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Norway sweeps U16 super-G

WMSC racers hit top 10
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Norway's Wilhelm Normannseth (centre) holds up his country's flag while flanked by Canada's Jamie Casselman (left) and New Zealand's Ben Richards (right). Photo by Dan Falloon

Norway got its way in both U16 super-G races to kick off the Whistler Cup on Friday.

Wilhelm Normannseth and Marte Monsen won the men's and women's contests, respectively, though Canada found its way onto the podium in each race.

Normannseth blazed down the course in a time of one minute, 11.63 seconds (1:11.63) to edge out New Zealand's Ben Richards (1.33 seconds back) and Canada's Jamie Casselman (1.79 seconds back). Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) racer Myles Kowalczyk hit the top 10 with run that was 3.04 seconds back of the Norwegian.

Normannseth said even though the conditions weren't necessarily perfect for his approach, he zoned in and tackled the challenge head on.

"I just focused on good skiing - my technique and not focusing on winning," he said. "It was very hard and fine... I've got quite long skis. I've got the World Cup skis with a very long radius, so it was quite hard. There were big turns."

The women's race was cut short because of the conditions, with 29 of the 78-skier field not getting a chance to start. Ultimately, Monsen's showing of 1:15.32 stood up by 1.15 seconds over Canadian Eloise Carle and by 1.27 seconds over Canadian Sierra Smith. WMSC's Ella Renzoni was also in the medal hunt, taking a time 1.61 seconds off of the winner to place fifth.

As for the U14s, Argentina's Tiziano Gravier and Canada's Emma Charton captured the victories in the day's dual slalom.

Action continues until Sunday. For more information, visit www.whistlercup.com.