Downhill skier Laura Swaffield quickly moved on from a disappointing first run to finish 17th overall in the girls U16 giant slalom at the Whistler World Cup April 5. She improved on that one day later and finished 15th in the slalom.
Swaffield, a Grade 10 student at Crofton House who trains with the Whistler Mountain Ski Club but skied under the Canadian flag at the international race, didn鈥檛 get off to a great start on the first day of competition. In the Super-G April 4, she finished 38th.
鈥淭he weather was really foggy so the visibility was really bad. I didn鈥檛 have proper lenses in so I was going down the course and I honestly couldn鈥檛 see anything,鈥� she said Monday. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 see the gates, I couldn鈥檛 see the paint. I wasn鈥檛 able to ski nearly as well as I know I can.鈥�
The clouds lifted on the second day of the , a competition that brings together 400 racers aged 14 to 16 from 27 countries.
鈥淭he next day, I was going to redeem myself,鈥� said Swaffield.
It took her one more run to show what she could do in the giant slalom.
鈥淎fter my first run, again I didn鈥檛 ski my best. I felt like I was just kind of frozen. I was nervous,鈥� she said.
Her Whistler club coaches told her to take her second attempt like it was a brand new weekend. She dropped two seconds on her first run and put in the ninth fastest time. Her combined results put her in the top 20 at 17th place.
She stepped it up again on the third day of competition and in the slalom, finished 15th overall, 6.19 seconds behind the winner from Austria.
Canada finished third in the overall point standings after winning gold in 2013.
