LILLEHAMMER – The 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games Skills Challenge began today, with the men’s and women’s Qualification Phase held in Kristins Hall in Lillehammer, Norway.
The first two Skills events: Fastest Lap and Shooting Accuracy were contested in both gender categories.
Sebastian Cederle from Slovakia won the opening qualification phase of the Fastest Lap competition, outracing Finland’s Aleks Haatanen in the final, while on the women’s side Australian Madison Poole edged Korea’s Su Yeon Eom by just under one hundredth of a second.
“I still have four more events to it can go anywhere from here,” said Poole.
“There’s so many things with the Skills Challenge that I love,” said Poole. “But just the fact that it gives me the chance to actually go to an Olympics, as we don’t get that chance in ice hockey in Australia.”
Cederle and Poole both earn five points to add to their ranking. Joining them atop the points ranking is Natan Vertes of Hungary and Sena Tanenaka who won the Shooting Accuracy competition in the men’s and women’s category respectively.
In the Shooting Accuracy competition, it was an Eastern European final between Vertes and Eduard Casameanu from Romania. Vertes hit a puck into the top right corner on his final shot, giving him 4 for 13 while Casaneanu went just 2 for 12.
“I was so nervous about this competition,” said Vertes. “But it’s a very good opportunity for me to show my skills. I felt good about doing the Shooting Accuracy, and now that I’ve won one of the challenges I’m much more relaxed.”
On the women’s side Japan’s Sena Takenaka took the top spot, outshooting Italy’s Anita Muraro in the final.
“It’s a great experience for me to be at such a big event like this,” said Takenaka. “Everybody has been very friendly.”
“Not good,” said Takenaka with a laugh when asked to evaluate her own performance.
The Skills Challenge qualification stage resumes tomorrow, with the women’s event contesting the last four challenges: Skating Agility, Passing Precision, Fastest Shot, and Puck Control.
Click here for Skills Challenge statistics and informationADAM STEISS
