Jenny Owens has made the final of the opening Ski Cross World Cup of the season, but finished in 16th place overall after going out in the quarter-final round. Owens just made it into the final rounds in 16th place at the Austrian resort of St Johann after making a mistake halfway down her timed qualification run
Jenny Owens has made the head to head finals of the opening Ski Cross World Cup of the season, but finished in 16th place overall after going out in the quarter-final round.
Owens a NSWIS and AIS scholarship athlete, just made it into the final rounds in 16th place at the Austrian resort of St Johann after making a mistake halfway down her timed qualification run.
She recorded a time of 44.60 seconds, 2.15 seconds behind the fastest qualifier, five-time World Cup champion Ophelie David of France.
The result put her into a tough head-to-head quarter-final alongside David and last year’s world number three Meryl Boulangeat, also of France.
Although the Perisher Blue 30-year-old made a good start she was unable to battle her way into the top two to secure a place in the semi-final round.
“Jen had a good start but couldn’t get past from the first turn and it was just about over from that point,” said AIS and Olympic Winter Institute Ski Cross Coach Matt Lyons.
“She tried to overtake a couple of times down the course but it wasn’t worth the risk in the end as she was only battling for third place.”
“It was not exactly the start to the season we were after, but there were some good signs from her in the both the qualifying and the finals.”
“The qualifying place really cost her. Despite skiing very well at the top of the course, she made a big mistake in the middle coming onto the flats and she was crawling through to the finish. That really hurt her in the finals draw.”
Another French skier, Marion Josserand, took the gold medal from Austria’s Katharine Gutensohn, with Kelsey Serwa of Canada claiming the bronze. Defending World Cup champion David took fourth place.
It was Josserand’s first victory on the circuit, after coming back from an injury that kept her out of the 2007/08 season.
In the men’s event, Ski and Snowboard Australia athlete Scott Kneller finished in 53rd place, but was less than a second outside a finals berth.
“Scott has been going well and had been good in training,” Lyons said.
“He got a little over-excited by the lights and atmosphere and made a number of unforced errors during his run, but he did beat a number of the regular qualifiers from last season.”
Swiss skier Michael Schmid won the men’s event from Austrian Andrea Matt.
The second event of the season will be held in Les Contamines, France, on Saturday (January 10).