3.21.97
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Ian Price, the 20 year old from Manchester, Vermont repeated his win in the Super G today beating a feild that included GS Overall Leader Mark Fawcett and Austrian Dieter Happ.
Price was understandably happy with his perfomance. "The course was fast and I like speed events. The snow was well prepared. I couldn't have asked for a better course," he said happily. "My run was good, but it wasn't close to my best. I was suprised to see that I was in the lead."
Super G competitors where stoked this morning when they woke up to blue skies, firm snow, and milder than normal temperatures at Stratton. The contest commenced at 9:30 AM with racers dropping in one after another in rapid succession. Racers are only given one shot at the Super G, so there is no room for mistakes as riders reached speed in excess of 55 m.p.h. on Stratton's North American run.
In the women's division there was a slight upset as Lisa Kosglow and Brigitte Koech tied for first place. Kosglow broke her back on this hill last year and she was committed to the win even if she had to share it. Apparently in the ISF rules, the race is only required to be based on one hundredth of a second, instead of one thousandth. "The race went pretty good, but I'm bummed--I wish they'd take it down to the thousandth," said Kosglow after finding out she and Koech were tied.
"The course was extremely fun and extremely fast. This has been the only super G of the year and last year there were only two," said Betsy Shaw who got third in the race after Koech and Kosglow. "I wasn't going fast enough though."
Many of the racers seemed to agree that Super G is one of the more popular races among the men, but a lot fewer women compete in this event. Every year the times have been faster which can be attributed to the fact that equipment has gotten better and boards have gotten longer. Most of the racers in the men's division were on boards that are a good centimeters 190 or more.
"Super G is one of the most exciting competitions in snowboarding," said Betsy Shaw. "It looks really smooth and fast. It's what we should show in the Olympics." Be sure to listen to the live super G audio and hear how fast Mark Fawcett travels down the mountain.
Missing from the podium were riders like Jasey Jay Anderson and Chris Klug. Anderson said he just didn't hook up his line correctly. "I didn't have any major mistakes," he said. "I just rode too round."
Chris Klug, the winner of the US Open slalom yesterday, had a perfect run at the top but then he ran into some trouble at the bottom. "I had a little brush with the fence right near the finish," he laughed. "Not an intimate meeting, just enough to ruin my time. I was really feeling strong."
Competition continues Saturday with the world famous US Open Halfpipe.
Women's
Super G Final Results 3.21.97
Men's
Super G Final Results 3.21.97
Chris Klug and Brigitte Koech Take First In the Duel Slalom 3.20.97