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Show * ‘TheSalt Lake Tribune WINTERSPORTS Sunday, November25, 2001 WORLD CUP LUGE WINTER SPORTS Parra Sets New Mark Wilczak Slides Onto Scene With 2nd-Place Finish In Speedskating Win STAFF, WIRE REPORTS Speedskater Derek Parra, a Park Cityresident, won his first World Cupraceon Saturday, de feating hometown fav Hersmanofthe Ne men’s 1,500 race at The Hague. TheHagueis slower than most tracks, so Parra’s time of 1 hour, 19.78 seconds was not a personal best, but it was a track record. Hersmanfinished in 9, fol: lowed by Germany's Christian Breuer in 1:51.01 On the women's side, Germa ny’s Anni Friesinger won her sixth straight World Cup racethis year with a victory in the women’s 3,000 meters. She finished in 7:15.30, followed by Inice dancing, the three top slots stayed the same after the original dance: Barbara FusarPoli and Maurizio Margaglio of Italy led, Galit Chait and Sergei Sakhnovsky ofIsrael were insec- ond place followed by Elena Grushina and Roman Goncharov of Ukraine. SKI JUMPING U.S. Finishes 11th, 12th jan St Alborn of the United inished 1th in.a ski jump: ing World Cup in Kuopio, Fin land, and Clint Jones, a teen-ager from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was12th Risto Jussilainen of Finland won the large hill competition Claudia Pechstein in Japan's Maki Tabatain7:20.3 under the lights, scoring 253.9 points on jumpsof127: FIGURE SKATING the first round and 123 in the second. Russians Keep CupTitles Irina Slutskaya was hesitant with a still-developing free programbut assured enoughto win the Cupof Russia GrandPrix in St. Petersburg. YevgenyPlushchenkofailedto complete a newquadlutz andfell onaq toelogpyetstill won the men's competition, while Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs by performing an old free program with precision and verve. Skating to selectionsfrom PucSlutskaya began Alborn, of Anchora; earned 223.8 points for h of 118. Sand 117.5 meters. best World rookie last seast 32nd, 6 points after jumping 5meterrs, lysz of Poland, the defending World Cup: champion, Norwegian Men Sweep ‘Anders Auklandled Norwayto a sweep of the top eight spots in Russia’s Viktoria Volchkova as second, with an elegant pro- gram showing off her ability to soaron jumps. Angela Nikodinov of the UnitedStates finished third. She the men's But on Saturday, therising 21 year-old luge star finally gotto feel the bubbly suds rain down on her afterclaiming a silver medal —her finest moment yet on the World come February, could use’ lots’ of cheering up after some mistake riddled runs Saturday Cupstage. The biggest casualties ofthe Because several top German sliders missed the event, Wilczak entered the race on her home track in the unlikely position as dne of Will Waldron/The Ass Americans Pat Anderson,left, and Brian Wohlleb slide to a the recipe for handling the pres- champion(Silke, Kraushaar) and Olympicsilver medallist (Barbara the favorites. But the Mlinois na: tive believes she hasfinally found sure. “Whaigver happens, happens,” Wilezak said of herpre-ra set. “I just reminded r ‘You'vedone this before. Rela . Go downand havesomefun.’ ” Wilczak’s combined two-heat timeof1 minuteand 29 conds was bested only by Germany's Sonja Wiedemann (1:29.981), who said she cameto the challenging MountVanHoevenbergtrack ona mission. Wiedemann, former world champion, was unable to qualify for Germany's 2002 Olym pic Teambecauseit is loaded with the reigning women’s World Champion (Sylke Otto), Olympic seventh-placefinish Saturday in Lake Placid, N.Y. Niedernhuber). Wiedemann’s more decorated teammates were in France com peting in their nation’s Olympic trials, while she came here in arch of redemption. My goal wasto proveto myself that I'mstill a top lugeathlete,” said Wiedemann, whoset a track record with a 44.021 heat Fr y. “And atleast, I wantedto showmy es the same.Thisvictory isa small bandagefor the hurt which I received whenI did not qualify for Germany’s Olympic team.” Wiedemann’s triumph marked the 38th consecutive gold medal for the German womenininterna: tional luge competition. The depth of Germany's female lugers is tal America’s younger sliders are try ing to clone. TheU.S. bunchi: parently almostther zak, American luger den also notched a showing Saturday, fourth place among 2 tors. Teammates Brenna Margol and Courtney Zablocki were seventh and 14th, respectively. Only two weeks earlier, Hayden had beenthe weakestlink at the World Cupin Calgary, the only U.S. womanwho failed to placein the top 10. But the 20-year-old track's tricky contours were both U.S. duos: Mark Grimmetté-Brian Martin and Chris Thorpe-Clay Ives. Grimmette and Martin, bronze medalists at the 1998. Nagano Games,finished 17th outof 18 sliders. Thorpe and Ives finished last but survived a scarysequetice of near-crashes during theirfirst run. Thorpe suffered a swollen hand, but showed his vintage sense of humorduring interviews with reporters. Mindful that NBC intends’ to nationallytelevise this World Cup. ina few weeks, Thorpe joked,“We could have given [NBC] a good result or a good crash. So we-gave them agood cras! Italy's Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber, who stood-ninth entering the secondandfinalheat, surged to. gold with a blazing second-round seconds. heat. in style race. Sweden's Per Elofsson, the defending World Cup champion, finished ninth in the men’s class ityle race. pushed into third past American Matthew Savoie, whose perfor- ahead