ALPINE - SLALOM: Australia’s Dominic Demschar and Ross Peraudo were two of a staggering 72 athletes that failed to finish the Men’s Slalom event.
ALPINE - SLALOM: Australia’s Dominic Demschar and Ross Peraudo were two of a staggering 72 athletes that failed to finish the Men’s Slalom event.
Peraudo did not complete his first run while Demschar sat in 66th place at the halfway mark of the competition before not getting down the second run.
Austria’s Mario Matt claimed the Gold in front of countryman Marcel Hirschel with Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen taking Bronze.
Peraudo was the first of the Aussie pair down the mountain in Run 1 but he could not negotiate his passage to the bottom of the course cleanly, going down with the finish line only a few gates away. The young Aussie would end up being one of 38 competitors to record a DNF after the first run.
Seeded 92nd, Demschar then hit the slopes at the Roza Khutor Alpine Centre and recorded a time of 58.82, 11.82 seconds behind Matt as he slotted in to 66th place.
His second run then saw him suffer the fate of so many others as Australia’s Alpine program came to an end.
“It’s probably the toughest course I’ve ever seen,” said Demschar.
“The setting was tough and had combinations that I had never seen on a course before. Even the best guys in the world were having trouble.”
With many higher ranked athletes not getting down the mountain prior to Peraudo the 21-year-old knew it was going to be tough.
“It was really difficult today,” said Peraudo.
“It was really bumpy. I got bounced around a bit and then tried to pick it back up but unfortunately the boots touched the snow and I fell over.”
The result signalled the end of the pair’s debut Olympic Games and the beginning of the long road to Pyeongchang.
“The Games have been amazing,” said Peraudo. “We have been here for a while training and the atmosphere has been great.
“We’ll have to see how I ski over the next four years but I’d like to give it another shot.”
“If I can ski fast enough to get back in then I would love too,” added Demschar.
Matt led the field after the opening run and started the second run with a 1.28 second advantage over Hirscher. He needed almost all of it as he crossed the line only 0.28 ahead of his teammate.
Top ranked Andre Myhrer was one of seven skiers that were expected to fill the top 20 but were also tripped up by the Sochi slopes.
