Aspen IPC World Cup: Victor rolls in slalom

By Published On: January 22nd, 2007Comments Off on Aspen IPC World Cup: Victor rolls in slalom

Stephani Victor made it three victories in four days, and Sandy Dukat made it to the podium for the second consecutive day as the Challenge Aspen IPC World Cup concluded Sunday at Aspen Mountain with its second slalom event.
ASPEN, Colorado —  Stephani Victor made it three victories in four days, and Sandy Dukat made it to the podium for the second consecutive day as the Challenge Aspen IPC World Cup concluded Sunday at Aspen Mountain with its second slalom event.
    As she did on Saturday, Victor easily distanced herself from the rest of the women’s mono-ski field, beating Austria’s Claudia Loesch, the second-place finisher, by nearly nine seconds.
    “I felt like I skied better today,” Victor said. “I felt more solid on the ski, and the confidence from yesterday’s win certainly gave me a boost coming into today’s race.”
    Dukat also found herself in the same position as Saturday’s event by sitting in third place after the first run in the women’s standing division on Sunday. However, she was unable to overtake Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss as she had been able to the day before. Nonetheless, Dukat said she was looking forward to the upcoming World Cup in British Columbia.
    “I’m just going to go into it and try to take the energy I built over the past couple days into Kimberley,” Dukat said. “It was great. I went out and pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and put two solid runs together in two days. I was happy to keep the momentum going for a second day to get third place.”
    In the men’s standing division, Brad Washburn recorded his highest finish of the week Sunday, taking seventh place to give himself another strong result in a highly competitive field.
    “I’ve skied better in past races, but I think I’m doing really well this year and I’m happy with where I’m at,” Washburn said.
    Canada’s Christopher Williamson won the men’s visually impaired slalom for the second straight day with an alternate guide after A.J. Brown, his regular guide, suffered a concussion Thursday. Erik Petersen, the coach for the skiing program at the National Sports Center for the Disabled in Winter Park, Colorado, stepped in again Sunday to lead Williamson to the win. After the race, Petersen gave all the credit to Williamson.
    “I’ve never worked with him in the past, and I’ve never even guided before,” Petersen said. “But he’s such a veteran, and he taught me very well. He showed me the secrets that were very simple — how to keep close, good communication. We just played a little cat-and-mouse game, with me being the mouse and him being the cat.”
    Conditions for Sunday’s action were less favorable than they had been the first four days of the event due to snow that came through on Saturday night. The snow continued to fall throughout the day and delayed the start of the first run, but the volunteers smoothing the course worked hard all day (and all week) to make sure the run was up to par.
    “Well, the weather’s cooperated and we had tons of volunteers and tons of help on the hill,” said Kevin Jardine, director of skiing at Challenge Aspen and 2006 U.S. Paralympic alpine head coach. “I really don’t know how it could have gone any better. All the coaches are happy and everybody wants to come back.”
    “I think the overall feeling has been great,” Dukat said. “From the volunteers to the course crew, we felt really welcome here. I’m very thankful that Challenge Aspen stepped up to bring the World Cup to the U.S. and I look forward to seeing if they’ll do it again.”
    “This week has been epic,” said Houston Cowan, co-founder and CEO of Challenge Aspen. “I don’t think [the town of Aspen] knew what hit them when the Paralympic athletes came here, and now they want to make sure it keeps coming back.”
    The U.S. Disabled Alpine Team finished with nine top-three finishes at the Challenge Aspen IPC World Cup, and will now head to Kimberley, British Columbia, for the second stop on the World Cup circuit. Competition will start Wednesday with another slalom event.
    “I look for our guys to do good there,” said head coach Ray Watkins. “They’ve had a good history in Kimberley, and we’re just going to strap it on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and see where that takes us.”


CHALLENGE ASPEN IPC WORLD CUP
Aspen, Colo. — Jan. 21, 2007
Slalom race 2
Women — mono-ski

1. Stephani Victor, Park City, Utah, 1:51.60
2. Claudia Loesch, Austria, 2:00.35
3. Kuniko Obinata, Japan, 2:02.76
4. Laurie Stephens, Wenham, Mass., 2:07.93

Women — standing
1. Lauren Woolstencraft, Canada, 1:43.14
2. Andrea Rothfuss, Germany, 1:46.90
3. Sandy Dukat, Vail, Colo., 1:48.55

6. Elitsa Storey, Ketchum, Idaho, 2:07.90

Women — visually impaired
1. Sabine Gasteiger (Guide: Emil Gasteiger), Austria, 1:54.50

Men — mono-ski
1. Juergen Egle, Austria, 1:35.70
2. Martin Braxenthaler, Germany, 1:38.39
3. Harald Eder, Austria, 1:38.46

9. Carl Burnett, Winter Park, Colo., 1:49.99
10. John Knudsen, Winter Park, Colo., 2:14.43

Men — standing
1. Masahiko Tokai, Japan, 1:36.77
2. Michael Bruegger, Switzerland, 1:37.22
3. Wolfgang Moosbrugger, Austria, 1:37.55

7. Brad Washburn, Littelton, Colo., 1:42.88
14. Ralph Green, Vail, Colo., 1:53.98
15. Ian Jansing, Winter Park, Colo., 1:54.23

Men — visually impaired
1. Christopher Williamson (Guide: Erik Petersen), Canada, 1:32.02
2. Gianmaria Dal Maistro (Guide: Tommaso Balasso), Italy, 1:34.38
3. Gerd Gradwohl (Guide: Karl-Heinz Vachenauer), Germany, 1:36.65

Click here for complete results.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh