Chloe McConville has made her first podium in a FIS international event, taking third place in the Swiss Cup sprint in Sion on Thursday January 17. The 20-year-old from Myrtleford qualified second in the 1km time trial behind Sandra Gredig of Switzerland, then in the A-final lunged her way into third place after a spectacular fall together with the eventual fourth placed skier. Six out of the seven Australians competing in the night sprint made it through to the final rounds, though it has to be said that the field was a little slimmer than the last Swiss City-Sprint which was also an OPA Continental Cup.

Ben Sim qualified for the open men's final in 11th place, 7 seconds behind the fastest qualifier Gaudenz Flury. Callum Watson was only 1.5 seconds behind Sim, and qualified in 7th place for the U20 finals. In the U20 women's class Juliette Booth, Georgia Merritt, and Jaffa Withers qualified in 9th, 10th, and 11th place, all within 0.25 of a second of each other. Aimee Watson qualified 5th in the open women's class, however only the top four women were taken directly through to the A-final. The fields were a little slimmer than the last Swiss City-Sprint which was also an OPA Continental Cup.

McConville made a good start in the A-final behind Gredig, though started to lose contact with the leader at the end of the first lap. As they went through the lap lane McConville was overtaken by Rahel Imoberdorf, and had Nicole Donzallaz on her heels. As the three went over a bridge into a sharp left hander Donzallaz tried to overtake on the inside and put her hand on McConville's shoulder and McConville fell heavily, then the Swiss girl collided with her on the ground and somersaulted over the top - all caught nicely on the two big video screens in the middle of the town square. The two skiers got back to their feet at the same time and began the race for third. McConville was behind as they hit the final lanes but drew level and outlunged Donzallaz right on the line. It was all worth the effort as third place won CHF 500 and 4th place received CHF zero.

The three junior Australian girls were all knocked out in the quarter finals, with Booth the closest to making it through just behind the 8th fastest qualifier and Withers putting in a tough fight against the 3rd and 6th ranked skiers. Sim also went out in the quarterfinals, but just held onto 3rd place in the final straight and ended up in 9th overall. Callum Watson was second in his quarter final then was knocked out in the semi-final by a couple of very fast juniors who were over 5 seconds quicker than him in qualifying. In the B-final Watson was right in the mix before he took a corner too tightly and veered over into the starting chute through a couple of V-boards. He tried hard but couldn't catch back up and ended up in 8th place overall.

Courtesy XC Files