The 2022 carnival season began engulfed in a veil of fog. Racers lining up for course inspection at the top of the Narrow Gauge trail at Sugarloaf this morning were greeted with, at most, one-gate visibility, and then a predictable start delay. A few minutes later, in an effort to thwart the low-viz conditions and get the race started, officials resorted to pushing the course down from the usual GS start to the lower “Pick Pole” start. The move shortened the race by seven gates, but certainly enabled it to begin much sooner.
Over the course of the first women’s run, the surface—bulletproof and extremely fast—held well, with every successive racer making the track just a bit slicker. The men’s run came and went without major incidents, and the intact surface combined with the already delayed schedule from the visibility issue earlier in the day led race officials to opt not to reset for the second run.
With an identical course (save for some minor redressing touches) and even better visibility conditions, one might expect for the second run to shape up similarly to the first. Not so! A gradually deteriorating track, made quick and deadly with more and more patches of glare ice surfacing through the snow, led to some challenges for racers. The fastest of the women’s second runs gained more than 2.03 compared to fastest of the first runs, and the fastest of the men’s second runs likewise gained 1.72 seconds. Racers reported a much bumpier ride, particularly above the headwall section, and a whopping 33 skiers—more than a quarter of the whole second run—skied out before the finish.
Here is a brief breakdown of the results from today, and a few highlights of standout performances:
Justine Clement, of the University of Vermont, had the fastest first run for the women’s race, clocking in at 51.46 seconds. Clement was disqualified during her second run, per FIS ACR 628.8, and Marina Vilanova nabbed the fastest run at 53.49 seconds.
In the men’s field, former Rookie of the Year Joachim Jagge Lindstoel, also of UVM, put his Atomics into hyperdrive and laid down the fastest first and second runs (49.28 and 51.00 seconds, respectively).
Another impressive performance came Plymouth State University’s Maximillian Haussman jumped up 38 spots from the 47th bib to 9th place (and also skiing the 8th fastest second run in the men’s field at 51.66 seconds). Fellow PSU Panther Franny MacDonald, starting even further back with bib 60 in the women’s field, arced her way into a formidable 6th place finish (and with the 6th fastest second run at 54.92 seconds.
UVM’s Marina Vilanova won the women’s GS today, followed by Lucia Bailey of Middlebury and Olivia Holm from Dartmouth. On the men’s side, Joachim Jagge Lindstoel climbed back up onto the top step of the podium once again, followed by Middlebury’s Bradshaw Underhill and then St. Michael’s College’s Simen Strand.
Tomorrow’s slalom race has been delayed due to adverse weather conditions at the Loaf, and will be rescheduled for Sunday. Stay tuned!