Further Gold for Australia in 2012 INAS World Championship Giant Slalom

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Olivia Sayers Braving the Snowstorm in the Giant Slalom
Olivia Sayers Braving the Snowstorm in the Giant Slalom
First Placed Nicole Harris and Second Placed Heidi Mackowitz from Austria
First Placed Nicole Harris and Second Placed Heidi Mackowitz from Austria

Another day, another Gold for Australian Team member Nicole Harris. In extremely testing conditions she narrowly took out the Giant Slalom event at the 2012 INAS World Championships for the Intellectually Disabled, fractions of a second ahead of Austrian Team Member Heidi Mackowitz. Teammate Olivia Sayers finished in a gutsy ninth position in the Turkish blizzard.

Strong winds and heavy snowfall were the order of the day, which are never a particularly good combination for ski racing. However the two girls representing Australia took it in their stride and competed strongly again. Nicole paid tribute to her coaching team in Kimberley, Canada where she has been based for the past few Northern winters and has credited them with the improvements that have led to her success.

Merely completing both runs in such poor weather is a fantastic achievement, and Olivia is to be strongly congratulated for doing so with the added pressure of competing at a world level in skiing for the first time.

Regrettably Olivia’s mother and gun photographer Fiona was not able to repeat yesterday’s fantastic shots due to the blizzard, but at least they do convey just how foul the weather was!

Our final race is a Super G which will be held tomorrow morning and hopefully in better weather. Following this will be a closing ceremony during which the medals for all the events will be presented. Naturally we are hoping for a ‘clean sweep’ of Gold for Nicole and another strong performance from Olivia.

The official results will be available on the event website at http://erzurum2012iwsc.com and photos/other information will be available on the event’s Facebook Page

Nicole Harris Claiming Gold During the Turkish Blizzard
Nicole Harris Claiming Gold During the Turkish Blizzard
Olivia Sayers Braving the Snowstorm in the Giant Slalom
Olivia Sayers Braving the Snowstorm in the Giant Slalom

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