Speed Skiing Season Ends Early
The Speed Ski World Cup has come to an end and Jan Farrell has placed himself among the five fastest men on the planet, improving by two positions compared to last season. The current TOP-5 in the world began the competition in Vars (France), the most challenging track on the circuit where, despite strong gusts of wind, Farrell finished 9th and managed to reach a speed of 191.86 kilometres per hour.
- The cancellation of all the remaining World Cup events (Formigal and Grandvalira) has been confirmed, following the government's recommendations on COVID-19.
- The results obtained in France, Finland and Sweden by the British team skier Jan Farrell place him among the five fastest men on the planet.
- Italian Simone Origone and Sweden's Britta Backlund end the competition with victories in all races, crowning them World Cup champions.
The World Cup continued in Salla (Finland), the station ‘in the middle of nowhere’, located inside the Arctic Circle and 15km from the Russian border. Farrell, from Madrid's Club Amistad, finished in 4th and 5th position in two descents, going up four positions overall, with an improved result in the Finals of 161.46 and 158.59 kilometres per hour.
Jan Farrell said: “Fourth is my second best result in my World Cup career in the top category of the sport. During my training in Finland, we analysed the descents and we concluded that I had a lack of focus and concentration. The mental training done to improve focus at this point helped me a lot on the track that I considered technically the most difficult.”
The first FIS night speed ski race in history took place in Salla, with Jan Farrell securing 4th place with a final drop of 155,776 kilometres per hour. The third race in the schedule was at Idre Fjäll on March 5, 6 and 7. There, Jan Farrell finished in 6th, 5th and 6th position with an improved speed of 172.12 kilometres per hour.
It was a successful season for Simone Origone and Britta Backlund both ending with the top place Crystal Globe prize in the men’s and women’s category respectively.
The men's Top-5 is completed by Simon Billy (440 points), Manuel Krammer (330), Ivan Origone (269) and Jan Farrell (249), closely followed by Russian Mikhail Shumilin (246). In the women’s competition, following Backlund's win, we saw Valentina Greggio (405 points) and Lisa Hovland-Uden (360) in second and third places.
Further races cancelled:
Formigal, a track with great potential was due to host a World Cup of Speed Ski race for the first time in Spain’s history. However, the International Ski Federation decided to suspend the test as a measure of prevention against coronavirus.
The World Cup finals will also not go ahead in Grandvalira (Andorra), which had been scheduled to take place from April 2 to 4.
