Persons, Ott Lead Four Top-5 Results by US Riders at Kaprun
(November 23, 1996)

KAPRUN, Austria -- Steve Persons (Whitefish, MT) finished second Saturday, leading three U.S. riders into the top-5 n a bordercross event as the FIS Grundig Snowboard World Cup season opened in perfect weather. Lynn Ott (Bend, OR) finished third in the women's contest on a glacier above Kaprun.

Bordercross is a new event this season, sending four riders criss-crossing down a course simultaneously as they battle over obstacles to the finish line. Austrian Helmut Pramstaller won the men's event with Persons second, Anton Pogue (Hood River, OR) fourth and Tom Lyman (Whitefish, MT) fifth. Marie Birkl of Sweden captured the women's event with Ott third, Michelle Taggart (Salem, OR) fifth and Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID) seventh.

The weather was ideal with snow conditions a hardened after after snowstorm blanketed the area with about a meter of snow during the week. Qualifying runs were held Friday with the men's field cut to 32 and the women's field reduced to 16.

"It was pretty exciting. This was the first time we've tried bordercross although it's been around for a few years now," Coach Peter Foley said.

"It was pretty fast but I thought I could do well," said Persons, who has been battling a back problem with daily stretching exercises and ice-downs. "The big difference from [Friday's qualifying runs] was the visibility. It was foggy and I just made it down in the qualifying without crashing but it was great today."

He said he pulled past Pogue at the end of the final run when Pogue crashed. "He hit the last jump and blew out and I went over him and into the finish. It was a little wild," Persons said.

He added, "Bordercross is a touch-and-go kind of thing. We haven't trained a lot, so I try to follow [teammate Rob] Berney down after training every day. He crashed [Friday] but he's going to be the one to beat for us."

FIS GRUNDIG SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP

Kaprun, AUT - Sat., Nov. 23

Men's Bordercross (No times recorded in bordercross)
1. Helmut Pramstaller, Austria
2. Steve Persons, Whitefish, MT
3. Darren Chalmers, Canada
4. Anton Pogue, Hood River, OR
5. Tom Lyman, Whitefish, MT
6. Jacob Bergstedt, Sweden
7. Willi Wieser, Austria
8. Willi Schiedermeier, Germany
9. Harald Walder, Austria
10. Elmar Messner, Italy
11. Stefan Mayr, Italy
12. Alexander Koller, Austria
16. Manuel Mendoza, Whitefish, MT
20. Jeff Greenwood, Granby, CT
29. Jake Blattner, Salem, OR

Women's Bordercross
1. Marie Birkl, Sweden
2. Karine Ruby, France
3. Lynn Ott, Bend, OR
4. Alexandra Krings, Austria
5. Michelle Taggart, Salem, OR
6. Isabell Sedlacher, Austria
7. Sondra Van Ert, Ketchum, ID
8. Maria Pichler, Austria

No other Americans qualified