The FIS Junior World Champs 2021 in Krasnoyarsk awarded medals in ski cross. The winners were Darya Melchakova (Russia) and Oliver Vierthaler (Austria).
Christina Foedermayr (Austria), Elizaveta Ponkratova, Iuliia Ivannikova (both from Russia) and Margaux Dumont (Switzerland) competed for 5th to 8th places in the small finals. Soon after the start, Elizaveta Ponkratova, who was the first, missed her position to Christina Foedermayr, who then won the run with a significant advantage and took 5th place. Elizaveta Ponkratova, Margaux Dumont and Iuliia Ivannikova took the 6th, 7th, and 8th place, respectively.
Darya Melchakova, Polina Ryabova (both from Russia), Diana Cholenska (Czech Republic) and Saskja Lack (Switzerland) competed for medals in the big finals. Daria Melchakova became the leader of the race, and won the gold medal: “I am very glad that I won! The rivals are incredibly strong and powerful! In fact, when I learned about the problems with the starting gate, I got very nervous and was afraid that the competition would either be canceled or postponed. It was not easy to get to the right headspace after such a break in the race – when you have to stand for a long time and wait for the start, you burn out emotionally. Heavy snow doesn’t help at all either – the first race did not work as I wanted. The speed changes because of the snowfall: sometimes you run too fast, sometimes you slow down. Fresh snow always slows down a little, and I had to change the tactics on the go. But we are used to such conditions. And I am very glad that in the end everything worked out for me!”
Diana Cholenska won the silver medal, Polina Ryabova was faster than Saskja Lack and got the bronze.
Gabriel Styner from Switzerland won the small finals and got the final 5th place. The 6th place was taken by Jonas Bachl-Staudinger (Germany), the 7th was Andrei Gerasimov (Russia), the 8th was Sven Liechti (Switzerland).
In the medal race, Oliver Vierthaler (Austria), Simone Deromedis (Italy), Vladimir Shmyrov (Russia) and Florian Fischer (Germany) went to the start. Throughout the entire distance, there was a tight fight between the finalists, but in the end, Oliver Vierthaler became the first: “I am satisfied with my performance, although due to the snow at first, I was running a little slower than usual. I have been doing ski cross since the age of five. It is a great sport! I just love jumping, turning and other tricks! The competitions are organized just fine, I also really liked the city. Russia turned out to be completely different from what I imagined and is very different from Austria. It is a unique country, this feeling is difficult to put into words.”
Simone Deromedis won a silver medal, Vladimir Shmyrov won a bronze medal.
Tomorrow, on March 27, FIS Junior World Champs 2021 will finish with a team ski cross competition.
Follow the competition schedule at ensib.ru. The tickets for the FIS Junior World Champs 2021 can be purchased at krs.kassir.ru on the events page.
