Skiing: Canadian women dominate giant slalom

The Canadian national women's team dominated the giant slalom on the first day of racing at the Southern Cup race series at Coronet Peak near Queenstown yesterday.

The Canadian women set the six fastest times - including 12 of the top 13- and were led by Marie Michelle Gagnon with a combined time of one minute 44.70 seconds.

Gagnon was closely followed by team-mates Genevieve Simard in 1min 45.14sec and Larisa Yurkiw in 1min 45.83sec.

With Canada hosting the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in February, the Canadians are using these races and the upcoming Winter Games as opportunities to race train in a competitive environment.

New Zealand were led by Alexandra McGlinn with a combined time of 1min 50.85sec.

In men's competition, Sweden's Andre Myhrer won in 1min 42.70sec, followedby teammate Hans Olsson in 1min 43.02sec and Canada's David Donaldson with 1min 43.40sec.

Queenstown's Tim Cafe flew the flag for New Zealand after a brief layoff due to injury.

Skiing with a cast on his arm, Cafe was 14th quickest with 1min 45.08sec.

- NZPA