Loris Vergier takes 2nd in Lenzerheide and sets the bar high

Loris Vergier didn’t look rusty one bit. Despite waiting 279 days since his last World Cup Final run in Val di Sole last year, he looked smooth on a screaming-fast track in Lenzerheide on Saturday, taking second place by just 0.495 seconds to Jordan Williams. 

Vergier got off to a quick start, going nearly a half-second faster than Williams through the first sector. A small mistake cost him time in the second sector, however. Vergier appeared to carry too much speed off a jump leading into a tricky chicane, forcing him to touch the brakes and slow his momentum more than he would have liked.

Still, he made up the time over the last two sectors, and was in the green by a whisper-thin 0.001 seconds (that’s one thousandth of a second) going into the home stretch. But no one was faster than Williams at the end of a difficult course. 

For Vergier, who has seven World Cup wins to his name, the start of his DH World Cup season went as well as it could have, short of the victory. Lenzerheide confirmed that he is in top form after an offseason that included a shoulder injury. All he has to do now is buff out a mistake or two, and he could be back on the top step very soon.  

Round 2 in Leogang is just a week away, but it can’t get here quickly enough.