyer and Norwegian Katinka Knudsen on their tails in third position. www.gbtelemark.co.uk
In the final race, the Telemark Sprint, we saw some more exciting racing from both the men and the women. This time Phil Lau took first place followed by Eirik Rykhus of Norway and France's Antoine Bouvier. With the final Sprint in Rauris the ladies put on a good show with Amelie Reymond taking gold, Sandrine Meyer in silver position and Katinka Knudsen took home another bronze medal.
The British Team had a spectacular break through with Chris Stewart breaking into the World's top 15 in the Telemark Sprint on Saturday whilst also producing some creditable top 20 results in the other two races. There were also some solid top 30 results across the British Team which has put them in a good position as they continue to rack up FIS points on the World Cup circuit in the build up to the World Championships in Rjukan in March. Ollie Wotton, 11 years old, from the British Team's newly formed junior development team had his first World Cup experience recording some promising times forerunning two of the races.
The British organising committee paid tribute to the terrific help and assistance of the local Rauris community in putting together a brilliant few days of World Cup racing, particularly the Tourismusverband and the Hochalmbahnen who played vital roles during the proceedings. The event was a huge success and proved again that it is possible to host a World Cup level event in a foreign country.
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