Olympians Núria Pau and Quim Salarich, Spanish slalom champions in Sierra Nevada

• Victory for skiers Quim Salarich and Núria Pau in the Spanish Audi Absolute Alpine Skiing Championships in the slalom modality held in Sierra Nevada on Monday 28 March. The Granada resort will host the championships until 31 March. During this period, the Spainsnow FIS Trophy will also be held. 

Nuria Pau and Quim Salarich, members of the Spanish national team and members of the Olympic team at the recent Beijing Winter Olympics, won today's slalom at the Spanish Alpine Skiing Championships, which are being held this week in Sierra Nevada together with the Spainsnow FIS Trophy.

Pau and Salarich, who set the second best times in the first run, cemented their victory in the second run down the Granados piste, where the Sierra Nevada piste services worked hard to compact the slope for the requirements of the high competition, affected these days by the effect of the Saharan dust.

The Spanish Championships are organised by the Andalusian Winter Sports Federation (FADI), the Sierra Nevada ski resort and the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation (RFEDI).

After Nuria Pau, current member of the women's FAST team (LMCE-FCEH), Arrieta Rodríguez (IRMO-NKEF), member of the U21 team of the RFEDI, won silver with a time of 1:27.24, while Mirentxu Miquel (CAEI-FCEH) took bronze with a time of 1:30.00.

In the men's category, the champion was Quim Salarich (LMCE-FCEH), who achieved the fastest time of all with a final mark of 1:22.49. Second place went to Juan del Campo (EURO-NKEF), with 1:22.96, while bronze went to Aingeru Garay (LVERV-NKEF), who finished the two SL heats in a total time of 1:24.04.

Salarich, after the first day, declared that "today we had complicated conditions. But we managed to pull off the race, the whole organisation worked very hard. Today we have put the icing on the cake by becoming Spanish slalom champion, after a good season". The Catalan rider, in exceptional form, has achieved the best results in men's alpine skiing this season since Paquito Fernández Ochoa.

For her part, Nuria Pau, after a season complicated by injuries, was "very happy" with today's race. "I enjoyed it and I am happy to repeat the title of Spanish absolute slalom champion. The course held up well thanks to the good work of the organisers after each runner". 

On Tuesday 29th, the slalom discipline will be repeated in the Spainsnow FIS Trophy. 

From 28 to 31 March, the Spanish Audi Absolute Championships and the Spainsnow FIS Trophy will be held in Sierra Nevada, also qualifying for the 5th phase of the Spanish Cup circuit. On Wednesday 30, the Spanish Absolute Giant Championships will be held and the series of races will close with the Spainsnow FIS Trophy Giant on Thursday 31.

Members of the RFEDI Alpine Skiing Teams A, B and C will be taking part in the Championships, in both the men's and women's categories: Albert Ortega (FCEH-LMCE), Juan del Campo (NKEF-EURO), Quim Salarich (FCEH-LMCE), Alex Puente (FCEH-CAEI), Aingeru Garay (NKEF-LVERV), Arrieta Rodríguez (NKEF-IRMO), June Garitano (NKEF-IRMO), Tomás Barata (FCEH-CEVA), Ander Mintegui (FADI Aragón-MAYENCOS) and Conrad Sastre (FCEH-GRANUEC).

COMPLETE RESULTS: http://vola-publish.com/rfedi/