the downhill moved up a place with Ralph Weber taking
the gold and Nils Mani the silver. Austrian Johannes Strolz
earned bronze.
There was a move afoot to disqualify Mani, but video
provided by Norwegian coach Erik Per Vognild showed
there was no justification to do so. Give the coach some
kind of ethics award — the DQ would have moved his
racer, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, to the bronze medal
position.
Weber said he was able to learn from the mistakes
of others by paying attention at the start. “Normally
I’m better in downhill than super G,” he said, “but after
inspection I had a good feeling and thought reaching
the podium might be possible.”
Mani said he had not expected to make the podium.
“Just like yesterday, I didn’t expect to be on the
podium,” he said, “but obviously hoped I would make
it. The conditions were better today and I was simply
skiing better than yesterday.” He also said he was very
pleased for his gold-medal-winning teammate. “It’s
great to be part of such a strong team,” said Mani.
Strolz, too, said he “hadn’t dare” think about winning a
medal. “It was really tough today as it was super fast. I
tried to find the perfect synergy between attacking and
tactics.”
The American men, despite losing their lead horse,
put three into the top- 31 with Bryce Bennett in 22nd,
Scott Snow 25th and Tanner Farrow 31st. Matt Strand
finished 40th and Kieffer Christianson was DQ’d.
Canada had Morgan MeGarry in 28th and Trevor Philp
43rd.
the first heat to easily move through to the semi-final.
There, the Austrian squad encountered a bit of bad
luck with one late start and a crash and succumbed 4-
0 to the Slovenes.
That brought the team up against the Italians but the
home-standing group quickly found themselves down
3-0. The crowd got to enjoy a home win in the last
match-up, but it was too little, too late.
Italy got second and the Swiss team third.
A total of eight teams participated. The U.S. was not
one of them. Canada lost to Austria in the first heat.
The Slovenian team took the first 11 of 12 match-ups to
reel in the Team Event title in a walk.
Ula Hafner, Zan Kranjec, Ana Bucik and Misel Zerak
were awarded gold medals. They swept France in
Women’s Super G, March 6 “Monday night we discussed objectives,” said Norway’s
Annie Winquist. “From start number 45 I thought that
top 20 would be an OK place. ... I did not set out to
win.”
But win she did, roaring in from the back of the pack to
overtake Swiss leader Joana Haehlen. Mowinckel got
her second medal of the meet, finishing third out of the
34th start position.
The race surface had finally frozen up, gotten hard and
turned bulletproof. Three racers from outside the top
30 powered their ways into the top five, and they made
the difference for Abby Ghent, who sat in the bronze
medal position much of the day but will be recorded as
the sixth fastest.
Winquist’s run was a masterstroke. Coach Eivind
Engen East said they had plenty of time at the top to
discuss problems other competitors were having. “The
tactic was that she had to come from behind into the
overhang because so many had trouble there,” he said.
“She skied crazy good. It was indescribable to watch.
Unbelievable.”
Behind Ghent in sixth, other U.S. finishers were Anna
Marno in 23rd, Lauren Samuels 25th, Jacqueline Wiles
32nd and Foreste Peterson 35th. Kathrine Ryan did
Ragnhild Mowinckel came from behind to oust the defending
GS champion.
The Slovenians were unstoppable in the team event at the World Junior
Championships in Roccaroso, Italy.
