Promising early stages of the season’s opening downhill at Lake Louise for Jono Brauer were unfortunately undone by a glitch near the end of the course, as the NSWIS/AIS skier reports from Lake Louise:

“The race was extremely tough this year. The course was very, very rough and bumpy, and with total cloud cover, the light was extremely flat which made for very difficult conditions. After having two seasons on the sidelines my world ranking is quite high and therefore I was starting at the back of the pack, making for an even bigger challenge.”

“Training runs went well, with improvements every day. Race day was going very well, (and) I was 13th at the second split time. After a small mistake, I was in the top 30 on the split time coming into the last 40 seconds of the course. Unfortunately, on the last steep before a long 30 second flat into the finish, I caught my arm inside a gate at about 100 plus kmph, losing my pole and about 20ks off my speed. I lost over a second in the last 30 seconds and finished 49th. Without that mistake, I am confident I would have been in the top 30, which would have been a great start to my return campaign. Nevertheless, I am happy with the way skiing is going and am looking forward to the next races.”

“Unfortunately I am again having troubles with the pain in my patella tendon and have undergone some therapy at the renowned Steadman Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colorado. This means I have to miss the World Cup races in Beaver Creek, but will be able to start the Nor Am races next week in Lake Louise where I am confident of making some good results.”