Charlie Raposo (London) produced Team GB’s best-ever male alpine skiing performance at a European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF) with a sixth-place finish in the giant slalom in Braşov, Romania.
Raposo, who skied a personal best, faced stiff from a tough field of 97 competitors, which featured some of the best skiers in his age group in the world.
Despite recording Team GB’s best alpine result since Chemmy Alcott won silver in 1999 Raposo felt that there was certainly still room for improvement.
“I’m really pleased with the result but not so much with my skiing.” said Raposo. “I felt like I made a few mistakes in the second run when I was pushing really hard, it was right on the edge. But that is ski racing for you, these things can happen and I have to be pleased with that finish. I’m a year younger than a lot of these guys and I beat a lot of people who have better FIS points than me so I'm really pleased.”
Max Baggio (Harpenden) and Laurie Taylor (Basingstoke) placed (34th) and (37th) respectively. Billy Major (Cambridge) did not record a position after a crash in the first run.
Over at the Snowboard Venue in Predeal snowboard cross rider Maisie Potter (Bangor) also scored a personal best placing seventh in a small but strong field in only her second ever international event.
“I qualified fifth after the qualifiers and I was really pleased with that,” said Potter. “Obviously once you race again in heats anything can happen, you can move down or up in the placings. I won my first round heat which felt good and it was nice to get that winning feeling. But then in my semi final race I tried to take an inside line and got caught up and fell over. In my small final I definitely played it safe as I didn’t want to fall again. I was aiming for a top eight finish and I placed seventh so I am happy with that. I think I can definitely learn from this experience and most importantly I have really enjoyed being out here with the team and I am looking forward to seeing some other sports now that my competition has finished.”
Biathletes Sam Cairns (Kinguisse), Robert Sircus (Kinguisse) and Lachlan Cowie (Inverness) all made their 2013 EYOWF debut in the 12.5km individual.
In a challenging field Cairns, Lachlan and Sircus placed 69th, 70th and 74th respectively.
The boys are all back in action on Thursday when they hope to learn from today’s mistakes and improve on their performances.
“It was the shooting that let me down today,” said Sicrus."We will get a second chance in the sprint and hopefully we can learn from these mistakes and improve for that race.”
Team GB short track speed skaters took to the ice for the last time for the junior ladies’ and men’s 1000m competition.
EYOWF silver medallist Kathryn Thomson (Nottingham) impressed again looking convincing in the first two rounds of the 1000m. However, after a tactical mistake in her semi final, the 17-year-old had to settle for a slot in the B Final, which she duly won to finish fifth overall. Fellow Nottingham skater Mari Deland was impressive in her heats but got knocked out in the quarter finals.
On the boys side Aydin Djemal (Epsom) also advanced to the quarter finals before finishing third and narrowly missing out on a spot in the semis. Whilst for Jack Burrows (Nottingham) picked up a penalty in the first heat for skating outside of the track and failed to make it out of his heat as a result.
Reflecting one the past three days of competition short track Team Leader Paul Worth said:
“I’m really pleased with all four athletes; each of them skated well and produced some good performances. Three of the four skaters broke personal bests and Kat stepped up to win her silver medal which is excellent. The experience they have gained will be invaluable for the future and their development. We have three and a half weeks till the star class finals where Kat and Jack will be competing so this will be a good confidence builder for them.”
The final sport in action on day two of the EYOWF for Team GB was cross country. Competing in the 5km and 7.5km classic race both Sarah Hale and James Clugnet had difficulty with their grip and subsequently struggled in the latter stages of the race and slipped down the field.
“I found it pretty tough, said Clugnet. “I picked a middle grip which was quick on the down hills but slow on the up hills so I struggled. I do enjoy racing the classic but I am really looking forward to the sprint on Thursday. It is my favourite event, you can give it all you have in the short distances and I prefer that.”