SRD's Irwin Takes Silver at J2 Nationals Downhill

SUGARLOAF, Maine — Ski and Snowboard Club Vail's Katharine Irwin culminated her trip to Sugarloaf, Maine, with a trip to the podium and a second-place finish in the J2 national downhill.

Irwin tripped the finish light in 1 minute, 16.77 seconds and was a mere 0.04 seconds out of the top spot won by Jordan Schweitzer of Mount Bachelor, Ore.

“The course was pretty rough after several days of training and racing, and Katharine knew where she lost some time, but she is excited about her placing for the day,” said coach Nick Foster. “She skied an amazing race.”

“It's been a great week for Katharine,” said coach Dan Stripp. “This is a great way for her to end the J2 Nationals.”

After all the races were tallied together: slalom, giant slalom, super-G, and downhill, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail's Irwin finished fifth overall.

“This was an awesome finish to these competitions and a very impressive week for Katharine, who is a first-year J2,” said Foster.

SRD 's Veth Wins J3 Combined Gold and Leever takes SL Silver!

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — The slalom in a J3 Junior Olympics has a certain finality to it.

For second-year J3 racers, who are generally the contenders, it's the last chance, the last JO race of their careers, and for most, the lone-remaining ticket to the Whistler (British Columbia) Cup.

SRD's and Ski and Snowboard Club Vail's Alex Leever came up just short of his Canadian dreams with an improbable comeback, taking silver

“So close,” Leever said. “I made a huge mistake first run and I felt like maybe, maybe I could catch up. But it wasn't quite enough. (Kjos)'s a good slalom skier. But I'm still really glad I made it on the medal stand.”

Leever made a critical mistake in the middle of the pitch during his first run, boot-topping a gate, losing precious time. He was eighth after the first run.

“I used that anger from the first run to go,” Leever said. “People at the start probably said that I yelled out of the start and went all out.”

Leever stomped his second run, racing 23rd in the afternoon, and as his fellow competitors came down after him, it looked for a while as he might have mounted a comeback.

For Leever, though, merely competing this week was quite a comeback. He suffered a right tibia-plateau fracture six weeks ago in Steamboat Springs, and could not put any weight on his leg.

Leever just got back on snow two Mondays ago to get ready for the JOs. And as the racing started, the ninth-grader from the Vail Mountain School got his groove back in a big way. After 19th in the downhill, Leever was fourth in the super-G, sixth in the GS and second Wednesday.

“It would have been great to make Whistler, but it's not the end,” Leever said. “Next year is J2s and FIS races. That's when the competition really starts.”

SRD's and Taos racer Nicolas Veth picked up the overall boys title for the week with an eighth-place finish.

Now off to Whistler for the Whistler Cup!

Nicolas Veth Takes Gold and Silver at J3 Junior Olympics!

Nicolas Veth and Alex Leever

Gold for Nicolas!

Here we go again, More podiums for SRD Junior racers!

Racing continued today (March 7) at the J3 Junior Olympics with men’s and women’s super G races in Vail, Colo. SRD and Taos skier Nicolas Veth, fourth in yesterday’s downhill, took the men’s race with a time of 51.67..

Telluride’s Hayden Fake took second on the men’s side, .27 seconds behind Veth. Apex Racing’s Zak Kjos rounded out the podium in third place with a time of 52.16.

SRD and Ski Club Vail’s Alex Leever just missed the podium in fourth place, one-tenth of a second behind Kjos. Yesterday’s second-place finisher, Connor Croasdale was one hundredth of a second back in fifth place.

In the GS, Nicolas took the Silver and Alex popped in for 6th place. Great skiing guys! Good luck in the Slalom!

Double Gold for Mikaela at Topolino!

With back to back wins Mikaela Shiffrin made some young history at the Topolino Games Sunday (March 7). Six days shy of her 15th birthday the Vail skier attending Burke Mountain Academy had crushed Saturday's international slalom field. In the GS she needed to come from behind to earn gold and that just fired her up more.

This is not a young lady who is satisfied with second place. In six JIII races this season she won five and didn't finish the other and no matter who she was racing against in Italy she was going for the win.

She powered past Adriana Jelinkova of the Netherlands and Louise Jansson of Sweden with a second run a half second faster than the rest of the field for her second gold medal in as many days.

"I had heard it was crazy being in Europe, I mean there are 40 different countries here and each brings six kids. It was so much fun and such a good experience," Shiffrin said from the Panarotta, Italy.

"It was a much tighter race today. I think a lot of people are better in GS. I was caught by surprise and I really needed to put the hammer down on the second run. It was great."

On Saturday Shiffrin took the slalom by more than four seconds on a tightly set course that called for a high level of skill. "I was definitely surprised yesterday, and it was nice." she said. "I try to distance myself, but there's always someone else who's going to be fast. I really went for it."

Trip leader Terry DelliQuadri said what Shiffrin had accomplished was of historic importance. "no one has ever done this before. No American certainly."

Shiffrin reflected on her stay in Italy while waiting for the final awards ceremony and a ride to Munich to catch a flight home.

"The food is great. I enjoyed every single meal. And the people are so nice. I thought maybe they wouldn't be as welcoming to Americans, but every person I talked to was so nice and so supportive of ski racing."

SRD Racer Alex Leever Vail Daily Profile

VAIL — Ski and Snowboard Club Vail's Alex Leever's favorite movie is “Talladega Nights” With apologies to Ricky Bobby's dad, “If you're not first, you're last,” does not apply to Leever. He finished sixth in Tuesday's Junior Olympic giant slalom and is hoping to do even better during today's slalom at Beaver Creek. Leever is just six weeks removed from a tibia-plateau fracture, which he will explain to us shortly, and is still competing in this week's JOs.

For more on Leever, read on:

What is a tibia-plateau fracture: “It's the bone on the outer part of your knee. It's the top part of the bone that connects to your knee. I fractured that in a race. The tibia and the femur hit together. That was about six weeks ago in Steamboat.

Did it hurt: “It was strange. It didn't really hurt. I couldn't support myself. I fell in the race and slipped down. I couldn't stand. I had to support myself on my poles.”

Rehab: “Just rest. I did swimming three days a week and I rode the bike everyday to get fluids out and help recover.”

How strong is the leg: “It's not perfect. Skiing on it, it feels fine. There's no pain. It feels pretty strong.”

Good comeback: “My first day in gates was Wednesday and then Thursday was our first training day. It's cool. I wish I could have done a little better today. I could have definitely could have gotten on the medal stand, but I'm happy with what I got.”

What's fun about skiing: “I like going fast and I like skiing down through the gates.”

First memory of skiing: “I started skiing when I was 2. I started racing when I was 6. When I was 2, I was skiing on Chair 12 here. My parents were holding me and helping me ski. It was fun. I've always loved powder skiing and racing.”

How old were you when you first skied the Back Bowls: “I think I was 3 or 4. My dad took me to China Bowl when I was 3. I just followed behind him on a pole.”

Other sports: Soccer

Goals for skiing: “I really want to make it to Whistler Cup (In British Columbia). My only chance now is to win tomorrow in slalom. The good thing is that's my best event. Home hill advantage definitely helps.”

Favorite subject: History

Powder day, where do you go: “Definitely straight to the Back, maybe hike up and do Upper Snag by Chair 14. Other than that, go to Blue Sky.”

Favorite pizza slice: Pepperoni.

Favorite food: Chocolate ice cream

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite sports team: Denver Broncos — “I really hope we keep Brandon Marshall. If we don't, I don't know what's happening.”

Favorite movie: “Talladega Nights”

Favorite TV show: “Family Guy”

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be: Spruce