Erik Read carves out career-best finish in World Cup giant slalom
Canadian places 9th, 'happy with result' at Val d'Isere, France
Calgary's Erik Read earned a career-best finish in World Cup competition, placing ninth in the giant slalom in Val d'Isere, France on Sunday.
The 25-year-old was 24th after hisĀ first run Ā of one minute, 13.79 seconds, but moved up 15 spots by racing to the third-fastest time in the second run (1:13.72), for a total time of 2:27.51.Ā
Mathieu Faivre of France surpassedĀ first-run leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria for his first World Cup victory with a winning time of 2:25.01.
Hirscher, the five-time defending World Cup overall winner and a Val d'Isere specialist, finished 0.49 seconds behind the winner.
France team leader Alexis Pinturault's time of 2:26.12 was good for third.Ā
Erik Read spent some time in the leader box after his best ever World Cup result - 9th in the Val d'Isere GSš„š„š„ <a href="https://t.co/exEUOIT1Vp">pic.twitter.com/exEUOIT1Vp</a>
—@Alpine_CanadaRead's previous best result in giant slalom was 28th at the alpine ski World Championships in Beaver Creek Colo. in 2015.Ā
"I'm really happy with today's result," said Read, also a student at the University of Denver.
"It was definitely a good choice to run the super-G Friday (40th) and get familiar with the hill. That second run today was just like the first in that you really had to let it go and keep the skis running."
However, It wasn't a great day for the other CanadiansĀ in the field.
Toronto's Phil Brown and Calgary's Trevor Philp failedĀ to qualify for the second run, whileĀ Dustin Cook of Ottawa did not finish the first run.
The men's circuit stays in Val d'Isere next weekend when the highlight of two regularly scheduled races is a giant slalom on Saturday.
With files from The Associated Press