Nelson again top US finisher at junior world champs

Isaiah Nelson had a game plan going into the world juniors GS — keep things simple and just charge. Despite having a battle to keep consistent and clean down the course, Nelson finished seventh in Bansko, Bulgaria, leading his U.S. teammates for a second day in a row. 

Nelson scored Bib 1 for the GS and raced down pristine snow conditions under beautiful blue skies. It was quick tempo out of the gate and clean skiing that projected Nelson into the top times to begin with. A small mistake in the middle section was met with a quick recovery, and Nelson was able to hone back in his line over the rolling terrain to gain speed through the finish. While not the cleanest skiing, in his opinion, Nelson was happy to land in seventh after the first-run, just 0.62 off the top pace. 

“Today was definitely a battle,” said Nelson. “First run, running one, I tried to keep it super simple in my head and just go. I definitely held on a little bit but for the most part, sent it. I had a little bobble but kept on going and was pretty happy with where I was.”

Behind Nelson were his three teammates, Bradshaw Underhill, Ben Ritchie, and Cooper Puckett. Underhill had a tough fight down the course, skiing slightly behind his solid position and fighting through the finish to land in 28th. Teammate Ritchie, who sat out yesterday’s super G to focus on tech, pushed out with smooth and consistent skiing, yet didn’t ski with the same power that Nelson had thrown down earlier. Ritchie finished just behind teammate Underhill in 29th, setting up for a clean course second run. 

Young gun Puckett pushed out of the start determined to make his mark, producing the 11th fastest time on the first split. Into the pitch, he started late and fought for his line throughout the middle and end of the course. What looked to be a miraculous recovery did not hold, and Puckett sent himself flying through the third-to-last gate too straight, taking out the panel and missing the next gate. He was disqualified. It was Nelson, Underhill, and Ritchie in the top 30 for the second run.

Run 2

Both Richie and Underhill tightened up their line starting second and third in the second run, producing relatively clean skiing with minimum mistakes, down the fall line. Ritchie moved up into 22nd, and Underhill into 23rd. 

Course conditions held strong despite small chatter in the tight course set. Racers who started in the 20th position continued to lay down some of the fastest times. Nelson pushed out of the start trying to move quickly from turn to turn and was up on his first split. His line started to slip off the mark as he progressed into the bottom half of the course, but held it together to finish seventh for the day. 

“Second run I tried to be even cleaner on the pitch and I didn’t’ really do that very well,” said Nelson. “The course set was pretty tight for that second run, tight and turny, so I felt a little grindy. Second run was a little chattery but not that bad. I mean, yeah, of course I would have liked to do a little better, but I am actually happy.”

When Nelson looks back to a year ago, he sees many of his competitors that were farther ahead of him in times. While he feels he’s not at their same level quite yet, he knows with additional training he is moving in the right direction. 

The Austrian Lukas Feurstein put the hammer, taking home the gold after his second-place finish in the super G a day earlier. His tight line and clean skiing was no match for first-run leader Kasper Kindem, of Norway, who had a small mistake in the middle of the course and fell back to third. Yesterday’s winner Giovanni Franznoi, from Italy, finished second. 

Tomorrow will be the U.S. team’s opportunity to shine with development head coach Sasha Rearick setting the first course in the slalom. Slalom-focused skier Ritchie, who recently won a slalom Europa Cup and scored his first World Cup points in the event, will be the one to watch out of the start. Despite little training, Nelson has his sights on tomorrow with a similar game plan as today.  

“I am super pumped for slalom because lately I have been keeping it super simple,” said Nelson. “Considering I haven’t done a lot of slalom training, I just have to get back to the basics and keep it simple and focus on the one thing I need to do to charge. Sasha is setting the first run, hopefully it is sweet.”

The men wrap up their World Juniors experience with slalom tomorrow. Live streaming can be watched at https://bansko2021.ski/live.