Skiing: NZ skier impresses at US series

New Zealand alpine skier Erika McLeod has overcome injury to take second and fourth placings in FIS giant slaloms at the Steamboat series in the United States.

The results follow her earlier FIS win at Winter Park, and ninth and 13th placings in FIS slaloms at Steamboat.

Ski Racing New Zealand alpine director Jim Davis said the results showed the Aucklander had moved on from the ankle injury which put her out of training and racing for most of the New Zealand winter this year.

In the first giant slalom McLeod blitzed the first run to win it in 1min 06.04sec but in the second run she was beaten by Megan McJames (USA) who had the faster combined time of 2min 11.08sec to McLeod's 2min 12.13sec.

McLeod put up a strong challenge in the second race and there was little between the top four.

She was narrowly beaten by two local competitors and a German.

Davis said other notable results from the series at Steamboat had come from 18-year-old Tim Cafe of Queenstown, who was the fastest junior in the second giant slalom, finishing 13th overall. In the first race he was second junior home and 21st overall.

- NZPA