ITALY – With the first set of speed races in the books, a Canmore World Cup skier who rocketed into the top-10 had no need for a tune-up after a lengthy layoff.
With speeds hitting 110 km/h, Jeff Read threw down an impressive season-opening run in the men’s super-G in Italy on Dec. 15, finishing tenth at a time of 1:28.78. Blazing out of the start gate, the Banff Alpine Racers alum had also led all competitors at the first check-point.
“I didn’t know it was that good, but I knew it was solid and that was kind of the energy I was trying to bring the whole way down,” said Read, 26. “Maybe I had a few issues … at the bottom, but it is cool to see that was my first-ever interval win in the World Cup so that was a lot of fun.”
At the top of the course in Val Gardena/Goreden, Read (Bib. No. 18) confidently attacked the fast Italian course, double-polling and powering his way to the early lead. Crossing the finish line, the Canmore skier barely missed the podium – only 0.36 seconds off Swiss Superman Marco Odermatt’s pace for third.
In what was a big day for the Canadians, Jack Crawford and Cameron Alexander, who had Bib No. 63, finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Super-G combines the speed of downhill with the technical turning aspect of giant slalom. Each racer makes one run down between the gates and the fastest time wins.
With top-10 results in super-G this season and last, Read is catching the attention of the World Cup tour. Now ranked 12th in the world, Read strives to be established in the top-10.
“Until then, I still think I’m a bit of a sleeper pick, but I think things are trending upwards and definitely guys are seeing me more now in super-G,” said Read. “There’s no doubt that the podium is right there. Anyone who is in reach of that is a threat and everyone knows that.”
At the event in the Italian ski town, Read also finished 23rd and 44th in downhill races.
The speed kings of the World Cup finally hit the slopes for three consecutive days (Dec. 14-16) in Val Gardena/Groeden, with two downhill and one super-G, after the cancellation of the first five men’s speed races due to bad weather.
After six months of not racing, Read said he had a few concerns ahead of the races.
“I think once I got out there on race day and went through inspections and and great plan, everything just kind of fell into a comfortable routine and by the time I was in the start gate it was like I had raced 10 before,” he said.
About 25 km away, in the northern eastern ski village of Alta Badia, older brother and two-time Olympian Erik Read was racing in the men’s World Cup technical events.
Also with only a few starts so far this season, the 32-year-old finished 26th in giant slalom on Saturday (Dec. 17) and did not finish his first run of the same race the following day.
Banff’s Liam Wallace also DNF in Sunday’s (Dec. 18) giant slalom.
The next men’s tech events is Friday (Dec. 22) in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy.
The men’s speed races pick back up Dec. 28-29 in the northern Italian ski town of Bormio.
