After a seventh-place finish on Saturday (Feb. 5), Squamish's Kasper Woolley bounced back, winning the gold on Sunday (Feb. 6) in a boys' slalom race at Grouse Mountain, part of the Teck K1 juvenile alpine ski racing series.
Woolley continued his string of strong performances. Despite rainy conditions on Sunday, Woolley persevered and pulled out a win.
"I knew I had to charge in the second run to make up the time," he said, noting that he made a slight mistake in his first run. "The last part of the course where it got really bumpy, I fell on my side and thought I blew the race. Then I got back to the lodge and my friends told me I had won and I was really happy and excited."
Woolley had a combined time of one minute, 15.02 seconds for his two runs, almost half a second faster than the second-place finisher. Saturday saw racers only make one run, which Woolley completed in 33.42 seconds, good for seventh place.
"Race days are intense, and the Grouse races were no different," said head coach Raul Anguita. "The terrain was challenging and we saw very good skiing."
Other strong performances from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club included Max Kirshenblatt, who placed second on Saturday and Alex Uryga, who had second- and third-place finishes in Saturday's races. For the ladies, Gabrielle Smith and Laura Swaffield reached the podium on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Finn Iles also placed second, finishing one spot behind Woolley on Sunday.
Next up for Woolley will be a trip to Silver Star to compete in the K1 Westerns. Woolley qualified for the Westerns by placing in the top 10 in Sunday's race. The K1 Westerns will take place on Feb. 18 to 20.
For more information and complete results from the Grouse races, visit http://bcalpine.com/news/.
