OCR Text |
Show OE Tew BIATHLON — WOMEN’S RELAY oe « WAKE Ss, v ees % Tuesday, February 19, 2002 pp \m LakeTribune TheSalt eS bed Dist Power After misfiring onfirst leg, Germansroar from behind BY JUDY FAHYS ‘THESALT LAKETRIBUNE SOLDIER HOLLOW— Germany’s tight-knit team drove through a bumpy start in the women’s biathlon relay Mondayto clinch the gold medal and give teammate Uschi Disl an unprecedented eighth biath- lon medal. The Norwegian women, featuring sisters Ann Elen Skjelbreid and Liv Grete Poiree, took the silver, and the Russians rebounded from 10th place on the third leg to win the bronze. The Germans’ winning time was 1 hour, 27 minutes, 55 seconds, with the Norwegians 31 seconds behind and the Russians 1:25 back. But their win cameafter precious time was lost on the range by first-leg racer Katrin Apel, whohad to use all three spare bullets and take a penalty loop when she was unable to hit ail five targets on the board in her second shooting stage. Apel blamed a cartridge jam on the fumblingthatleft her team in sixth place soi into the secondleg. “T thought, ‘The gold is gone because of me,’”she said, describing howtried to make up the timebyskiing all-out on herlast lap. The American women's team, plagued with missed targets, placed last, coming in 13:21 behind the Germans. They needed 16 spare builets to clear 10 targets between them, and lost time by having to ski three penaltylaps, more than anyother team. The time included an extra one-minute penalty because Kara Salmela, who raced the second leg for the Americans, used a bullet from her stock instead of the reserve cup where all of the spare bullets were supposed to be held. A leg consists of two shooting stages and three skiing laps totaling 7.5 kilometers (or about 4.7 miles), and Disl, the silver medalistin last week’s sprint race, made up lost ground by covering the course like a ~~ Photos by Al Hartmann /The Salt Lake Tribune SALT LAKE 2002 Kati Wilhelm, above, crosses the finish line with a smile on a whirlwind. Andrea Henkel, the gold medalist in last week's 15K individual race, did her part by shooting with nofaults. Kati Wilhelm of Germany, encouraged by her teammates’lead, capped their race with her own for- midable talents. She credited their success together and as individuals as the product of working andtraining together well. “Tt's very good to be able to compare each others’ results constant- Germany's Katrin Apel catches herbreath before lining up a shot during the 30K relay. GOLD Dist; Andrea Henkel; the German team.At left, teammate UschiDis! takes off aftera tag from Katrin Apel, 1275.0 the time. The win gave Dis! an SILVER unprecedented eighth Olympic medal in the biathlon. Germany (Katrin Apel; Uschi Kati Wilhelm) rear, who was in sixth place at Norway (Ann Elen Skjelbreid; Linda Tjoerhom; Gunn ly,” she said. Poiree, who captured the silver medal in the 15K, said she was pleased with the outcome. “Tt means if we staytogether,if wework together, we can make a good result,” she said. Her team had total of nine missed targets, each of which required the shooter to load and shoota spare bullet. Russian Galina Koukleva, whose team had 13 missed targets and two penalty loops,called the race a battle of nerves. Every oneof us did her utmost,” concluded Olga Pyleva, who won thegold in the women’spursuit race on Saturday. Theteam alsoincluded first-time OlympianSvetlana Ishmouratova and Albina Akhatova, a second-time Olympian. CROSS COUNTRY SKIING — WOMEN’S 1.5K SPRINT: CROSS COUNTRY SKIING — MEN’S 1 5K SPRINT: Today, 9 a.m., Soldier Hollow Today, 9:30 a.m., Soldier Hollow Canadian Sprinter Scott No Longer U.S. Sets Hopes High Going Into A Laughing Matter for Her Rivals First-Ever Nordic Sprinting Event BYBRIAN MAFFLY PODIUM PICKS ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE SOLDIER HOLLOW 1. Katerina Neumannova, Czech Republic 2. Beckie Scott, Beckie blew a cross country sprint race b 3 Berto Skat, aay S y stopped midwaythrough the course thinking FAST FINN she had reached the finish. Scott's rivals are not laughing at the Cana dian now. Theyare too busy fearing her. On a mission to prove that cross countyskiing is not just for Europeans anymore, she came to the Olympics expecting to score her Of the eight World Cup sprint