Puckett takes second in opening WC ski cross event

By Published On: January 14th, 2008Comments Off on Puckett takes second in opening WC ski cross event

Casey Puckett overcame a sluggish start Sunday to finish second and lead three U.S. skiers into the top 20 in a World Cup ski cross won by Czech Tomas Kraus, the reigning world champion.
LES CONTAMINES, France — Casey Puckett overcame a sluggish start Sunday to finish second and lead three U.S. skiers into the top 20 in a World Cup ski cross won by Czech Tomas Kraus, the reigning world champion.
     Puckett, a four-time Olympic alpine skier, was followed by Jake Fiala in ninth place, Errol Kerr in 12th, JJ Johnson in 23rd and Cody Smith at 39th. Fiala and Johnson also are former alpine World Cup skiers while Kraus and third-place skier Stanley Hayer raced for the Czech Republic. Kraus has won gold in SX at the last two FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.
    “Casey’s been around so much and been in so many finals that naturally he’s always disappointed if he doesn’t win, but I think he’s really happy with the results. It’s a good way to start into the World Cup with ski cross,” said U.S. coach Tyler Shepherd. “The only time he didn’t win his heat was when he was in the final up against Tomas Kraus and he said that he got out of the start just a little slower than he did the other two heats.”
    According to Shepherd, Puckett’s start could have made the difference between first and second place because, “It was very difficult to pass on this course. It was very tight at the top and it had some unique areas for jumps that were difficult, and then the bottom was really fast. They were probably approaching 55 mph, so to do any passing at that speed is very difficult.”
    The newest snow sport added to the Olympics, ski cross has been compared with motocross on snow. It’s a highly competitive and sometimes physical race that requires only the strongest athletes, and Sunday’s race was no exception, Shepherd said.
    “The level of competition is as high as it is anywhere else. All the usual suspects are here. These guys have all been racing for a long time and the lower-level guys don’t even qualify, so it’s very competitive," Shepherd said. "They build the courses differently over here, and the athletes play a little differently. There’s a little bit rougher play going on. Guys are elbowing each other a little more right out of the start.”
    Ophelie David of France won the women’s SX event. No U.S. women competed.
    The ski cross World Cup now moves to Flaine, France, for a competition Wednesday.
    I’m very optimistic about how the boys will do because they’re all really fired up after getting the first one out of the way," Shepherd said. "The guys have a better feeling of what to expect for the next race, so I think they’re all pretty confident in knowing that they can step it up."

Men's results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
 1    2386524 KRAUS Tomas  1974  CZE       1000.00
 2    2526254 PUCKETT Casey  1972  USA       800.00
 3    2526725 HAYER Stanley  1973  CAN       600.00
 4    2484562 PICCARD Ted  1978  FRA       500.00
 5    2455006 SCHMID Michael  1984  SUI       450.00
 6    2447828 BARR Davey  1977  CAN       400.00
 7    2389240 BASTELICA Simon  1977  FRA       360.00
 8    2385263 KONO Kenji  1983 

JPN       320.00
 9    2526905 FIALA Jakub  1975  USA       290.00
 10    2389628 GAVAGGIO Enak  1976  FRA       260.00
 11    2190772 TAKIZAWA Hiroomi  1973  JPN       240.00
 12    2526957 KERR Errol  1986  USA       220.00
 13    2422026 LENEL Robin  1985  FRA       200.00
 14    2387009 LEWEN Lars  1975  SWE       180.00
 15    2525886 KOROTKOV Egor  1986  RUS       160.00
 16    2526956 SHESTAKOV Pavel  1969  RUS       150.00
 17    2526820 DELBOSCO Christopher  1982  CAN       140.00
 18    2412132 HAUKKALA Juha  1978  FIN       130.00
 19    2526694 DOI Toshiyuki  1978  JPN       120.00
 20    2526844 RUOPPA Samu  1989  FIN       110.00
 21    2484520 BENNETT Brian  1980  CAN       100.00
 22    2451417 MATT Andreas  1982  AUT       90.00
 23    2484376 GROENVOLD Audun  1976  NOR       80.00
 23    2526635 JOHNSON Justin  1977  USA       80.00
 25    2392732 VON GUNTEN Thomas  1971  SUI       60.00
 26    2448410 NETZER Conradign  1980  SUI       50.00
 27    2475182 VAINIO Juhani  1980  FIN       45.00
 28    2484630 EGGEN Silvio  1983  SUI       40.00
 29    2484604 KOLLER Patrick  1983  AUT       36.00
 30    2395739 AUDERER Wolfgang  1981  AUT       32.00
 31    2412714 SAFAR Zdenek  1978  CZE       28.00
 32    2526789 STICKL Simon  1987  GER       26.00
 33    2526897 DUNCAN David  1982  CAN       24.00
 34    2526898 CULBERT Cam  1977  CAN       22.00
 35    2475085 RUOTSALAINEN Petri  1980  FIN       20.00
 36    2412617 SPALINGER Richard  1975  SUI       19.70
 37    2384681 WALDNER Klaus  1980  AUT       19.40
 38    2403402 MOLLING Karl Heinz  1972  ITA       19.10
 39    2526891 SMITH Cody  1978  USA       18.80
 40    2400298 JOSEFSSON Ted  1977  SWE       18.50
 41    2389531 KUHN Xavier  1978  FRA       18.20
 42    2400395 ELIASSON Tommy  1980  SWE       17.90
 43    2392635 STEFFEN Andreas  1975  SUI       17.60
 44    2387591 IEZZA Massimiliano  1974  ITA       17.30
 45    2484602 LOSS Matteo Valentino  1982  ITA       17.00
 46    2526330 LE GALL Charley  1989  FRA       16.70
 47    2485278 RIENDA Daniel  1980  SPA       16.40
 48    2526804 ROBINSON Craig  1987  GBR       16.10
 49    2526556 KOPRIVA Jakub  1989  CZE       15.80
 50    2450835 MIAILLIER Sylvain  1986  FRA       15.50
 51    2386718 ILJANS Eric  1969  SWE       15.20
 52    2526239 FABRE Olivier  1983  FRA       14.90
 53    2526029 MAIER Frank  1985  GER       14.60
 54    2526788 PUPP Maximilian  1985  GER       14.30
 55    2484763 REKDAL Anders  1987  NOR       14.00
 56    2411938 ZANGERL Thomas  1983  AUT       13.70
 57    2412229 KARHUMAKI Tuomas  1981  FIN       13.40
 58    2391471 MANI Alois  1983  SUI       13.10
 59    2484555 TISCHENDORF Andreas  1987  GER       12.80
 60    2526947 JECL Simon  1986  SLO       12.50
 61    2484313 MORISON Angus  1980  GBR       12.20
 62    2385748 MATSUBARA Ryosuke  1979  JPN       11.90
 63    2526508 KEIL Uwe  1988  GER       11.60< /td>
 64    2485155 UBUKATA Takeo  1974  JPN       11.30
 65    2485360 CERMAK Radek  1980  CZE       11.00
 66    2485167 KARLSTAM Philip  1989  SWE       10.70
 67    2484749 AUER Mirco  1977  SUI       10.40
 68    2456461 SOUKUP Jan  1980  CZE       10.10
 69    2485174 ORLOWSKI Marcin  1985  POL       9.80
 70    2485175 BUSCA Tomas  1979  ITA       9.50
 71    2526532 SIMO Dusan  1981  SVK       9.20
 72    2526785 ZAGORSKI Wojciech  1985  POL       8.90
 73    2384390 WITTNER Markus  1973  AUT       8.60
 74    2484607 LACROIX Didier  1986  ITA       8.30
 75    2526137 FORSLUND Michael  1986  SWE       8.00
 76    2485323 GSTREIN Jochen  1987  AUT       7.70
 77    2484322 FOLEY Thomas  1979  IRE  &nbsp
;		    7.40
 78    2484627 CATTANEO Luca  1972  ITA       7.10
 79    2525885 BONDAR Alexandr  1988  RUS       0.00
 80    2526369 RUIZ Jose-Jorge  1974  SPA       0.00
 81    2485296 KRUPA Ondrej  1983  CZE       0.00
 82    2526533 WADRZYK Bartlomiej  1976  POL       0.00
 83    2485186 TAKAC Petr  1987  CZE       0.00
 84    2526747 PIBER David  1989  SLO       0.00
 85    2525841 HONCL Cenek  1989  CZE       0.00
 86    2526231 PINTAR Anze  1979  SLO       0.00

Did not start: DANILOV Artem (RUS), LEIVA Zamir (CHI)

Did not finish: EBENBICHLER Christoph (AUT), GALLAND Antoine (FRA)

 

Woomen's results 

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
 1    2394866 DAVID Ophelie  1976  FRA       1000.00
 2    2324342 BERNTSEN Hedda  1976  NOR       800.00
 3    2415721 BOULANGEAT Meryl  1986  FRA       600.00
 4    2484439 MCIVOR Ashleigh  1983  CAN       500.00
 5    2396612 HUTTARY Karin  1977  AUT       450.00
 6    2448604 MURK Seraina  1971  SUI       400.00
 7    2452775 FUKUSHIMA Noriko  1979  JPN       360.00
 8    2526337 MARSAN Clara  1989  FRA       320.00
 9    2526906 MURRAY Julia  1988  CAN       290.00
 10    2444045 FARIC Sasa  1984  SLO       260.00
 11    2386815 ILJANS Magdalena  1969  SWE       240.00
 12    2526015 OFNER Katrin  1990  AUT       220.00
 13    2485085 OWENS Jenny  1978  AUS       200.00
 14    2404469 SERAIN Emilie  1984  SUI       180.00
 15    2387979 DEMERS Anik  1972  CAN       160.00
 16    2446955 GRAUVOGL Alexandra  1981  GER       150.00
 17    2526527 JENSEN Julie  1990  NOR       140.00
 18    2323372 CREMA Katya  1988  AUS       130.00
 19    2484521 SAITO Akane  1982  JPN       120.00
 20    2525966 YALISHEVA Nadezhda  1981  RUS       110.00
 21    2526530 RIEMEN Karolina  1988  POL       100.00
 22    2526531 KRZYZYNSKA Dagmara  1981  POL       90.00
 23    2485279 DELGADO Rocio  1977  SPA       80.00
 24    2484649 SARSFIELD Emily  1983  GBR       70.00
 25    2526819 SAUVEY Sarah  1983  GBR       0.00
 26    2526845 FORNI Arianna  1987  ITA       0.00

 

Did not start: SITKOVA Jitka (CZE), LILJEGREN Jenny (SWE), REISINGER Sarah (GER), STEFFEN Franziska (SUI)

Did not finish: MUELLER Katrin (SUI), MCFETRIDGE Gillian (CAN)

 

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