of Sweden's Lina And son. World Cup champion Yulia ‘Tchepalova ofRussia wasninth, Erling Jevne inthe last 1.8 miles ofthe nine-mile race. Jevne/ was followed by Frode Estil, Odd-Bjorn Hjelmeset, Kristen Skjeldal, Thomas Alsgaard, Tore Bjonviken and Espen Bjervig. Among the women, Skari won in 28:52.6 @ 1¢/Menlove toyota NoamUntil February 200 - NightSt ERT a TheIn "the lastof thelittle guys" HUGE SAVINGS ON EVERYTHING IN STOCK 17.8 secondsahead of Russia’s Olga Danilova and 27.3 U.S. ALPINE SKIING U.S. Team Hasn’t Benefited From Advantages of Home BY TOM WHARTON ‘THE SALT LAKETRIBUNE ASPEN, Colo. — U.S. Alpine ski team, members are fond of saying they enjoy competing be- DODGE BLOWOUT EVENT fore home crowds. “We have always done better onourhometurf,” said U.S. men’s Hunt prior to World n’s slaloms today and Mondayat Aspen. “They are better on snow they arefamiliar with and eating food they know, Theyaré nottrying to Every new Dodge mustgo. No reasonable offer refused. Now is the best timein history to buy a new Dodge. deal withdifferent cultures. They are morecomfortabl ¢ 0.0%APR OAC Yet, if recent history can provide a guide, skiers on the U.S. men's and women’s teams have notfared well at home.Ifthe trend continues into the 2002 Winter Olympicsin Salt LakeCity, the ski team will be hard-pressed to meet United States Ski and Snowboard Association president __Bill ¢ Free Powertrain Warranty ¢ Free Vacation Lowest Prices Ever APfile photo Daron Rahives of the men’s Alpine ski team is a strong Marolt’soff-statedgoal of winning a U.S.-record 10 Olympic skiing competitor in the downhill and superG for the Olympics. and women's Alpine teams, Kristina Koznick is the only one who people I know. | ain waytoo nice.I try totalk toeveryone. I want togo to Europe andregroup.” medals. Of the members of the men’s won a medal on U.S.soil. That camelast year in Aspen when she finished third in the slalom. And she trains independently of the U.S. team. Even Olympic veteran and star PicaboStreet has neyer reached the top three in an event on U.S. soil. On the men’s side, Erik Schlopy has cometheclosest. He finished fourth the last time he raced on thegiantslalom course at his home in Park City. The U.S,failed to win a medal when the World Championships were held in Vail, Colo., in 1999. "ao Menloves Advertised “een enloy OVE ooo rhe a ofa littleguys” Schleper, whofinished 30th in the giant slalom and skied off course in the slalom, appeared shaken, tearful and upset. “It will help to go to Europe,” shesaid. “I can be more relaxed and get in more training runs with faster girls, Hopefully, I can pull it together. My problem is that I just have a clogged-up head.” That said, the U.S. men ap- ACT ae ue peared confident going into the two World Cup slalom races. Schlopy knowsthe importance to Pe feSee of competing well at ‘The U.S, team was young and in- experienced in Vail. And the team has been building for the Olympics,Still, there are signs that the distractions of family, the pressure of high expectations and heavier media attention in the States can bother American skiers. After not winning medals in the women's World Cupgiant sla- Jom and slalom events at Copper Mountain last week, Koznick and Sarah Schleper said they looked forward to going to Europe to “I am kind of excited to go to Burope,” said ick, whose sixth-plage finish in the was the topU.S, position at Copper Mountain. “It’s tough to race in the States because I run into more «45.274 15-kilometer race in Auklandwas timed in 38 minutes, 55 seconds, for his first World Cupvictory. He held off mancetook fewrisks. Butone good racepicks you back up.” The American men’s doubles teams, perhaps thenation’é~best shot at Olympic medal inluge es. Kuopio, Finland, the openerofthe World Cupcross country season. Norway's Bente Skari wonthe women’s opening 10K cl started well but faded, putting a handdowncoming out of a triple toeloop and singling alutz late in the program. “T'm still getting used to the program,” Nikodinov said. “I’m getting better and better. I hope to peak inthe nationals.” Plushchenko couldn't pull off the quad lutz, which never has beenlanded in competition. . Bulgaria's Ivan Dinev was sec- ond, and Russia’s Roman Serov This is a big boost/for’ me, Haydensaid Saturday.“1 wasvoff to a roughstart tothe season. You start to doubt yourselfalittle bit LAKEPLACID,N.Y. Becky Wilczak had always been a mere spectator to champagne celebrations at the end of World, Cup rac- CROSS COUNTRY me other jumps, though, cluded a pair of Bielmannspins. TRIBUNE was second Saturday. He wonthe season-opening event Friday on the same hill and tops the overall standings. anding acleantriple were not on andshesteppedout of a tripleloop before recovering for a strong finish sequence that. in- Massachusetts native has proved resili it BY FRANK CURRERI ‘THE SALT LAKE Ail of us realize it is a great Opportunity to showcase our sport,” he said of the Olympic and World Cup races being held on US.soil. “Skiing is not as popular as basketball or football. If we do Para i Your Low Pymt well in big races, thepopularity of skiing will increase.” Huntsaid the key to competing well at home is to establish a norroutine. “Wealways try to the same way whetherit is a Nor-Am or a Worldae he said. “Wetry to eliminate distractions and pay more atiention to the positives.” urna the U.S,id team has po peed at home, That Bion US, hopefuls Scho and Chip Knight PRU AC CLL Parts & Service Hours Pea Py Open BEE Te |
