Kimberley disabled WC: Stephens, Victor 1-2

Paralympic gold medalists Laurie Stephens and Stephani Victor continued to dominate the disabled alpine World Cup, finishing 1-2 in super G to open the tour’s second stop in the Canadian Rockies.

KIMBERLEY, British Columbia — Paralympic gold medalists Laurie Stephens and Stephani Victor continued to dominate the disabled alpine World Cup, finishing 1-2 in super G to open the tour’s second stop in the Canadian Rockies.
    “Both Laurie and Stephani are skiing exactly how we expect them to be,” said coach Ben Roberts. “It’s really nice to see Laurie feeling so confident on her mono-ski right now and both these girls performed really well in some difficult conditions. The visibility was pretty rough with heavy ground fog and at times, they could only see one or two gates in front of them.”
    Stephens, who posted a winning time of 1 minute, 27.08 seconds, has been in the top three of all three World Cup SG races this season, including two wins, while Victor is successfully expanding beyond her slalom specialty by climbing onto the SG podium for the first time in 1:31.30.
    “They’ve been battling back and forth all season in pretty much every discipline,” added Roberts. “No doubt they’re skiing at the top level right now, which is making them tough to beat.”
    In the standing race, Elitsa Storey continued to bang on the podium door, finishing fourth behind winner Lauren Woolstencroft of Canada, while U.S. teammate Sandy Dukat was sixth. Woolsencroft’s time of 1:28.08 was 2.02 seconds better than Danja Haslacher, who finished second in 1:30.10. Solene Jambaque of France was third in 1:32.06 with Storey fourth in 1:37.66.
    In the men’s race, Carl Burnett posted the best American finish in 10th, while teammates Gerald Hayden and Nick Catanzarite were 12th and 14th respectively. Winning the race with a time of 1:24.65 was Austrian Shannon Dallas.
    “There really isn’t another way to say it, the guys just aren’t skiing the way we know they can. They’ve been fast in training and we’re just not seeing that on race day. We’re looking for them to step it up,” Roberts said.
    Brad Washburn posted the best U.S. finish in the men’s standing race in 12th, while George Sansonetis was 15th. Thomas Pfyl of Austria won the race with a time of 1:23.99.
    Action continues from Kimberly on Thursday with giant slalom.

DISABLED ALPINE WORLD CUP
Kimberly, British Columbia — Jan. 24, 2007
Super G
Women’s sit-ski
1. Laurie Stephens, Wenham, Mass., 1:27.08
2. Stephani Victor, Park City, Utah, 1:31.30
3. Claudia Loesch, Austria, 1:33.87
4. Tatsuko Aoki, Japan, 1:36.37
5. Dailia Dameno, Italy, 1:40.87

Women’s standing
1. Lauren Woolstencroft, Canada, 1:28.08
2. Danja Haslacher, Austria, 1:30.10
3. Solene Jambaque, France, 1:32.06
4. Elitsa Storey, Ketchum, Idaho, 1:37.82
5. Karin, Fasel, Switzerland, 1:37.82
–
6. Sandy Dukat, Vail, Colo., 1:38.67

Men’s sit-ski
1. Shannon Dallas, Austria, 1:24.65
2. Christoph Kunz, Switzerland, 1:25.68
3. Martin Braxenthaler, Germany, 1:25.86
4. Harald Eder, Austria, 1:26.44
5. Yohann Taberlet, France, 1:26.90
–
10. Carl Burnett, Winter Park, Colo., 1:29.24
12. Gerald Hayden, Merced, Calif., 1:30.18
14. Nick Catanzarite, Winter Park, Colo., 1:35.53

Men’s standing
1. Thomas Pfyl, Switzerland, 1:23.99
2. Robert Meusburger, Austria, 1:25.06
3. Masahiko Tokai, Japan, 1:26.21
4. Cameron Rahls-Rahbula, Australia, 1:26.26
5. Gerd Schoenfelder, Germany, 1:26.36
–
12. Brad Washburn, Littleton, Colo., 1:30.08
15. George Sansonetis, Fraser, Colo., 1:32.94