Half a second. The blink of an eye.
That’s all that kept Tiana Gairns from advancing to the big final at the Audi FIS World Cup ski cross Saturday at Nakiska, Alta.
With her parents from Prince George watching from the other side of the fence that lined the World Cup course Gairns, finished third in her semifinal heat, one position shy of the top-two finish needed to advance to the medal round.
Gairns was fourth out of the start gate and quickly caught Hannah Schmidt of Ottawa for third place near the top of the course but was unable to get close enough to Alizee Baron of France to make a pass. Sandra Naeslund and Baron moved on to the Big Final and Naeslund easily won that battle. The World Cup points leader from Sweden was all by herself at the finish to celebrate her second win of the weekend at Nakiska.
In the small final, Gairns finished third behind Alexandra Edebo of Sweden and Schmidt and ended up seventh overall, nearly matching her career-best sixth-place result she first posted four years ago at Nakiska and repeated in two races this season in December at Val Thorens, France.
Earlier Saturday, the 23-year-old Gairns qualified 12th out of a field of 24. Only the top 16 women advanced to the race. Gairns won her quarterfinal heat.
In the big final, Naeslund grabbed the early lead while Biron, the fourth qualifier, never left the start gate. Following close behind Naeslund, Marielle Thompson of Whistler and Fanny Smith of Switzerland both crashed just before they headed over the second turn when Smith ran out of room and crossed over Thompson’s skis when she ran out of room. Because Thompson was further down the course than Smith, she was awarded the silver medal.
In the men’s big final, Kristofor Mahler, who grew up close to Nakiska in Canmore, brought home gold for Canada, the second career World Cup win for the 26 year old. Mahler led from start t finish but had a fight on his hands holding off Florian Wilmsmann of Germany, who finished a close second. Ryan Regez of Switzerland edged Brady Leman of Calgary for bronze.
In other Canadian race results Saturday, Kevin Drury of Toronto, the silver medalist Friday, was 11th, and Reece Howden of Cultus Lake was 13th.The Crystal Globe points champion last season was in good position to advance, leading his quarterfinal heat, but straddled a gate and did not finish. Courtney Hoffos of Invermere was 11th in women's race.
The Nakiska races were the final qualifier for the Canadian Olympic team, which will be announced earlier next week. Canada is expecting to send four male and four female ski cross racers to Beijing next month.
