Laidlaw gains valuable big event experience

Despite not getting the end result he may have wanted, Harry Laidlaw performed admirably at his debut World Championships in St Moritz, Switzerland.

"It was an unreal experience and I’m hoping to do more events like it in the future." Laidlaw said. "I was pretty disappointed crashing in my only event at the Championships but yes I was happy with how I skied with the gnarly conditions."

Conditions for the Super G racing on 8 February were challenging for all, with overcast skies and flat light making it difficult to see bumps and terrain changes. The weather added to the difficulty of the race hill which was very challenging with five major jumps, four of which the next gate could not be seen making course inspection and visualisation crucial.

A crash before Laidlaw was due to ski caused lengthy delays for his start, but he handled the pressure commendably.

“These delays can mess with your concentration and confidence,” Alpine Program Director Brad Wall said. “Knowing that other athletes have crashed in a particular place can make you question your inspection and game plan casting doubts on your approach.”

Once on the course, Laidlaw skied the top section well, finding speed where he could and executing his race plan. Halfway down the track he made a small tactical error, not switching to his new ski early enough, which caused him to drift low in a critical section of the course and lose considerable time. 

He regained the line, however on one of the final jumps where a number of athletes found trouble, Laidlaw got a little compressed and twisted and crashed, narrowly missing the fence as he recovered.

“Harry skied with aggression and confidence which was impressive on its own,” Wall said. 

“He was not injured in the crash and was in high spirits and motivated to continue working and skiing more speed events.

“I was impressed with his approach and professionalism all week, given his limited exposure to World Championship standard speed events. The way that he attacked, skied with confidence and looked for speed was very promising.”

The event was taken out by Canadian Erik Guay in a time of 1:25.38. Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud was second and Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada was third.

Laidlaw now heads to Oberjoch, Germany, where he will contest two Giant Slalom races at the Europa Cup from 17 – 19 February.