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Superb Crawford shines in World Championships Downhill debut

 

Dougie Crawford, 21, finished a magnificient 21st in the downhill at Val D'Isere on 7th February on his World Championship debut. Despite just missing out on the top 20 Crawford secured the best finish in the men's downhill since Finlay Mickel's 11th place finish in 2005. Crawford, from Glasgow, finished in a time of 2mins 14.47 secs despite the race being hammered by foggy conditions that prevented 10 of the 38 competitors from finishing.

Dougie performance was impressive because before today's race he was ranked 153rd in the world in the FIS downhill rankings and had not even raced in a Downhill at World Cup Level. The fine performance added to his 28th place in Super G earlier in the week.

Mike Pilarski, British Alpine Ski Team Men's World Cup Head Coach, said 'Dougie did a really good job. It's the start of his career and he is on the track if he wants it. He has got his ticket, they just need to step on board the train now.

Dougie was clearly pleased with his efforts: 'I'm really happy with the result although it would have been nice to sneak into the top 20. It was a pretty ragged race, I made a few mistakes, but I was charging - I didn't hold back on one of the circuit's toughest hills. There were quite a few crashes throughout the race and that, combined with the weather delays, meant there was a lot of hanging around at the top. I wasn't too nervous, though, which was good'.

Snowsport Scotland would like to congratulate Dougie on his performance. The other British racer, Ed Drake, finished 27th.