For the first time this year three Americans reached the semifinals at a ICF Slalom World Cup event and for the first time, one of them will be competing on Sunday. Zachary Lokken and Richard Powell reached the semifinals again, just like in Ivrea, while the American Olympians in their event failed to advance. Advancing to the semifinals for the first time was Olympian Ashley Nee in the women’s K1. Nee finished tenth and grabbed the final semifinal spot from the second qualifying heat with a time of 118.53, nicking the final spot by 0.46. Lokken advanced from the men’s C1 in the first qualifying heat with a 13th place finish in 109.34, over two seconds clear, while Powell grabbed the sixth of ten qualifying spots from the second heat with a finish of 103.68 that was only a second clear in qualifying position.
Among others competing…
Men’s C1: Casey Eichfeld finished 15th in the second qualifying heat in 115.19, missing out on a semifinal spot by 2.4 seconds.
Women’s C1: Sage Donnelly finished 13th in the second qualifying heat in 194.86 after taking a 50-second penalty. Donnelly would have easily been in qualifying range had she avoided that penalty.
Men’s K1: Michal Smolen was 39th in the first heat and missed qualifying by 2.15 after taking a penalty. That would be the closest he would come after taking a 50-second penalty in the second heat and finishing in 155.60. Tyler Westfall finished 44th in the second heat in 131.81.
Women’s K1: Anna Maria Ifarraguerri finished 32nd in the second heat after taking 58-seconds in penalties and a time of 197.18.
Men’s C2: Eichfeld and Devin McEwan were sixth in the second qualifying heat as they missed a semifinal spot by 2.65 seconds.
Lokken and Powell will participate in semifinals on Saturday with a final later in the day in each event. For Nee the semifinals and final of the women’s K1 are on Sunday. The men’s and women’s K1 cross events both will begin on Saturday with time trial runs to establish seeding and an 1/8 finals for the men. Powell (third in Ivrea) and Westfall are competing in the men’s event with Donnelly competing in the women’s event.
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