British team speed skier, Jan Farrell has had his first ever podium place at the World Cup event in Sun Peaks, Canada. It’s the first British podium in a World Cup Speed 1 event (the highest level of Speed Skiing competition) since 2004.
Farrell reached a speed of 167.45 KPH on March 6, 2018 that gave him third place with Italian Simone Origone taking top spot.
Farrell said:
This first Speed 1 podium is a victory for me, a dream come true. It’s a culmination of years of work, with a couple of bad seasons after my 217kph crash in 2016. I think the piste in Sun Peaks benefits me due to its undulations, I can work them to my advantage on my way down. I improved my spoilers for this race thanks to advice the days before from current World Champion Bastien Montes (FRA), I’ve cut the top part to achieve a lower position and I believe this has been a decisive part of my success. Mentally I’ve felt the need for speed more than ever, even more than before my crash. I could feel with every run that I was searching for the best line, adapting my body into the tightest tuck position possible.
There’s still three race events in the calendar before the end of the season including Idre Fjäll (Sweden), Erzurum (Turkey) and Grandvalira (Andorra) where Jan is looking to improve his results and become the first British speed skier to win an event since Nigel Brockton won in Altaussee, Austria in 2003.
