Sweden’s Swartz wins first career NorAm
It was gold for Sweden in the men’s slalom at Burke Mountain on Tuesday. During his first NorAm season, 18-year-old Fabian Ax Swartz went home with a huge win.
Swartz had a dominant first run and led the American skier Noah Riemenschneider in second place with 2.43 seconds. After leading by a comfortable margin, Swartz held it together in his second run to finish with 3.62 seconds.
“I’m really happy with my skiing today and especially happy that I managed to keep it together for a second ride as well,” said Swartz. “It was a very nice reward after all the time and effort I have put in over the years, and still is, because I know I have a long way to go.”
Behind Swartz, it was a battle for second and third with narrow margins on the second run. After sitting in seventh place in the first run, Alpine Canada’s Asher Jordan went around with a demanding second run, just 0.02 seconds behind Swartz. His teammate Liam Wallace had the fastest second run but sat too far behind in 13th place after the first run for a podium place.
US Ski Team rookie Cooper Puckett was fourth after his first run, 2.91 seconds behind Swartz. He kept the consistency in his second run when Riemenschneider and teammate Jimmy Krupka ended up behind his first running pace and opened the podium for Puckett.
“To finally get on the podium after being the fourth first run felt great,” Puckett said. “The field is super fast right now so I was really happy that I could take advantage of the hard sets. It definitely does not feel good to be that far away but I think everyone knew that Fabian’s race was really special. I’m still eager to send it and move up. ”
Tuesday’s race ends the men’s February block of NorAm racing. They return to Sugarloaf on March 20 to kick off the NorAm finals.
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