Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Jono Brauer has taken a victory and two silver medals away from the FIS ANZ Cup races in Coronet Peak, New Zealand.

The Torino Olympic representative started his four day New Zealand campaign with silver in the slalom behind American skier Ted Ligety, with Timothy Kelley, also of the US in third place. Ligety ended last World Cup season ranked number four in slalom.

In a field of Australian, New Zealand, US, Japanese, Swiss and Korean skiers, Matthew Robertson was the next best Australian, finishing 8th overall.

The following day - in the absence of Ligety - Brauer skied to the top of the slalom podium, edging out fellow Australian Demian Franzen, with Rudi Von Kaenel of Switzerland taking bronze.

The competition in the opening GS of the series was particularly tough, with the full Swedish World Cup team competing, as part of their southern hemisphere training.

In a Swedish trifecta, the gold medal went to veteran Frederick Nyberg in a time of 1:46.29 from Jens Byggmark and Niklas Rainer.

Brauer snared sixth place, posting 1:47.31, while Franzen was back in 14th place.

With the Swedes opting to miss the last race of the series, another GS, Brauer again made the podium, finishing in second place to US skier Thomas Lanning.

Lanning recorded 1:46.36 to Brauer's 1:48.06, with third place going to Lanning's team-mate James Cochrane.

Franzen was the next best of the Australians, in fifth place, with Hugh Stevens coming in at 8th place.

Courtesy OWI/Sportcom