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Jamaican Skiers Expected To Improve

Chief technician of the Jamaica ski team, Eric Holmer, is expecting an improved performance from the Jamaican pair of Errol Kerr and Gregg Samuels at the Tignes Airwaves Games Ski Cross today in Tignes, France.

Holmer said: "I've heard Tignes should be more up our alley. More wide open with gliding high speed and big air. There will be improvement from today.

"On Monday Kerr and Samuels finished 30th and 70th, respectively, at the first FIS World Cup Ski Cross of the 2008-2009 season at St Johann, Austria. Both skiers failed to cope with the tough course that felt more like skiing on ice and cost the debutant Samuels 1.74 seconds from advancing to the final. Holmer said Kerr, 22, a former member of the USA ski team, was the lowest seeded racer in his heat, which was a major factor against him delivering a better performance.

"He was forced to start from the least desirable gate, far left. He had a good start, not great, but he couldn't get ahead of anyone because the first turn was a nasty 120 degree left-footer.”"He tried twice to make risky passes that we had talked about and was almost successful until his timing was off on the second try, forcing him to miss a gate," he added. Despite finishing well down the pack, Jamaica ski team coach, Raul Guisado, describes Samuels' performance as "technically clean and solid in the terrain"."He skied a more tactically conservative line than those who qualified," said Guisado of Samuels, who resides in England.

"He's now at the point where he can begin to challenge the line more and look for speed. I'm confident that he'll build on this performance in his next World Cup start. "All in all I'm happy with our performance, I would always like a better result though," added Holmer. On February 8, the team will head back to the United States, where they will rest and train for seven days before heading out to the next set of races - the World Cup at Lake Placid, New York, and the X Games in Aspen.Kerr and Samuels are preparing for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.

Source: jamaicaobserver.com

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