After two days of Super G races in the Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup at Copper Mountain, the men and women took to the hill for a giant slalom race on Wednesday.  And on this day, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s Charles Christianson stepped onto the podium with a third place, less than 3/10ths of a second from first place finisher Espen Lysdhal from the University of Denver.

After coming off his first World Cup GS races at Beaver Creek earlier in the week, Christianson was happy with his skiing Wednesday.

“Racing in the World Cup and then coming over here is a great opportunity to hone in on my skills for race day,” said Christianson.  “Even though I made some mistakes, I’m really happy with how I skied today.”

As for Shiffrin, he finished first for the junior men and fifth overall after his two runs, and the second run course was to his liking.

“The course set for the second run suited my style; turny, quick, and fast,” said Shiffrin.  I’m happy my times were close to the skiers here today.”

Other SSCV men at the Surefoot GS included Sean McCormick in 13th, Cannon O’Brien in 19th, and Colin Hayes, who moved up from a start of 67th to finish 22nd.

For the SSCV girls, Erika McCormick, Montana Marzario, and Katie Talbot, all just 15 years old, are putting their runs together, which is helping them break into FIS level racing.

McCormick started 62nd and skied her way to a 15th place.

“Erika is finally starting to understand tactically where to put her ski and how to connect her turns,” said coach Ben Babbitt.

Marzario worked her way up through the pack from a start of 48 to finish 22nd while Talbot started 55th and placed 24th.

“The girls had solid performances today,” said SSCV women’s coach Scott Myers.  “They are doing quite well for their intro into FIS competition.”

The Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup continues today with another GS race for the men and women at Copper Mountain.