Grimus back for Ski Cross

Courtesy www.owia.org

The FIS Ski Cross World Cup heads to Idre Fjall, Sweden this weekend will feature two athletes donning the green and gold racing kit.

Sochi Olympian, Anton Grimus is set to make his return to the circuit after battling a knee injury that has kept him out of competition over the past few months.

Still erring on the side of caution, the 26-year-old plans to take it easy in his first race back.

“Yeah skiing had been fine but we’ll see how the training runs go on the track,” Grimus said.

“Feeling confident but the plan is to take every day as it comes and gauge how the knee holds up.

“Confident though that it'll be ready to go!”

This weekend’s competition comes after last week’s World Cup in Feldberg, Germany was postponed due to weather conditions, despite a herculean effort from circuit organisers. 

Fellow Aussie, Sami Kennedy-Sim finished 11th after her one run on the German course, and said the competition left her feeling frustrated. 

“It is never ideal to have a competition cancelled,” Kennedy-Sim said. “They ran 'part' of a race on Saturday and then adjusted the result based on your rank. In this circumstance, I never had a chance at the podium.”

Kennedy-Sim, who also made her Olympic debut at the Sochi 2014 Games, will be looking to bounce back this weekend on the challenging Swedish course.

“Last season I had an injury in Watles, Italy that sidelined me for some weeks over January.

“Idre was my first comp back and it was very intimidating. It was the first time we had competed here.”    

The 28-year-old described the track as a very long course, with “very very big” jumps.

“Having said that, now we have been here once before, I know more of what I should expect.

“It's the complete opposite of the race in Feldberg last week.”

Kennedy-Sim currently sits in 15th on the FIS leader board, while Grimus sits in 43rd and both will be looking to get 
Australia up onto the podium this weekend and increase their world rankings.

The pair are both looking to make their second Olympic appearance at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, where they will line up against 32 of the world’s best ski cross athletes.

Competition in Idre begins on Thursday, February 9th, with the first round of qualifications followed by round two on Friday.

Back-to-back races will take place on Saturday and Sunday, both beginning at 10:30CET (19:30 AEDT).

Ashleigh Knight