Dead-heat concludes alpine Europa Cup

A dead-heat between Dutch skier Jeroen Kampschreur and Germany’s Georg Kreiter highlighted the last day of the IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup in Landgraaf, the Netherlands, on Friday (20 November).

The pair went head-to-head in the slalom men’s sitting on the indoor course at Snowworld with Kampschreur leading after the first run on home snow.

However as the competition progressed, nothing could separate them, and both skiers finished with a combined time of 1:25.13 to share the top podium place.

Sixteen-year-old Kampschreur said: “Wow, this is great! It was very close and now we ended up in exactly the same time. That’s fine by me. Gold is gold and I’m very happy with it. I’ve never won a Europa Cup before.

"It was great to start the season like this. I think I’ve made a lot of progression since last season, starting a full time programme at the national training centre. Mentally I’ve also become stronger. Before I often was nervous before the start. Now not anymore. I could keep a good focus for a good race."

In a further twist the winner from Thursday’s (19 November) Europa Cup slalom, Poland’s Igor Sikorski, was also strong and finished just nine tenths behind in 1:25.22.

On the women’s side Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster (1:35.32) claimed her second consecutive win, once again beating Austrian world champion Claudia Loesch (1:36.38). Forster put in a strong performance, only trailing Loesch on the final run.

The Netherlands’ Linda van Impelen (1:41.38) finished third.

In the men’s standing Austrian Martin Wuerz (1:25.82) improved on his second place finish from Thursday. Jeffrey Stuut (1:25.88) was close behind in second, as was Finland’s 15-year-old Santeri Kiiveri (1:26.03) on his Europa Cup debut with third.

German Paralympic champion Andrea Rothfuss (1:37.76) took the victory once again in the women’s standing to cement her early lead at the top of the Cup table.

After finishing third on the previous day, Switzerland’s Bigna Schmidt (1:40.40) claimed second. Russian Anastasiia Khorosheva (1:45.49) completed the podium.

Rothfuss’ teammate Noemi Ewa Ristau (1:31.64) and guide Luise Mona Holland went two-for-two in the women’s visually impaired.

Great Britain’s Menna Fitzpatrick (1:32.17), guided by Jen Kehoe, was second and Belgium’s Marie-Morgane Dessart (1:46.12), with guide Marine-Francoise Antoine, was third.

Full results are available at the IPC Alpine Skiing website.

More than 60 skiers from 14 countries gathered in Landgraaf for the first IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup of the 2015-16 season.

The next edition is scheduled for Pitztal, Austria, between 14-15 December and will feature super combined and super-G.

Around 70 athletes from 17 countries are also in Landgraaf for the second IPC Snowboard World Cup of the season, which concludes on Friday.