Alpine Skiing

MOSCOW - Vancouver's Michael Janyk took third place in the second edition of the parallel slalom Champions Cup on a giant ramp in a promotion of Alpine ski events for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the men's event over Steve Missillier of France, while Therese Borssen of Sweden dominated the first women's event ahead of Maria Riesch of Germany, on Saturday.

Janyk, Hirscher and Borssen were among 21 skiers (14 men, seven women) along with three Russian champions invited to compete in the exhibition by the International Ski Federation.

"It's a really fun race with so many people cheering,'' Borssen said. "And hopefully we have more of these kind of races.''

The ramp - 60 metres high, 36 metres wide and 210 metres long with 20 gates - was erected on a slope at Vorobyevy Hills.

"It's unbelievable,'' Hirscher said. "It's very special and it's a new generation of skiing - now we can compete in big cites.''

With the weather being much warmer than average, more snow for the event was delivered by 24 trucks from Murmansk region, about 1,500 kilometres north from Moscow.

"It's something special and something different,'' said Riesch, women's slalom world champion.

International Ski Federation president Gian-Franco Kasper said the competition will help FIS to train local personnel ahead of the Sochi Games.

"We practically had no positive experience in this discipline before the Moscow's event,'' Kasper said. "The competition looks very attractive on a ramp and I believe it has good prospects in the future.''

Riesch said she had problems because of rain and soft surface on the slope.

"When I saw how many problems I had at the beginning, I'm happy with my second place,'' Riesch said.

Frida Hansdotter of Sweden came third ahead of Sandrine Aubert of France in the women's event.