India Sherret claimed a world title this past weekend, winning the 2015 FIS Freestyle World Junior Championship Ski Cross Gold for Canada during competition in Valmalenco, Italy.
In what has been a breakout season for the young ski-cross racer, Sherret battled back from a tough start, where she finished 7th in qualifiers after making some mistakes. However, with determination and some great starts throughout the rest of the day, she came back and earned a spot in the finals, where she took first place.
"I had a great day," said Sherret. “I’m so happy for our entire team. We’ve had a lot of success over the past two weeks winning three National Championships in Canada, Switzerland and Italy. To win the World Junior Championships is huge and it says a lot about our program and the next wave of Ski Cross athletes in Canada.”
Sherret, a native of Cranbrook, is a member of the Canadian Ski Cross Next Gen development team and races for Alberta Ski Cross.
On the men's side, fellow Canadian Kris Mahler, from Canmore, AB,, finished in fourth place. He was leading the big final until the second last turn when he slid out on his hip and went off course.
“I’ve been skiing really well over the last few weeks and winning 3rd at the Canadian National Championships really gave me a confidence boost coming into these last races.” Mahler said. “All of the coaches and ski service staff have been incredible and our new Next Gen / Development Team has a great energy. We all want to make the next step to the World Cup team.”
The team was led by Sead Causevic, Canada Ski Cross Head Coach of Development.
“The entire team skied great today. India and Kris’ performances today were incredible and it was great to have some additional coaching support with Stanley Hayer and Andy Voukoun” stated Causevic. “Marcos, our ski tech, did an amazing job and he deserves a lot of credit for our win today. It was great to see all the men make it into the top-16 and unfortunately there was a little wind that affected the qualification results for the women. I’m very proud of the efforts put forward by our athletes.”
Marielle Thompson, a former champion of the event in 2013 and an Olympic gold medalist, noted how important it is for the development of younger talent.
"It’s great to see the younger athletes having success on the world stage and it’s a very positive stepping stone in the right direction for India and the program. I’m very happy for her and her teammates,” Thompson said.
In addition to Sherret, fellow Cranbrookian and teammate Zoe Chore was also competing at the World Championships. Chore finished in 17th place.
Women’s 2015 FIS Freestyle World Junior Championship (Canada’s placements)
1 – India Sherret
17 – Zoe Chore
20 – Alexa Velcic
27 – Abby McEwen
Men’s 2015 FIS Freestyle World Junior Championship (Canada’s placements)
4 – Kris Mahler
8 – Matt Brady
15 – Adam Gibson
16 – Ned Ireland