Fredericsson on her way to a $10,000 cash prize: photo credit Lisa Mutz-Nelson

Europeans prevail in the season opener at Howelsen Hill

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – It was a hard-charging day of surprises and upsets at the season opener of the 2023 World Pro Ski Tour at Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs on Friday.

Europeans landed on top in both the men’s and women’s parallel slalom races as reigning tour champions took a backseat amid constant snowfall, fierce wind and progressively challenging conditions.

On the men’s side, No. 1 qualifier and World Pro Ski Tour veteran Michael Ankeny made things exciting from the outset. He was first out of the gate in the round of 16 with his hair on fire, sliding fully onto his hip at one point and landing one-legged off a jump to lead and then win the round. However, In the quarterfinals, he faced Norwegian Mathias Tefre, narrowly beating him in the first run but then getting scrappy in the second run, catching a gate as Tefre fired ahead to advance and Ankeny crossed the finish line with a gate panel wrapped around his leg.

Going all out

“It happens when you’re pushing it,” said Ankeny, who won back-to-back races in Steamboat last year and finished second overall. “Occasionally, you’ll miss the line or misjudge something. My preparation has been non-existent this year. I’m glad to be competing at a high level with a lot of these great skiers.”

Three-time Pro Tour champion Rob Cone was also eliminated in the quarterfinals, facing off against Swiss slalom specialist Reto Schmidiger, who was fresh off of a fourth-place Nor-Am finish in Burke, VT and competing in his inaugural Pro Tour race.

“On two consecutive runs, I clicked my skis together and did a light boot out. Something just got me off my line. It was pretty aggressive against Reto. I should have been more consistent and balanced,” Cone said.

New leaders

Austria’s Simon Breitfuss Kammerlander lost to Slovenian Miha Kuerner in the first round. Kuerner then relented to Tour rookie Jeremie Lagier of France. Lagier faced off with Norway’s Joachim Lindstol in the semifinals, which was a photo-finish showdown, with Lagier advancing with a .001-second victory. Tefre dominated Schmidiger in the semifinals, taking on Lagier in the final round. The race culminated in an intensive matchup, with both athletes fighting for speed. Lagier ended up skiing off-course after a jump as Tefre shot across the line with the big win and a $10,000 check.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Tefre, a senior at the University of Vermont and a consistent top 10 force on the GS and slalom college circuit. “I struggled a bit in qualification, but in the round of 16, I figured out how to ski the course and hill.”

The consensus among racers was that the blue course was faster on top, but the red was faster on the bottom. Tefre nailed down a successful strategy that worked in both.

Course connection

“If I was doing blue, I tried to charge as much as possible at the top and tried to go easier on the bottom. Red was just like, get through those first gates and then at the bottom, you could really let it go,” he said.

The 23-year-old Norwegian said the real boost of confidence came in taking down Ankeny.

“I had a couple of good runs and that made me stand tall on the skis,” Tefre said. “It was nice getting those veterans out of the way and have a real ski race at the end there.”

Rookie for the win in the women’s race

With a small but stacked field in the women’s event, newly retired World Cup slalom specialist Erin Mielzynski put the hammer down early on and handily earned the top qualifying spot. With only eight women competing, the Canadian, who has a World Cup win to her credit and numerous top 10s in slalom and parallel, proceeded to win every run against rookie Rachael Desrochers in the quarter-finals and then against Slovakian Olympian Sona Moravcikova in the semis.

Meanwhile, Evelina Fredericsson of Sweden was busy clawing her way forward. A WPST rookie, the 23-year-old Westminster College tech racer took down American Soneva Scott in the quarterfinals and then edged 2022 WPST champion Tuva Norbye of Norway in the semis. Norbye, who had a couple of lucky breaks with opponents making mistakes, ended up squeaking by Moravcikova to take third place in the small final as Mielzynski and Fredericsson went head-to-head in the championship round.

Last-second surprise

Mielzynski continued her domination streak to the second-to-last run.

“I barged my timing in the start and when I went to skate, I missed my pole plant. My starts aren’t the best,” Mielzynski said. “The blue course was faster at the top. The red course was faster at the bottom, so I didn’t have enough. You can’t let off. She was hammering.”

Although Mielzynski lost speed, Fredericsson, who podiumed on this very hill in a FIS slalom race this December, trailed her for the majority of the run. Then the Swede made a mad dash in the middle of the course and both women crossed the line in unison. However, the Swede had .02 seconds on her side for the win.

“I felt like the red course was a little faster at the bottom, but at the top sometimes I was a little late,” Fredericsson said. “She was in front of me in the middle and I just tried to make clean turns. I tried to catch up. I was surprised I did. That was really fun.”

Race action continues at Howelsen Hill on Saturday with another men’s and women’s super slalom.

Friday, January 6th, results

Women’s results

Men’s results