Finlay Mickel
Finlay Mickel ( born December 6, 1977 in Edinburgh) is a former British ski racer. He was specialized in the speed disciplines Downhill and Super- G and especially successful in the downhill. In this discipline, he scored the eleventh place finish at the 2005 World Championships and nine top -20 finishes in the World Cup, including a tenth place in the Lauberhorn downhill in 2006.
Career
Mickel began at the age of two and a half years with the skiing. The age of nine he was a member of the Scottish Ski Club, where he began regular training. At the age of 14, he moved to the U.S. and attended the Green Mountain Valley School in Waitsfield, Vermont, to devote himself more intensively to skiing. After two years in the Scottish ski team, he was admitted to the British Alpine Ski Team in 1996.
After several top - 10 finishes in FIS races, but still no success in the European Cup, Mickel won his first British Championship title in January 2000. Shortly after, he also drove in the European Cup for the first time into the top ten. In November 2000, Mickel was in Lake Louise his debut in the World Cup. The first World Cup points, he won a year later than 25th of the departure of Val d'Isere. In his first World Championship 2001 in St. Anton am Arlberg, he was 35th in the Super G and was eliminated in the descent from. Two years later, in St Moritz was in the World Cup 2003 24th place in the combination of his best result.
After Mickel had first spotted only rarely in the World Cup and was left in the season 2003/2004 without ever World Cup points, he succeeded in the 2004/2005 season the connection to the advanced world class. He drove this winter in four World Cup downhill into the top 20 and peaked at the 2005 World Championships in Bormio eleventh place in the downhill and super-G in position 23. The next winter he was again posted four top -20 finishes in World Cup downhill and with the tenth rank in the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen best World Cup result of his career. He was by Konrad Bartelski and Martin and Graham Bell, the fourth British ski racer, who reached a top 10 ranking in a World Cup downhill. At the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006, he was 22 in the Super G and 25th in downhill. In the season 2006/2007 Mickel ran only once as the 13th departure on the Saslong in Val Gardena, the fastest 20 At the 2007 World Championships in Åre, he finished 26th in the downhill and super-G different from.
The last two years of his career were marred by several injuries. After two ankle injuries in the summer of 2007, he retired in December 3 of the same year in a fall in the World Cup Super - G on the Birds of Prey in Beaver Creek an ankle fracture to, after he had to pause for five weeks. A year later, Mickel again suffered in Beaver Creek in a crash in the first practice for the World Cup downhill a tibial fracture. After this injury Mickel did not return to the World Cup. He ended his career in March / April 2009 with the participation in the British Championships. He secured the sixth time the champion in the downhill. Overall Mickel had won 15 British Championship titles. In addition to the six downhill titles he won five times in the Super- G, three times in the combination and once in the giant slalom.
Achievements
Olympic Winter Games
- Turin 2006: 22 Super -G, downhill 25
World Championships
- St. Anton 2001: 35 Super -G
- St. Moritz 2003: 24 combination, 29 Super -G, downhill 33
- Bormio 2005: 11 Downhill, 23 Super -G
- Åre 2007: 26 Departure
Junior World Championships
- High -Ybrig 1996: 50 Downhill, 50 Super -G
World Cup
- A top 10 ranking and nine top-20 finishes (all in the downhill )
British Championships
- 5x Super -G ( 2000-2004)
- 1x Giant Slalom (2002)
- 3x combination ( 2000, 2002 and 2005)