Íria Medina Finishes 31st in Oppdal Slalom, Inches from Points

Íria Medina narrowly missed points with a 31st-place finish in the women's slalom at the European Cup in Oppdal, Norway, ending just 0.04 seconds outside the top 30.

The Andorran Ski Federation (FAE) skier, starting the first run with bib 62, placed 38th in that leg—0.5 seconds off the cutoff for the second run. She then recorded the 28th-fastest second-run time, gaining seven spots to finish overall at 2:11.92, 4.30 seconds behind the winning pace shared by Italy's Giorgia Collomb and Ilaria Ghisalberti. Norway's Pia Sylvester-David took 30th to claim points.

This came after Medina's 46th position in the giant slalom at the same venue. With bib 63, she posted a two-run total of 2:10.71, 5.20 seconds behind Swiss winner Vanessa Kasper (2:05.51). Ghisalberti was second, 0.13 seconds back, followed by Austria's Nina Astner at 0.42 seconds off the lead. Medina finished 2.62 seconds behind France's Annabel Jallat, who closed the points zone. She was 45th after the first run (+2.58 seconds) but fell to 49th in the second (+3.59 seconds) after catching a gate on the wall and losing speed.

Coach Ibon Mintegui praised her aggressive approach in both giant slalom runs and expressed confidence in further improvement.

Meanwhile, FAE skiers Álvaro Calvo, Pirmin Estruga and Max Black raced in two FIS slaloms in Telfs, Austria. In the first, Calvo was 19th (+3.64 seconds behind Germany's Moritz Weisler); Estruga placed 32nd after the first run but did not finish the second; Black failed to qualify for the second. In the second event, Estruga did not finish the second run, while Calvo and Black exited in the first.

FAE and VAN DEER–Red Bull Sports skier Joan Verdú continues training in Andorra ahead of the World Cup in Kranjska Gora on March 7, targeting qualification for the season finals in Lillehammer, Norway.