Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud Wins The Gold Medal At The 2016 International Ski Federation In South Korea

Norwegian alpine ski racer Kjetil Jansrud topped the 2016 International Ski Federation in South Korea Saturday. The said event was the first out of 28 Olympic and Paralympic trials for the PyeongChang Winter Games in 2018, Korea Times noted Saturday.

Jansrud clocked 1 minute and 41.38 seconds, defeating Italian Dominik Paris by 0.2 seconds. The contest gave him his sixth victory for this season, surpassing his own record of five victories within one season during 1998-1999.

"Happy to be back winning," he said. "There's been a lot of good skiing this season. I've been trying to ski better every day. I've had some issues and mistakes, and this is the first run of the season where I've skied without any mistakes."

Jansrud went on, "There are a lot of hopes in the (Norwegian ski) federation and among the people. Pressure is going to be high in two years. And I'm happy today. It's a good first run-through before the Olympics." 

The recent win gave Jansrud his seventh downhill championship.

The contest was held at the new Jeongseon Alpine Center in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province. It was the first competition held at the said venue, where alpine races will also be held for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

On the other, second-placer Dominik Paris said it was "a fun course."

"Yeah, I'm very happy. First podium of the season," Paris said, as noted by Ski Racing Saturday. "It's very special for me because I was not doing very well in the downhill, and then it's very good for me. I like the hill, it's pretty cool. It's fun, it has a lot of jumps. Also, the snow preparation was very good. It's a pretty good downhill."

Meanwhile, American Steven Nyman landed on the third spot after finishing at 1 minute and 41.79 seconds. Nyman commended the course groundwork and compared it to Beaver Creek.

"It's very responsive snow," said Nyman. "It's been very cold here and dry and the guy who prepped the hill, Tommy Johnson, he preps Beaver Creek, so it's very similar and a lot of fun to ski on. The racecourse, there's a lot of flow to it, it's a lot of fun to ski. You have to be clever when you're skiing. It's not controlled by the gate, it's controlled by the terrain. It makes it a joy to ski."