British Speed Ski Team Excel at the World Cup Final in Verbier, Switzerland
From the 15th - 17th April Marc Poncin, Jan Farrell and Yannick Green competed in the X Speed Ski World Cup Finals in Verbier, Switzerland on the famously steep Mont Fort piste. There were many nationalities from all over the World which was fantastic to see competing and all pushing themselves and their equipment to the limits!
The British Speed Ski Team has had some great success this season with Jan Farrell, Lancashire and Yannick Green, Northamptonshire finishing consistently in the Top 20 and setting personal best speeds in Vars, France. The finals in Verbier was one of the best weeks of speed skiing because the weather was ideal for racing at high speeds. From the first day the British Team were in great shape as for the two training runs all three athletes were within the top 15. Yannick Green clocked the fastest speed in training on his new atomic downhill skis which Max Baggio won the British Alpine Downhill title on. He continued leading the charge through to the second day were he was in 11th place, Jan Farrell was in 13th but 2 time world champion Marc Poncin had a near miss, came close to crashing and failed to qualify, missing the top 15 cut as he came 16th.
The second day of racing with the top 15 in the world, both Yannick and Jan just missed out to race in the top 10 for the final. Jan Farrell just pipped Yannick green to lead out of the Brits with a speed of 186.57km/h and Yannick recorded a speed of 186.35km/h.
These speeds permitted them both to qualify for the X Speed Ski Pro Race the next day where both Brits attained new personal best speeds of 194.17 km/h and 191.50km/h respectively in the Speed Masters, and made it into the top 5 five fastest skiers in Britain!
Yannick said, “I am ecstatic to have accomplished a new personal best speed and break into the top 15 in the World. Now I feel that the next target is to get into the 200km/h club so I can make the transition into Speed 1.”
Jan Farrell also commented “I have waited for a long time to go this fast and this week really was fantastic. I feel like I can call myself a speed skier now and this was the first time I have felt the speed.”
The future for British speed skiing looks bright with fast and talented young skiers Jan Farrell and Yannick Green stepping up their game to almost hit 120mph on alpine downhill skis that are not designed to go that fast. Speed Ski GB are proud to be supported by Snowtrex, Dirty Dog Eyewear, Frencys, Forcefield Armour and Adidas.
Not only were personal records beaten by British Speed Skiers, a new one was also set by Jamie Barrow on a snowboard. He clocked a speed of 151.60km/h to set the British Speed Board record. His first run was rather sketchy however he pulled it together for his second run from higher up the piste. From the same point speed skiers were hitting speeds of 170km/h.
If you would like more information please contact
Millar Reid – scotsspeed@aol.com or 07971 825799
Yannick Green – Yannick@teamevolution.eu or 07595 333412
