Under gray Vermont skies Canadian Mark Fawcett and Austrian Steffi Von Siebenthal rode faster than everyone else in the Super G at the 17th Annual US Open Super G Friday, March 19, 1999.

Fifty-eight men and 35 women charged the. course on Stratton's Upper Standard/Betwixt. Scott Palmer, snowboard coach at the Stratton Mountain School, set a course that the Euros were calling "an American course," meaning it was fast. It was also long. "The only other Super G we've done was last weekend in Canada and those times were right around one minute 10 seconds," said Jasey Jay Anderson. "This course is nearly 40 seconds longer."

Brigitte Koch on her way to second place.

Mark Fawcett started in the top five and threw down a 97.96 and waited to see if anyone else would beat him. He wasn't that confident as waited for the rest of the field. "I made two mistakes up near the top," he said. "If I hadn't I would have a been at least a second or two faster."

As other top-ranked Super G racers like Austria's Dieter Happ, American Ian Price, and Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson failed to better Fawcett's time it was obvious that he'd taken it. Fawcett may have squirmed a little as former FIS World GS Champ Jeff Greenwood ran the course, but Greenwood couldn't overcome his 52 place start position. "I didn't have the greatest start, but I knew that would happen this year because I didn't have enough ISF points," Greenwood said. "But it wasn't that bad, the snow held up really well."

Happ finished second followed by Christophe Sequra, of France, Price, Jeff Archibald with Greenwood in sixth.

Deiter Happ came close, but couldn't catch Mark Fawcett.

In the women's event Steffi Von Siebenthal blew away the competition by more than four seconds on the one minute, forty second course which was a slightly altered version of the men's course. "I was just having fun riding the course," Von Siebenthal said. "I didn't think had that great of a run, but when I got to the finish people were telling me that I had a really fast run."

Austria's Brigitte Koeck lead the race just before Von Siebenthal. "I was in the lead for a couple seconds. I slid around too much at the top," Brigitte Koeck. "Then Steffi came down and took it away. But she had a very good run. I'm happy for her."

Von Siebenthal wasn't even sure she was going to race today. "I almost didn't race because I was having a pain in my leg," she said. "But I decided I would just race for fun."

Von Siebenthal was followed by Koeck, Switzerland's Ursula Bruhin, with Americans Sondra Van Ert and Lisa Kosglow in fourth and fifth.

The 1999 US Open continues with Big Air, Halfpipe, and the Boardercross Finals.