Brandenburg wins Winter Park NDS slalom

With a stacked field including Erik Schlopy, Tom Rothrock and NCAA champion Dominik Schweiger, plus members from Denver University, University of Colorado and national teams from Norway, Sweden and Japan, there was a surprise racer atop the podium for a National Development System Invitational slalom at Winter Park, Colorado.
WINTER PARK, Colorado — With a stacked field including Erik Schlopy, Tom Rothrock and NCAA champion Dominik Schweiger, plus members from Denver University, University of Colorado and national teams from Norway, Sweden and Japan, there was a surprise racer atop the podium for a National Development System Invitational slalom at Winter Park, Colorado.
    Brandenburg clocked the fastest first-run time, then held off a hard-charging Hans-Petter Buraas to win with a two-run time of 1 minute, 28.67 seconds, while Buraas — the 1998 Olympic gold medalist in slalom — posted the fastest second-run time to climb from fourth to second in 1:28.86. Tim Kelley, who finished third in the first NDS slalom event on Tuesday, repeated that finish Wednesday with an effort of 1:29.25. Cody Marshall was fourth (1:29.51), while World Cup starter Rothrock was fifth (1:29.77) and veteran Schlopy finished eighth (1:30.30).
    Paul McDonald of the U.S. Ski Team won Tuesday's opening race, again holding off Buraas in the second run. McDonald finished in 1:24.43, with Buraas second in 1:24.85. Kelley was third in 1:25.06 and Warner Nickerson fourth in 1:25.16.
    Brandenburg skied clean and fast during the second run in conditions that were rough and with a slalom set that was tight and turny. "I am really excited of my results today," Brandenburg said. "This will give me great confidence to carry through the season."
    With course conditions remaining soft due to the extensive snowfall in Colorado, running in the front of the pack gave racers an advantage over the rest of the field.   
    "The snow is terrible," said Josh Bryan, a member of the University of Colorado ski team. "The course is set so tight I barely made it through."
    Sepi Stiegler, running first after the first run, scored the third-fastest time second run. Stiegler, wearing bib No. 43 ended up 16th, an impressive showing for the son of Pepi and brother of U.S. Ski Teamer Resi. Jake Lund, Hunter Schleper and Michael Ankeny were also among the promising juniors who fought for the podium Thursday.
    Due to the lack of snow in Europe, many of the men from the national team raced in the Winter Park series.
With the NCAA season about to commence, CU, the NCAA champs last season, and DU battled for hill honors. Both teams skied solid, with Stefan Hughes CU's best finisher in 12th and Adam Cole of DU finishing sixth.
    "I think that we are going to have a pretty solid team this year," said Bryan, "and the girls [team] is always in there."
    Races will continue in Winter Park through the weekend for men and women's GS.