The final days of HomeLight Foundation Series NorAm racing at Whiteface Mountain had the men fighting inconsistent and difficult soft snow conditions. Large ruts, hips dragging on the snow, and “rough rides” were the takeaways for the back-to-back slalom races.
2021 World Junior slalom champion Benjamin Ritchie captured the win in Friday’s slalom. Ritchie finished with a time of 1:49:87, edging out Canada’s Asher Jordan by 0.07 seconds. Liam Wallace of Canada finished third.
“The conditions were not so great,” said Ritchie. “I skied two solid runs and I’m happy they were good enough to get the win.”
Just two weeks prior Ritchie was in the World Cup points in Schladming. The U.S. B Team member did not qualify for the six-men team representing the U.S. at the 2022 Olympic games. After a career-best season last year including his Junior Championship title and 13th place at World Championships, Ritchie battled Canada’s Jordan for yesterday’s gold.
Jordan has been a consistent NorAm contender in the tech events this season. He joined the Canadian development program in 2018 as a top-20 NorAm skier. Now 22 years old, Jordan is competing against his teammate Wallace for the slalom title.
After a second-place finish the alpine combined on Thursday, Wallace rounded out the podium in third. Wallace had the fastest slalom run in the alpine combined by nearly a second. Less than 0.30 seconds behind Ritchie on the first run, Wallace lost pace in his second run to finish with a time of 1:50:50 and 0.63 behind Ritchie.
With Ritchie traveling back to Europe and out of Saturday’s race, and Jordan not finishing his first run, Wallace took the win in a second day of tough racing conditions.
Wallace dominated his first run time and led by nearly a second. In soft conditions, running Bib 4 was advantageous his first run. He went on to perform a solid second run for a total time of 1:54:63, 1.59 seconds ahead of teammate Simon Fournier who finished second. With Jordan out of the race, Wallace overtakes the lead in the slalom, GS, and overall NorAm standings.
Behind 24-year-old Fournier was America’s Isaiah Nelson, Jimmy Krupka, and Alex Leever all within 0.07 seconds of each other. Independent Leever was leading the two U.S. Ski Team members in the first run but was overcome in the second. Nelson finished in third with Krupka and Leever behind.
About the Author: Karina Schwartznau
