FRANCE – Britt Richardson of Canmore is the newest junior world champion.
In a super competitive field, the elite alpine skier won gold in the women's giant slalom (GS) at the 2024 FIS Junior World Ski Championships on Friday (Feb. 2) in Port du Soleil, France.
It is Richardson’s first medal at a Junior World Ski Championships and might be a glimpse of what's still to come from the promising 20-year-old Canadian.
“I’m just super happy with how the day went and having a world junior championship medal is just super exciting and I’ve been wanting this for the past couple years,” said Richardson.
"I felt a lot of pressure coming into this race. I feel like there was a lot of expectations for me to win, but a lot [I put] just on myself, so to be able to kinda put that all together in one day and have two solid runs was really nice.”
Her overall time was 2:01.96 – 0.81 seconds quicker than Stefanie Grob of Switzerland in second place (2:02.77), who is a four-time junior world championship medallist.
Two-time junior world championship medallist Lara Colturi of Albania took bronze (2:03.14).
Richardson has skied aggressively all season, a bold approach that sometimes causes wipeouts, but it's also given her career-best results on the World Cup and, in this case, a gold medal at the biggest event of the year for junior skiers.
With the No. 3 bib, the quick Canmore skier jumped to the front of the pack to lead after her GS first run (59.44) at the French ski hill, with a 0.45-second head start for the final run.
To avoid mounting pressure between the two runs, Richardson said she tried not to think about being in the lead. She said she approached the brief intermission like a normal race and with a clear mind.
Richardson’s next run was the second fastest time – 0.07 seconds slower than USA’s Liv Moritz – but it didn’t matter as the Canuck was way out in front at that point.
“It’s just a huge relief to have a medal here, and for it to be a gold medal," said Richardson. "I think there’s been maybe a lack of confidence in some races leading up to this, so to be able to leave this with the medal was really nice. My mom was here and my aunt and uncle, so it’s really nice to celebrate with them and have them here on this special day."
With the victory, Richardson put the disappointment of last year’s junior world championships behind her when she crashed during the second run in St. Anton, Austria. Like this year, the Canuck had been leading the race before she wiped out halfway down the course.
“Last year, having a DNF after winning first run was a little bit devastating so to have a little bit of redemption today and actually finish with the gold medal is exciting," said Richardson.
RICHARDSON’S SKI CAREER AT A GLANCE
Coming from a ski family, Richardson has made headlines since she was a teenager, finding the podium from the local to national levels.
An alum of Burke Mountain Academy, a top-ranked skiing school that’s had world-class athletes like Mikaela Shiffrin walk its hallways, Richardson has had the distinction of being the youngest athlete on the national ski team since she was 18.
Now at age 20, Richardson has medalled at both junior worlds and world championships events.
Last season, the underdog Canadian team of Richardson, Erik Read and Jeff Read of Canmore, and Ontario’s Valerie Grenier won bronze in the mixed team parallel in Meribel, France, after defeating ski heavyweights Austria in the small final.
Racing on the World Cup circuit, Richardson is quickly establishing herself as an emerging threat in GS. This season, the quick Canuck has had three top-20 results, with a career-best 15th place on Canadian soil in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec in December 2023.
