Downhill Gold for Georgia Willinger

Lake Louise, Canada (8 December 2016) – New Zealand ski racer Georgia Willinger (Christchurch) is celebrating ticking off a career goal after winning gold in the Downhill at the North American Cup (NorAm) held at Lake Louise ski resort in Alberta, Canada today (Thursday local time).

“This has been a huge goal of mine for a long time,” says the 19-year-old who spends much of her year living and skiing in North America. “In terms of what I’m feeling, it really hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The win comes off the back of a third place finish, also in Downhill, for Georgia yesterday and means that she now holds the joint early season lead in the overall NorAm Downhill standings.

Georgia faced a tough warm up session last week, competing in the women’s World Cup Downhill held on the same hill as the NorAms. While she finished at the bottom of the World Cup fields, Georgia says the experience was valuable: “Being able to race the World Cup a week before really gave me confidence to charge down the hill during the NorAms.

“I wasn’t expecting to win (the NorAm), there were a lot of really fast girls here, but I am happy to take home the gold today.”

Georgia shared the podium with American skier Alice Merryweather in second and Canadian Stefanie Fleckenstein in third today. Yesterday’s podium saw Fleckenstein in the top spot, Merryweather second and Georgia Willinger third.

Racing continues at Lake Louise tomorrow with another Downhill.

Results are available here