NorAm downhill final canceled: Ford, Werry take titles
With the final event of the NorAm downhill season canceled due to high winds in Sugarloaf, Maine, Wednesday, the 2015 NorAm titles were settled in anticlimactic fashion based on a pair of December races in Lake Louise.
American Julia Ford and Canadian Tyler Werry were awarded the NorAm downhill titles. With two races in the books, the results are enough for both athletes to earn World Cup starts in the discipline next season. With runner-up results for North Americans in the discipline standings, Canadian Jeffrey Frisch (third) and American Katie Ryan (fourth) also lock down World Cup starts.
The decision to cancel comes in the midst of an already challenging week for the crew at Sugarloaf. Massive snowfall over the weekend forced postponement of training runs to the day of the U.S. National Championship on Tuesday. NorAm proceedings were meant to resume today, but wind gusts of 80 KPH made it impossible to hold a fair and secure race, even after they lowered the start.
“I’m no lightweight and I was almost blown over going from the Comp Center to the Base Lodge,” said Chief of Race Thelma Hoessler.
Werry won both of those NorAm downhills in Lake Louise, not far from his hometown of Calgary, to decisively take the discipline title with 200 points. This season, Werry also competed at the World Cups in Soelden, Lake Louise, Beaver Creek, Santa Caterina and Wengen, as well as the Europa Cup in Val d’Isere. His best World Cup result was 26th in the Wengen alpine combined. His previous best result in the NorAm downhill standings was 13th last season, though he did claim the 2014 super G title.
For Holderness racer Julia Ford, Wednesday’s NorAm downhill title is the third of her career — she also won in 2011 and 2012. This season, Ford finished first and second in Lake Louise. On the latter occasion she was outpaced by Marusa Ferk of Slovenia. Ford has also made a handful of World Cup starts this season, including Lake Louise, Val d’Isere, St. Moritz and Garmisch, where she matched her season-best result of 38th in the downhill.
NorAm Finals resume Thursday with the men’s and women’s super G at Sugarloaf. Winds are expected to die down by race time.