Calgary, Alta. (January 22, 2017) – In Kitzbühel (AUT) today, it was the tech skiers turn to compete in front of thousands of screaming fans who came out to the Super Bowl of ski racing. The Canadian Ski Team athletes did not disappoint, with Calgary’s Erik Read and Toronto’s Phil Brown landing personal-best finishes on the famed track.  

Read skied to a top ten finish with a seventh-place slalom result in epicentre of ski racing. Read finished the first run in 22nd-place leaving himself some ground to make up in the second run. Putting down the second-fastest second run time, Read moved up 15 places to finish the day with his first-ever top ten finish in slalom. Read spent considerable time in the leader box after his incredibly composed and technically sound second run. The 25-year-old finished the second run just 0.51 seconds back from the fastest time and 1.92 seconds back from the fastest overall time.

“It’s super cool to have a result like this in the heart of ski racing in Austria in front of that crowd,” said Read. “Last year was my first taste of Kitz and I knew that it was a good opportunity for me with it being such a technical hill. The first run I had some good skiing but I tried to be smart over the terrain and didn’t carry speed quite like I knew I could. So that was the game plan for second run… bring up the intensity and find speed.”

Brown captured his first ever slalom points today, finishing the day in 23rd-place. Starting with bib number 49, Brown cut his bib in half in the first run, finishing in 25th-place, then moved up two spots on the second run for his final position of the day. 

“It was a good day at Kitzbühel!” said Brown. “Being in the points feels like it’s where I should be based on how I’m skiing in training and comparing myself to other athletes. It was super fun to race here at Kitz. It was a good experience and there’s lots to take away moving forward into the next races of the season.”

Austrian fan-favourite, Marcel Hirscher, won today’s race by 0.76 seconds. Great Britan’s Dave Ryding finished in second-place and Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov rounded out the podium in third-place.

The men’s team heads to Schladming (AUT) for a slalom race on Tuesday.

Canadian men’s results

7 – Erik Read

23 – Phil Brown

DNQ – Trevor Philp

Full results here. 

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Alpine Canada is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. With the support of valued corporate partners along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alpine Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic, world championship and World Cup medallists to stimulate visibility, inspiration and growth in the ski community.