Are, SWE (Feb. 8, 2019) – Roni Remme (Collingwood, Ont./Alpine Ski Club) laid down the day’s fastest slalom run to climb into fifth in the ladies’ combined, just .67 seconds off the podium, at the 2019 Audi FIS Alpine World Championships in Are, Sweden, on Friday.

This combined featured one downhill and one slalom run, showcasing the best of speed and technical racing. The 22-year-old Remme, who was 28th after the downhill, leveraged her early start position in the slalom to climb 23 spots and land a top-five finish in her first-ever World Championships race.

“I was not super thrilled with my downhill run this morning, so for sure, coming into the slalom, I wanted to change gears and really try to attack it as best as I could,” said Remme from the finish area. “Coming out of the start, the snow was money and I knew that I needed to go a little bit more, so about halfway down, I really tried to change gears and give it everything I had from the bottom-half down. I’m really happy with the way I skied that part.”

Teammate Marie-Michèle Gagnon (Lac-Etchemin, Que./Mont Orignal), 29, climbed to 14th after posting the 23rd-fastest time in the downhill.

Gagnon has had success in the combined in the past, earning a sixth-place finish at Worlds in 2017, and winning a World Cup combined in 2016.

“I haven’t really prepared in slalom this year but I thought I could maybe pull it out with experience. This was an easy slope, the kind of snow that I really like”, said Gagnon, who has been focusing on the speed races since returning from injury. “I didn’t make mistakes, I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. I’m taking each race one by one.”

Full race results can be found at FIS-SKI.com.

Racing is set to resume on Saturday with the men’s downhill. All races are streamed live at CBCsports.ca.