Young Swiss team wins WC Finals team event

The World Cup Finals speed events concluded Thursday and the focus has now shifted to tech. The athletes first tackled the mixed team parallel event in Meribel today. Some nations had teams comprised of experienced World Cup racers, but others gave younger athletes a chance.

Switzerland walked away with an unexpected win with only one World Cup regular, Andrea Ellenberger, on their team. Fadri Janutin and Livio Simonet have had two and three World Cup starts, respectively. This was the World Cup debut for the fourth member of the team, Delphine Darbellay.

Italy had a very strong team with Federica Brignone, Giovanni Borsotti, Marta Bassino and Luca De Aliprandini and was one of the pre-race favorite teams. Despite this, Italy lost to Germany and did not even make it to the small final. Germany later lost to Switzerland but moved on to the small final where they battled the Norwegians for third place.

Ultimately, Switzerland won; Austria snagged second place, and Germany came in third.

The men’s GS and Women’s slalom will be held Saturday.