19 December 2005: 

BRIDGWATER AND MCLEOD WIN COVETED FIS SUPER G TITLES IN THE US

New Zealand's flag has been flying high at the FIS race series at Winter Park Colorado during the past two days with National Team members Mark Bridgwater (Christchurch) and Erika McLeod (Auckland) each winning a prestigious Super G race and Nicola Campbell (Dunedin) achieving two second place finishes.

Sixteen-year-old Michelle Greig (Queenstown) who is a member of the National Squad was also on fire during the same event taking a fourth and fifth placing and lowering her Super G points.

In the first men's race Bridgwater won in 109.80 substantially lowering his points. It was a tight finish with Bridgwater fighting off a challenge from Americans Jakob Fiala who finished second in 109.89 and Ben Babbitt who was third in 109.94.

In the same race Mickey Ross (Oamaru) was 13th in 1.11.47, Tim Cafe (Queenstown) 20th in 1.12.38 and Andrew Greig (Queenstown) 30th in 1.13.26.

Ski Racing New Zealand Alpine Director Jim Davis says it was a good win for Bridgwater and reinforcement of his strong skiing at the recent Nor-Am Cup races in Canada where he had top 10 results in Super G and Downhill.

"Fiala is recently retired from the US Ski team and currently ranked 63rd in the world which gives an indication of the quality of Mark's victory."

In the second race which was won by Fiala in 1.10.12 Bridgwater did not finish. Ross also went out of the race leaving Cafe in 21st in 1.14.34 and Greig 22nd in 1.14.41.

"These results were positive for Tim and Andrew who improved their start numbers considerably," says Davis. "This means they are performing better than many better ranked skiers and they are on track towards improving their own rankings."

In the women's first race Erika McLeod headed off her team mate Nicola Campbell to win the race in 1.11.17 with Campbell applying pressure to finish second in 1.11.27. Both lowered their Super-G points giving them a good result in their Olympic campaign build up. Greig was placed fifth in 1.12.77 and Sarah Jarvis (Hamilton) took 18th slot in 1.14.77.

"This is Erika's first Super G win and the best SG result for Nicola for sometime . Both will improve their international rankings considerably and strengthen their chances at Olympic selection."

In the women's second race McLeod failed to finish the run. However Campbell continued her podium streak to finish a close second in 1.13.72 behind the winner Lyndee Janowiack of USA who won in 1.13.59. Greig in fourth position was well in the hunt in 1.13.77. Jarvis took 17th place in 1.16.58.

"This was a solid race for Nicola and a result which will likely put her within the discretionary Olympic selection standard in Super G," says Davis. " It was the second best Super G result ever for Michelle Greig and she was the second best junior age skier both days."

The national men's and womens teams are now competing in giant slalom and slalom races at Steamboat Springs in the USA.