races staged last season, Finn Pirjo Manninen won four, Norway's Bente Skari won three and Russia's Julija Tchepalova one. best results in the sprints, the 1.5-kilometer, heat-format races making their Olympic debut today. However, Scott has alreadyexceeded her expectations, placing sixth in the 10K classic and a third in the pursuit her nation’sfirst country medal, “We did the best altitude preparation we could do,” Scott said. “My comfort level on these courses is high. I've always raced well Indeed, some have begun calling Soldier Hollow “Canmore South” because the Canadi ans spend so much timetraining and competing here, Two years ago, Scott dominated U.S. nationals, then scored a fourth and a third in the pre-Olympic World Cuplastyear. The 27-year-old Alberta native lives in Bend, Ore., with her boyfriend Justin Wadsworth, a U.S. ski team veteran who will be moving onto triathlon after this season. Wadsworth is not North American skiing is just incredible.” Twoseasons ago, the Canadian crashed World Cup's “red group,” the top 30 ranked women who get preferential treatment, and finished last year 15th. That's a long way from 1996 when her best result was a 45th in her Olympic debut. Last week's medal performance shows why Scott is the front-runner today. To win bronze, she had to beat the world's top sprinter, Kater- ina Neumannova,at her own game — on the Czech’s 29th birthday, noless. In an all-out dash after five grueling kilometers, Scott won in a photofinish. Neumannova's loss in the pursuit ruined her birthday party plans but will no doubt enhance her motivation to win today. After all, sheis the overall World Cup leader, with four sprint victories. Likely finalists include world champion Pirjo Manninen of Finland, Norwegian star Bente Skari and Russia's Julija the only American ski racer cheered byScott's Tchepalova. success the past two seasons. “We consider Beckie family. We'reall happy for her,” said Nina Kemppel, after Scott took bronze in the pursuit. “Whatit's going to dofor Reigning U.S.sprint champion Kikkan Ran: dall, a fiery 19-year-old Alaskan, would love to shock the world today, but she has her sights set on 2010 for reaching an Olympic podium. ‘ 4 BY BRI AN MAFFLY THE SALTLAKETRIBUNE PODIUM PICKS SOLDIER HOLLOW — Therace takes 3 minutes and change, and if you skied well, you pre pare to do it again. If you crashed, bogged or otherwise hit the proverbial wall, you head to the waxtrailer and call it a day. That's cross country skiing sprinting, a new Nordic that appears for the first timeever today at the Olympics. ¢ U.S. cross countryteam has high hopes for this event, fielding a tough sprint squad led by national champions Kikkan Randall and LarsFlora, both of Anchorage, Alaska; the University of Utah's Torin Koos; and Carl Swenson of Boulder, Colo. This is the group with the best shot of reaching the team's goal of cracking America’s first Olympic top 10 cross country finish since 1976, Aficionados have declared Soldier Hollow's 1.5-kilometer loop the finest sprint course on the planet. It climbs out of the stadium on a track wide enough for passing, yet with plenty of bendsto test skiers’ technical ability. Sub-miie, heat-format racing is a radical innovation for cross country and something well-suited for American athletes and audienc: es, according to Luke Bodensteiner, the U.S. ski team's Nordic director. Nordic traditionalists, however, are hardly enthused with the newevent, which seems to be more spectacle that sport. Tight packsof skiers jockey and fight for position as they thrust off ski poles and give each other elbow jabs. The risk of injury, broken equipment and fluke results is real. You are not going to witnessthe kind of takedown that stole the gold medal from short-track ‘ 1. Cristian Zorzi, ttaly 2. Tor Ame Helland, Norway 3. Rene Sommerteidt, Germany Sprinting appeared on the cross country World Cup circutt in 1995 and has since become @ popular but controversial event. speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno on Saturday, but the two sports have much ii n common. survive. The winner could very well be the skier Soldier Hollow with the most to prove. The world's No, 1 ranked with Alsgaard of Norway can only be further incentive for the speedy Italian. K |