Womens NorAm overall podium. Cassidy Gray, Mary Bocock, Dasha Romanov. Photo: Alpine Canada
The NorAm season concluded on March 28th with the slalom at Whistler Mountain. Beautiful sunny skies greeted racers for Tuesday’s slalom races. Both Lila Lapanja and Jett Seymour took their first NorAm wins of the 22-23 NorAm season. Swiss skier Reto Schmidiger and Allie Resnick of the Stifel U.S. team took home the slalom titles.
The U.S. Ladies Take the Top Five
Independent U.S. skier Lila Lapanja battled with Utah’s Madison Hoffman in the opening run. Hoffman led the charge by over half a second ahead of Lapanja. It was a technical slalom slope that challenged Lapanja who knew that Hoffman had been skiing strong this season. During the second run, Hoffman did not finish, leaving the door wide open for Lapanja to take the win by 0.61 seconds.
“This slope that really tested me so being on the top of the podium was rewarding after a long season,” said Lapanja. “Maddie (Hoffman) has been skiing really well so I knew I had to step up to compete with her and all the other athletes who have been racing all week. I look forward to what we can all do in Europe next year.”
Liv Moritz, the 18-year-old skiing out of Vail, captured her first NorAm podium in second. Mortiz and her twin siter were named to the U.S. Junior World Ski Championship team in January. The dominate slalom skier has captured multiple podiums throughout the U.S. FIS circuit before grabbing her debut NorAm silver.
After a tight battle among Stifel U.S. teammates, Dasha Romanov surpassed Zoe Zimmermann and Allie Resnick in the second run to capture the bronze.
“I was honestly just thinking about having fun with the last NorAm race of the season and skiing my best,” said Romanov. “Slalom is my favorite event, and my goal was to come down at the end of the day and be happy with how I skied and the effort that I put in.”
Resnick claimed another top-5 NorAm slalom finish, capturing the NorAm slalom title with teammate Zimmermann earning the other personal World Cup NorAm start quota for next season.
“I’m super happy with my consistency in slalom this year,” said Resnick. “I had a goal of winning this title while also taking classes and competing for Dartmouth. I am happy that I was able to accomplish it all.”
Seymour wins ahead of Schmidiger
The Canadian’s came out strong in the opening slalom run. Asher Jordan and Liam Wallace set the pace, with Jordan nearly a second ahead. U.S. skier Benjamin Ritchie who was just behind Wallace in third.
Second run started the shakeup. Wallace did not finish and Asher was disqualified. It was anyone’s race for the taking, and Jett Seymour rose to the challenge, moving from fourth to take the win by over a second.
“It was a good race day,” said Seymour. “I really enjoyed skiing all day. I can’t wait for U.S. Nationals.”
Swiss skier Reto Schmidiger was sitting just 0.04 behind Seymour in the first run. He fell behind the pace in the second run, but surpassed Ritchie to finish second. Ritchie rounded out the podium in third.
Schmidiger, the three-time Junior World Champion and former World Cup athlete, won the slalom title by 61 points. He has been frequenting the World Pro Ski Tour in addition to the NorAm circuit. Behind him for the overall was Stifel U.S. member Isaiah Nelson, who didn’t finish his first run and was out for the day. Nelson still racked up four podium finishes for the NorAm slalom circuit this season. He also walked away with the NorAm overall title.
“Considering what I learned in Europe combined with the NorAm overall, I am really looking forward to pushing myself to start competing alongside the best in the world,” said Nelson. “I know it won’t be easy, but I am confident in myself and ready for the challenge.”
The U.S. Alpine National Championships presented by Stifel kick off in Sun Valley, ID on April 2nd for the final U.S. races of the season.
About the Author: Karina Schwartznau
