Local skiers faring well at regional level

• Lindsey Vonn makes history — After two injury plagued seasons, Lindsey Vonn is back with a vengeance. She won two World Cup gold medals this week in Downhill and Super G at beautiful Cortina, Italy. The wins were her 62nd and 63rd, making her the most winning female alpine racer in history. Interestingly, she won her first World Cup medal at Cortina 11 years ago. Vonn was not alone in the points, with Julia Mancuso 12th and Laurenne Ross 17th in the Super G, and Ross 9th in the Downhill followed by Stacey Cook in 16th and Mancuso in 18th.

On the Men’s side at Wengen, Switzerland, Ted Ligety took fifth in the Alpine Combined, with young Jared Goldberg in 14th. David Chodounsky was the top Slalom finisher in 18th. Steve Nyman finished 14th in the storied Lauberhorn Downhill, followed by Goldberg in 23rd.

• Western Region U16 Championship Qualifiers — The first of three qualifiers for the Western Region U16 championships was held at Mount Spokane last weekend. More than 120 athletes from across the Northwest, including two local athletes, competed in challenging snow conditions. Farli Boden had a big weekend, first climbing from the 47th start position into 17th in Giant Slalom, then capping it off with two strong slalom finishes of 4th and 9th place. Brennan Powell nabbed an 18th in Giant Slalom and 7th in Slalom. The next qualifier will be mid-February at Mount Hood Ski Bowl.

• Nordic Junior Olympic Qualifiers — The second PNSA/Junior Nationals Qualifier series was held in the Methow Valley over the weekend, with a classic sprint course on Saturday and a freestyle (skate) race on Sunday. On Saturday, Catherine Brenner, Emerson Kanning and Erin Meek (all U16 skiers) classic raced in a qualifying sprint and then went on to compete in elimination heats. While the three skiers did not advance to the finals, they all had an impressive showings in their first-ever classic sprint.

Eight inches of wet snow fall made for some very challenging conditions for the freestyle skate race on Sunday. The team had additional skiers join the girls for the skate, including Peik Lund, a U16 male, competing in his first ever Nordic race; Hattie Larson and Annaby Kanning — both U12 skiers. Again, Sandpoint skiers did not disappoint. All had solid performances and both Catherine and Peik placed mid-pack, which is considered outstanding for first year racers in this division. The race team will be training hard over the next few weeks to prepare for the final JNQ at Kongsberger near Snoqualmie Pass in western Washington.

• Junior Race Series — The second day of the race series was held of softer snow and in warmer temps. All the kids seemed to have a great time, and NASTAR was able to get everyone two runs through the course. The fastest boy was again Nathan Demko with a time of 24.98, followed by Slate Fragoso (25.22), Baden Brenner (25.93), Teigen Edmundson (26.00) and Klein Fragoso (26.54). Morgan Wohlaib also repeated as fastest girl with a time of 24.91, followed by Jezza Hutto (26.42), Emily Rasmussen (27.62), Grace Grady (29.17) and Olivia Lynch (29.39). The early most improved standings are Brice Bradburn, Dillon Bradburn and Weston Bennefield for the boys and Jezza Hutto, followed by a statistical tie between Maggie McClure, Berkeley Cox and Elliot Kees for the girls. Racing resumes this Friday at 5:30 p.m.

• Smokin’ Aces Slopestyle at Schweitzer this weekend — The freestyle tour comes to town with exciting slopestyle completion on Saturday. Visit www.schweitzer.com for details.

• Emerald Empire Opener at 49 Degrees North — The Youth Ski League competitive season begins this weekend at 49 Degrees North with two days of Giant Slalom competition for ages 13 and under. Both SARS and Independence will be sending athletes to this event. Watch next week for a full report.

• Potpourri — Any comments, recommendations or contributions to this column may be sent to Shep Snow by email at shep@thesnowschool.com. Negative feedback should be sent to someone else.

The Inside Edge runs every Thursday during ski season in the Daily Bee.