Competitive skiers from around the world sped down the slopes of Mount Sima as the local ski hill hosted its first Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), alpine ski races on Nov. 18 and 19.
Over the course of two days Mount Sima hosted women and men’s giant slalom and slalom competitions on its Dan’s Descent run with close to 45 competing in the women’s races and 39 in the men’s categories.
Canada ended up with two podium finishes in the four events with Ashleigh Alexander taking first in the women’s giant slalom with a combined time on two runs of 2:04.79, while Caeden Carruthers placed second in the men’s giant slalom with a time of 1:58.09, just 0.24 seconds behind first place Jan Ronner of Austria who finished at 1:57.85.
In third place for the men’s giant slalom was Hunter Eid of the United States with a time of 1:58.16.
Behind Alexander in the women’s giant slalom were Ainsley Proffit of the United States with a time of 2:05.11 and Ella Bromee of Sweden with a time of 2:05.33.
Meanwhile, the United States dominated the slalom races with Proffit finishing first in her two slalom races with a combined time of 1:35.20; and a first and second place finish in the men’s races with Eid in first with a time of 1:23.12 and Moro Bamber taking second with a time of 1:23.36. Finishing third in the men’s slalom was Ronner of Austria at 1:23.92.
Behind Proffit in the women’s slalom were Carmen Sofie Nielssen of Norway at 1:35.40 and Bromee of Sweden at 1:36.01.
Mount Sima general manager Sam Oettli said officials at the ski hill are looking forward to hosting more FIS events following the success of this one.
“It was a lot of work and I’m proud of everyone who helped put this event on,” he said in a statement. “The racers had a great experience on the hill and that was made possible by the organizing team and our sponsors. Having one FIS event under our belt, we look forward to making this an annual event.”
While this marks the first FIS alpine event to be hosted in the territory, Mount Sima has been hosting a number of preseason training events over the last few seasons.
Mount Sima is scheduled to open to the public for the season on Dec. 2.