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Show FriSatSun, February 15-17, Eterharter's perfect opportunity? The world's best skier in super C after being By PATRICK CONNORS Of the record staff Skiers won't soar quite as far through the air and they won't be traveling as fast, but there is a good chance that the leader-board leader-board at Saturday and Sunday's super G competitions will look very similar to this . week's Olympic downhill races. The event is a slightly more technical and turny version of the downhill, but it will be held on the same hill at Snowbasin and, typically, skiers who place well in alpine s fastest event, post top results in super G. That means Europeans will likely dominate. The men will race Saturday on the Grizzly run and the women '. will race Sunday on Wildflower. two of the newer race sites on the World Cup circuit. Both courses were designed by former Olympic champion Bernhard Russi and have earned a reputation for being fast and technically challenging. The courses" most recognizable characteristic char-acteristic is precipitous fall-away turns. Fourteen U. S. athletes, eight men and six women, will compete com-pete in the super G. On the men's side. Daron Miners need help to clinch homecourt Boys need win over Judge, Wasatch loss By SHANE MCCAMMON Of the record staff The Park City Miners are doing their part. Unfortunately, they're not getting much help. Battling for a home playoff spot, the Miners have reeled off four straight wins, including a 66-53 66-53 victory over Granite last week. But Park City (13-7 overall. 6-3 6-3 in Region 10) can't clinch homecourt advantage for the first round of the 3A state playoffs play-offs on its own. Because of some losses early in the Region 10 season, sea-son, the Miners either need to upset Judge tonight or hope Wasatch (also 6-3 in region) loses to Uintah. Neither proposition is favorable favor-able for Park City. While the Miners out -played Judge when they first met on Jan. 23, the Bulldogs are undefeated in region play and are ranked second sec-ond in the state. They boast one of the most potent scoring duos in the state in Nick Morales and Joe Sasich. and when they beat the Miners earlier in the year, the Bulldogs proved capable of playing play-ing suffocating defense. Park City coach Jay Judkins is confident his' team can pull off the upset, however, and feels his team was simply intimidated the first time they played. The Wasps travel to play Uintah tonight, and if they win. ' I I ricmuAurt rnnTWFAM . 2002 seeks redemption upstaged by Strobl Rahlves of Sugar Bowl. Calif.. and Marco Sullivan of Tahoe City. Calif, arc two of the U.S. Ski Team's best chances for a medal. "With a win at the World Championship super G event last year in St. Anton. Austria, and several top-ten finishes on the World Cup circuit. Rahlves has shown he can compete at the highest level. Sullivan is a more recent addition addi-tion to the team and is less proven at the World Cup level. But with a surprise ninth-place finish at the Olympic downhill last Sunday, he has made himself a skier to watch in the super G. Former U.S. men's coach Bill Egan said, "Sullivan has a great touch for speed. You can see the way he makes a turn, how fast he comes out of turns, and he has such good fundamentals." Park City's Eric Schlopy will also compete in the super G. Schlopy has focused more on his technical skiing (slalom and giant slalom) recently, but has had good results in speed events in the past. Last year he won the U.S. Championships super G competition. Jake Fiala of Frisco. Colo.. Scott Macartney of Redmond. Wash.. Dane Spencer of Boise. Idaho. Tom Rothrock of they clinch the home playoff game. Playing Uintah in Vernal seemed like a daunting task when the year began, but the perennially perenni-ally strong Utes have struggled this season, going 3-6 in region play. Wasatch, meanwhile, is putting put-ting together one of its best campaigns cam-paigns in recent history. While the Wasps have lost road games to Park City and Judge, they showed last week in a win over Union that they can successfully make the long road trips to east-'ern east-'ern Utah. HANG-UPS If you've got 'em, we want em! 1240 Iron Horse Drive (Located across from the Lost Sock Laundry) RIGHT ANGLE PICTURE FRAMING 649-3640 The Park Cashmere, Wash, and Thomas Von n of Newburgh, N.Y. will also represent the United States in the super G. Caroline Lalive of Truckee , Calif, and Kristen Clark of Raymond. Maine are two of America's best female speed skiers heading into the women's super G on Sunday. Picabo Street, who won the super G at the Nagano Gaines ih 1998. raced in tier final Olympic com- petition in the downhill on Tuesday. . Lalive skis all the alpine events but her best results this year have come in super G. She is currently the sixth-ranked super G skier in the world. Lalive s four-event background is well-suited for the technical rigors rig-ors of the Wildflower course. With two top-ten World Cup finishes last season. Clark is another American women with a shot at the podium. Slalom specialist Kristina Konick of Burnsville. Minn., Jonna Mendes of Heavenly, Calif.. Katie Monahan of Aspen, " Colo, and Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo, round out the women's super G team. International competition to watch: Stcphan Eberharter of Austria, the number-one ranked super G skier in the world, is the favorite on the men's side. He was predicted to the win the downhill, too. only to be upstaned by countryman Fritz Strobl Eberharter ended up winning the bronze medal. They arent the only Austrians who could finish on the podium this Saturday: Andreas Schifferer and Christoph Gruber are both contenders in the super G from Historic Mountain Spa Hot Springs CW ro World-Class Golt, Fishing, Hiking &. Lakes CW ro Peer Valley, Fark Ciry and The Canyons Ski Areas S Acta wirh 23 Mineral Springs 1 5 Acres Commercial wirh possible Residential Devebpment Includes Antique Stone House, Rustic Cabins, Ok, IrakwOutJoor Too! & Parking Area Offered at $ (vxxuxxv Induing Water Rights and Drilling Permit 0 If Record the potent Austrian team. Veteran Norwegian duo Kjetil Aamodt and Lasse Kjus can't be counted out in any alpine event super G is no exception. Like, other strong technical skiers, Grizzly run favors their technique. tech-nique. Kjus finished second in the downhill, Aamodt was a close fourth, and both skiers posted fast times in the downhill portion of the combined on Wednesday. Didier Cuche of Switzerland is the second ranked super G skier in the world heading into Saturday's event. Cuche, who has had strong results in giant slalom throughout through-out his career, is another skier who is helped by the course's technical aspects. Cuche won the silver medal in the super G at the Nagano Games. With Renate Goetschl. Alexandra Meissnitzer and overall over-all World Cup point leader Michaela Dorfmeister, the Austrians also have a powerful female super G squad. All three women have placed consistently in the top ten at super G events this season. If a favorite, however, has emerged from this season it would be Hilde Gerg of Germany. She has two super G wins this season and skied well in speed events heading into the Games. Gerg finished fourth in the downhill on Tuesday. The Italians bring two skiers who could land a spot on the podium. Karen Putzer and Daniela Ceccarelli are both ranked in the top ten in the current cur-rent super G standings. Olympic downhill winner Carole Montillet of France is also a contender in Sunday's event. 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