Austria's Sablatnik wins world juniors super G, Weibrecht third

Austria’s Sablatnik wins world juniors super G, Weibrecht third{mosimage}LE MASSIF, Quebec – American Andrew Weibrecht was just six-hundredths of a second from winning gold in Saturday’s Junior World Championships super G at Le Massif, Quebec.

Austria’s Michael Sablatnik, starting bib 8, put down the day’s fastest time at 1:11.81, and when Weibrecht charged through the finish line one racer later, they were separated by just six-hundredths of a second.

Weibrecht maintained his second-place standing for quite sometime, surviving a challenge from his teammate Christopher Beckmann, who won Thursday’s downhill, and for a few minutes, it even looked as though Weibrecht and Beckmann might both finish on the podium. But Switzerland’s Beat Feuz, starting 23rd, knocked Beckmann from the podium, and one racer later, Slovenia’s Gasper Markic came down and shocked the field by splitting Weibrecht and Sablitnik apart, creeping into the silver medal position with a time of 1:11.85.

Weibrecht arrived at world juniors coming off his first ever NorAm podium at a super G in Big Mountain, Montana. With this third-place finish, though, he earned more than just a bronze medal – he secured himself another season of racing with the U.S. Ski Team. “I wanted a medal and I achieved my objective,” said Weibrecht. “This takes a heavy load off my shoulders, because I was still looking to qualify for the U.S. Ski Team for next season.”

Austria’s Sablatnik seemed elated and relieved in much the same way that Weibrecht was, but his sense of relief emanated not from the pressure to make a quota, but from the inordinate pressures that come with representing the world’s greatest alpine ski racing country. “I wasn’t expecting this,” explained Sablatnik. “I’m very happy with my day, especially considering the difficulty of the hill and the quality of the racers competing here. … Because Austria is such a strong nation on the World Cup circuit, athletes such as me have a lot of pressure at the world juniors.”

Saturday’s course set, conditions and hill proved challenging, as over a third of the field did not finish, which is an unusually high percentage for a speed event. The trouble started three gates into the course on the steepest section of the track, where athletes were not making the requisite line adjustments, and scrubbed speed by running late and straight onto the next, flat section of the course.

“It didn’t feel good [for anyone] today,” said Weibrecht. “The distances between gates were so inconsistent that it was difficult to get into a rhythm. … You got into trouble if you tried to ski one consistent line, because there were never really a few turns where you could just get into your groove.”

Andrew Cesati, who coaches Weibrecht and Beckmann on the Men’s NorAm/Europa Cup squad, agreed with Weibrecht. “It was tough out there today,” he said, “and [our] boys did well because they skied smart.”

When asked what his goals were for the remainder of the championships, Weibrecht made it clear that he’s not complacent after his super G podium. “I want more medals out of this,” he said.

Beckmann and Weibrecht are both products of the New York Ski Education Foundation, and they’ve been skiing together for most of their competitive lives. “I’m really happy for Andrew,” said Beckmann of his friend and teammate. “He’s been working so hard, and things haven’t really come together for him at [world juniors] in the past, so this is pretty sweet.”

The Junior World Championships continue on March 5 with men’s slalom at Mont-Sainte-Anne and women’s super G at Le Massif.

Men’s super G
Junior World Championships
Le Massif, Quebec
March 4, 2006
1. SABLATNIK Michael [AUT 1:11.81
2. MARKIC Gasper [SLO] 1:11.85
3. WEIBRECHT Andrew [USA] 1:11.87
4. FEUZ Beat [SUI] 1:12.02
5. BECKMANN Christopher [USA] 1:12.12
6. OLSSON Matts [SWE] 1:12.18
7. JANKA Carlo [SUI] 1:12.23
8. ZRNCIC-DIM Natko [CRO] 1:12.41
9. CAVIEZEL Mauro [SUI] 1:12.42
10. SCHEIBER Florian [AUT] 1:12.49

For a link to complete results, click here

Alpine Canada contributed to this report