US skiers take six podiums at alpine World Cup

Staci Mannella and Tyler Walker led a dominant performance from the US team at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Tarvisio, Italy, on Monday (18 January), securing wins as their teammates picked up four other podium places in slalom.

Nineteen-year-old Mannella came off a women’s slalom visually impaired victory at the opening World Cup of the season in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, on Saturday (16 January).

Guided by Sadie De Baun, Mannella (1:37.72) pushed South Korea’s Jae Rim Yang (1:38.16), guided by Un So Ri Ko, into second. US teammate Danelle Umstead (1:40.40), guided by her husband Rob, was third.

In the men’s visually impaired, Slovakia’s 2015 World Championships silver medallist Miroslav Haraus (1:16.76) came out on top with guide Maros Hudik. Russia’s world and Paralympic champion Valerii Redkozubov (1:18.54), guided by Evgeny Geroev, was second.

Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli (1:20.13) with guide Casal Fabrizio performed well on home snow to take third.

Germany’s Paralympic gold medallist Anna Schaffelhuber (1:27.45) secured her second consecutive women’s slalom sitting victory with two fastest runs.

Her teammate and rival Anna-Lena Forster (1:32.03) was second. Laurie Stephens (1:38.43) picked up another podium finish for the US in third.

Walker (1:20.67) claimed his win in the men’s sitting, improving on a fourth place first run by more than three seconds. Japan’s Taiki Morii (1:21.15) and France’s Frederic Francois (1:21.55) were second and third respectively.

French world champion Marie Bochet (1:23.21) continued her unbeaten World Cup run in the women’s standing.

Bochet, 21, completed two leading runs to take first place ahead of German Paralympic gold medallist Andrea Rothfuss (1:30.15). The USA’s Stephanie Jallen (1:30.86) was third.

Russia’s world and Paralympic title holder Aleksei Bugaev (1:15.59) remains the man to beat in the men’s standing, having now completed a hat-trick of wins in technical World Cups.

Swizterland’s Thomas Pfyl (1:19.83) graced his first World Cup podium of the season in second. James Stanton (1:20.35) rounded off a great day for the USA in third.

Full results are available online.

Competition in Tarvisio continues on Tuesday (19 January) with giant slalom. All the action is being shown live at www.ipc-alpineskiing.org courtesy of Rai Sport.

Updates and pictures are available at @IPCAlpine and Facebook.com/IPCAlpineSkiing.

The next World Cup gets underway in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on 22-23 January featuring slalom.