ALPINE SKIING: Australia’s alpine skiers have been hitting their straps on slopes across the Northern Hemisphere.

At the Nor-Am Cup in Vail, Colorado (USA), Australia’s three leading ladies took to the Giant Slalom. Unfortunately Lavinia Chrystal did not finish her first run, but youngster Greta Small finished in 16th position (41.30 FIS Points) and Emily Bamford finished 28th (71.06 FIS Points).

Small had scooted over from the Copper Mountain Nor-Am Cup races in Colorado where she finished 10th (60.36 FIS Points) and 12th (65.06 FIS Points) over two days of Downhill races. Small had already finished as high as 11th (33.60 FIS Points) in the Super G races contested there last week.

“The Nor-Am races at Copper Mountain are especially tough now that it is the dedicated US speed training base,” Small said from the USA.

“In the section of the course with the big turns and rolls, I was in the top group- only several hundredths behind in the Downhill. It was encouraging that my actual skiing has improved and it's just a few other factors to sort out.

“I was happy to make a few points in the Super G and Downhill races which will improve my ranking, but I know that I'm still not on the limit and there's more to come.”

Sochi hopefuls Sam Robertson, Dominic Demschar and Luc Chevalier also raced in the Copper Mountain Nor-Am Cup. Robertson finished 33rd (38.18 FIS Points) and 49th (54.91 FIS Points) in the two Super G races, and 39th (55.05 FIS Points) in the Super Combined.

After failing to complete the Super Combined and Super G races on Friday, Demschar and Chevalier produced solid Super G runs on Saturday. Demschar finished 45th (53.57 FIS Points) with Chevalier 52nd (60.63 FIS Points).

Luc's sister Joelle Chevalier bounced back from two Slalom DNF's to finish 14th in the Arvidsjaur (SWE) Slalom FIS Race. Earlier in the week she was 4th (54.23 FIS Points) and 8th (66.63 FIS Points) in the Giant Slalom FIS Races at Taernaby (SWE).

Also in Europe, Ross Peraudo put in his best performance in the Valgrisenche (ITA) Slalom FIS Race where he placed 17th (34.30 FIS Points). He did not finish his Slalom run at the FIS World Cup in Val d’Isere (FRA).