Read edges Philp for WPST giant slalom win in Taos

TAOS, New Mexico – There were several new faces dominating Sunday’s men’s World Pro Ski Tour giant slalom event and most of them were Canadian. The surprises came one after another during the final race of the Taos 2022 World Pro Ski Tour World Championships, presented by New Mexico True, which featured athletes from 10 nations.

As the morning met with gusty winds and flat light that rendered the Taos Ski Valley course dangerously hard and fast, racing began in uncharacteristic fashion, with athletes taking to the course solo rather than head-to-head in the opening round of 32.

The biggest shocks came early on as WPST favorites Rob Cone, Nolan Kasper and Saturday’s second place finisher Miha Kuerner were quickly eliminated.

“I was just trying to be as consistent as I typically am on the tour,” said Cone, who was undefeated for two full seasons and had never missed a podium throughout his entire WPST tenure before Saturday’s seventh-place finish. “I’m proud that some of the old guard of the Pro Tour held strong in the top 8 [Saturday]. Here, this is a standard, FIS-style, solo timed run. There’s not that instant feedback of head-to-head racing, where all you need to do is beat that fella behind you, ahead of you, beside you. I love having a racer next to me to know what I have to do.”

The head-to-head format returned for the ensuing rounds of Sunday’s GS, but the upsets continued. Canadian World Cup skier Trevor Philp came out swinging, defeating Olympic medalist Linus Strasser of Germany, who won his WPST debut race on Saturday. Philp beat Strasser in the round of 16 as Austrian NCAA champion Tobias Kogler eliminated WPST luminary Simon Breitfuss Kammerlander. Also, World Pro Ski Tour rookie leader Drew Duffy came back from a first-run deficit to take down ringleader Michael Ankeny and Canadian speed specialist Jeffrey Read, after putting down the Rocket Mortgage Rocket Run of the Day, defeated U.S. Olympian River Radamus.

Duffy then edged Jeffrey Read in a hotly contested quarterfinal round as the older Read brother, Erik, found a gear that nobody else could for the remainder of the day. Erik Read took out compatriot Simon Fournier in the quarterfinal and then Duffy in the semifinal, Duffy sustaining a hard crash in the first run as Read surged ahead to face yet another teammate, Trevor Philp, in the final.

Erik Read, 30, claimed his top results of the season in parallel events, including a seventh in the Lech/Zuers World Cup parallel, ninth in the Beijing Olympic team event and eighth in team parallel at World Cup Finals. Otherwise, the majority of his top 10 Cup results have come in giant slalom. Most of Philp’s top World Cup results have also come in parallel, and the two gave each other a true run for their money in the final round, Read squeaking ahead by less than two tenths of a second for the win.

“Trevor and I were down to the wire,” Read said. “I saw him right next to me going off the jump coming into the alley to the finish, so I knew it was going to be close. The last time I raced him was on the Lech World Cup and he got the best of me, so this was redemption. I’m super happy with the win.”

Read’s uncle, World Pro Ski Tour legend Jim Read, coached Erik in the dual format when he was growing up. Still, the Canadian World Cupper didn’t mind starting the day on the more familiar solo course.

“That was more like traditional ski racing,” Read said of Sunday’s opening round. “I pushed out and it was like, OK, this is GS. I know what I’m doing. But I love the head-to-head format. I’m glad we stuck to it for the rest of the day.”

 As for the Canadian dominance on Sunday, Read said the team came into the race knowing they were strong in parallel GS. That’s not to say the weekend didn’t require a steep learning curve.

“It’s totally different here,” Read said of the WPST. “I was figuring it out as quick as I could yesterday. The gate makes a big difference, but it’s also the mentality you have when you’re out [on the course]. If you’re neck and neck, then you know you can keep skiing at that level and stick to your game plan. But if they get ahead of you, that changes it. You start trying to push a little more, take a little extra risk to catch up and that’s when mistakes happen. It’s really about nailing the start, but if you don’t, keeping your cool and executing the rest of the way down.”

Read was impressed with his inaugural Pro Tour experience all around.

“Trevor and I were both knocked out in the round of 16 yesterday. It goes to show how good these guys are, the classic Pro Tour skiers,” Read said. “I also want to say thank you to Taos. It’s been a great atmosphere.”

In addition to his $20,000 for the race win, Read split an additional $25,000 with Strasser, tying the German for the Taos World Championship overall title.

In the small final, Kogler came back from a first-run loss to Duffy to surge ahead for third place. For more results, visit worldproskitour.com.