U.S. skier Jeff Harrison wins gold in giant slalom at World Junior Championships

U.S. skier Jeff Harrison wins gold in giant slalom at World Junior Championships{mosimage}USSA — Jeff Harrison won the men’s giant slalom Friday at the FIS World Junior Alpine Championships. He led both runs for the third U.S. medal of the championships.

He also becomes the first world junior champion from White Pass, Washington, which also produced Steve and Phil Mahre, who went on to Olympic, World Championship and World Cup titles.

“I knew I could do it if I skied to my potential and had two clean runs,” Harrison said. “It hasn’t sunk in but I’m really very happy.”

Harrison, skiing sixth on the rock-hard snow, was timed in 2:17.40 with Kjetil Jansrud of Norway taking the silver medal. Ted Ligety ran his head through a gate panel during the first run but laid down a the ninth-fastest second run and moved up to 12th place. Andrew Weibrecht was 20th.

“It was great. I couldn’t’ve asked for anything more,” said Harrison, who was pleased that his parents were in the crowd. “They haven’t seen me race very much lately.”

Between runs, he said, he tried to keep a clear head and not think of the second run — not focus on anything other than not focusing. “I tried not to think,” said Harrison. He becomes the first U.S. skier to win the men’s GS at the World Juniors since Jeremy Nobis won at Alaska’s Alyeska resort in 1989.

“I like this type of snow,” he said, laughing that it was bulletproof and nothing like the moist snow the Cascades and central Washington receive. “Nope, nothing like this at home.”

Walt Evans, U.S. competition director and team leader for the U.S. squad in Maribor, said, “Conditions were fast with hard snow — it’s the hardest I’ve ever been on — and Jeff went right at it. He won the first run by about a half-second and didn’t let up.”

The first gold medal for the Americans in these championships, it follows the silver Tuesday from Lindsey Kildow and a super G bronze Thursday from Julia Mancuso.

“This is a great step for the entire team but it’s obviously outstanding for Jeff, great for the guys,” Evans added. “And we don’t feel this will be the end of it. We’re after the Marc Hodler Trophy [for the best overall team, based on top-10 results] and this is one big step forward.”

The schedule for the next two days, juggled because of weather concerns earlier in the week, shows women’s GS Saturday during the day and men’s slalom at night with the women’s slalom Sunday.

2004 FIS World Junior Alpine Championships

Maribor, Slovenia

February 13, 2004

Men’s Giant Slalom

1. Jeff Harrison, Steilacoom, Wash./White Pass Ski Area/U.S. C Team, 2:17.40

2. Kjetil Jansrud, Norway, 2:18.29

3. Fredrik Nordh, Sweden, 2:18.64

4. Patrik Kueng, Switzerland, 2:18.72

5. Francois Bourque, Canada, 2:18.85

Also:

12. Ted Ligety, Park City, Utah/Park City Ski Team/U.S. Development Team, 2:19.55

20. Andrew Weibrecht, Lake Placid, N.Y./New York Ski Educational Foundation/U.S. Development Team, 2:20.03

36. Eric Mann, Mammoth Lakes, Calif./Mammoth Mountain Ski Team, 2:22.91

53. Eric Beckmann, Altamont, N.Y./NYSEF, 2:24.69

DNF-1: Eric Weiss, Seattle/White Pass Ski Team/U.S. Development Team