Wallasch wins ski cross at Junior Worlds

Among the highly talented field of athletes selected to represent the USA at the FIS Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships in Chiesa/Valmalenco (ITA) were Mammoth athletes, Sierra Bowman, Russell Malm and Tyler Wallasch. They were among more than 300 talented youngsters from 27 countries.

It was the fourth consecutive time that the area hosted the prestigious event.

During the action-packed week, a total of 36 medals were awarded in the FIS Freestyle Skiing disciplines for both ladies and men.

As a warm up to the Junior Worlds, Wallasch and his brother Justin first traveled to Sweden to compete in two FIS ski cross races at Fjall, and the FIS Freestyle Europa Cup Finals and the FIS Swedish National Championship held in Lofsdalen on March 26th-28th,

Justin took 14th and 17th at the Fjall FIS races where Tyler was second and sixth. In the Swedish National Championships Tyler came in second.

The first Mammoth athlete to compete in the FIS Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships was Bowman who took fifth in the ladies halfpipe on March 30. Ski cross, the final event of the 2015 Junior World Championships, took place April 1 with victories going to Mammoth’s Wallasch and India Sherret (CAN).

Sherret is considered to be one of the top Canadian development team athletes, and came into Valmalenco on a streak that saw her win both the Canadian and Italian national championships as well as score a second place result at the Swiss national championships immediately before arriving for competition at the JWCs.

In the men’s competition that closed out the championships, Wallasch was the recipient of some good fortune when French skier Youri Duplessis Kergomard was disqualified for illegal contact in their quarterfinal heat. This moved Wallasch, on his way to claiming the biggest victory of his career, from third to second and through to the semifinals.

In the final, Wallasch would be matched up against the relatively unheralded Tim Hronek (GER), big Russian Artem Kostenko, and the upstart Canadian Kristofor Mahler. Wallasch, just behind Mahler before he made a mistake, was able to slide past and hold onto the lead through the final few seconds of the race to claim the gold medal. Hronek, in second, added another silver to Germany’s medal haul for the day, Kostenko was able to claim third place and the bronze, and Mahler was left with a disappointing fourth-place result on a day where he looked sure to take the win.

This was Wallasch’s final year of eligibility for the Junior Worlds, however JW rookie Malm, who took 50th in the event this year, will be able to compete for several more years before aging out.

Malm’s mom Tomi Bortollazo, who accompanied her son to Italy reported, “What a fun week and long last day. Really proud of Tyler and what fun to watch. Such great athletes, coaches and support people on the team as well as great parents whom I met. I know Russell learned a lot and is really motivated to improve his skiing. What an honor to be part of this whole event!”

In the end all three Mammoth athletes Bowman, Malm and Wallasch, came home winners when the tabulations were made to determine the winner of the 2015 Marc Hodler trophy for the standout nation of the championships. With the addition of Wallasch’s win, the USA was able to claim this year’s trophy with 129 points, followed closely by Russia with 109, and France in a distant third place with 49 points.