Friedman and Mendes win national downhill championships

Friedman and Mendes win national downhill championshipsBryon Friedman and Jonna Mendes, both of the U.S. Ski Team, won the men’s and women’s national downhill titles, as the Chevrolet U.S. Alpine Championships got under way in Alyeska, Alaska. It was sunny and cold on the mountain, which offers spectacular views of both glaciers and tidal ocean waterways.

Friedman won by a whopping 1.89 seconds, beating out the C Team’s Jeremy Transue. In third was Daron Rahlves, the winningest man in American downhill World Cup history. “I probably skied the most aggressively I have all season,” said Friedman after winning his first national title. “Today the speeds were up. I absolutely flew off the Silvertip jump and Waterfall.”

Mendes, who has been in a slump all season, used her efficient tuck through most of the course — a fast track with few technical sections and two very large jumps — to beat teammate Julia Mancuso. Libby Ludlow was third.

For Mendes, winner of the FIS downhill the previous day on the same hill, the victories could not have come at a better time. “This win is so meaningful for me, so important for the season,” said Mendes, who has endured a post-Christmas slump on the World Cup. “Today I really knew what I had to do – clean up a few places from yesterday (FIS race), and then I skied my heart out.”

Mancuso was fastest on the top split and over the enormous launching pad of the Silvertip Jump, but nearly lost everything on the bumpy, high-speed traverse known as the Cabbage Patch. “I nearly did the splits on that traverse,” said Mancuso. “I completely dumped my speed. It was certainly rougher than yesterday.”

Friedman’s father, Steven Friedman, was present at the race. The elder Friedman lived in Girdwood, Alaska (the town at the base of the mountain), for several years when he was a young man, just out of the Air Force. “He lived in Alaska for a few years. [These are] his old stomping grounds I guess,” said the triumphant Friedman, known to his teammates as “Freedog.”

Two promising young Americans were injured in the race. Kevin Francis blew his right knee out when he high-sided on the flats between the two jumps. Lindsey Kildow crashed on a long, bumpy traverse within sight of the finish, wiping out a gate panel as she tumbled down the hill. She had cuts on her chin and a slight concussion, but was walking around the finish during the men’s race.

Bode Miller, who arrived the night before the race from Italy (where he was testing Nordica and Atomic technical skis), foreran the women’s race so that he could compete in the men’s. He finished 10th, just well enough to contribute his 5.51 points to the penalty calculation.

The top junior for the women’s race was Mancuso, a four-time winner of the Sprint/Ski Racing Junior of the Year Award. But the top junior on the men’s side was more of a surprise. Sam Sweetser, of Cumberland, Maine, finished 11th on the day.

Sweetser, who sported a “mullet” haircut with parallel “steps” cut into his temples, is a member of the Park City Ski Educational Foundation’s team, which had 11 athletes qualify for the race.

A standout youngster in the women’s race, meanwhile, was Chirene Njeim of the Rowmark Ski Academy, who finished ninth. Njeim, who hails from Beirut, Lebanon, has skied for the Rowmark Ski Academy. She had never raced a FIS downhill before this February, and today scored a 48-point result.

It was a brilliantly sunny day at Alyeska, which hasn’t hosted the nationals since 1981. Much of the course was in the shade for the women’s race, which began at 11 a.m., and it was freezing cold. As temperatures rose during the men’s race, the track appeared to get faster, allowing several athletes to make huge advances up the results page.

David Duncan, a sophomore at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, came from the 41st start position to finish ninth. Duncan, who wasn’t even selected by his college coach to attend the NCAA Finals earlier this month, is from London, Ontario, where he learned to ski on a mountain with a 200-foot vertical drop, according to his coach at UAA, Jeff Rust.

Ludlow skied a clean race, by her estimation. “I tried to tuck more on the final traverse, but those jumps were huge, even bigger than in Europe. I went way far, it was fun.” As for capturing her first national championship podium, Ludlow responded, “I’m so psyched.”

No one, however, was more excited and relieved than Mendes. “I’m psyched to come back and this is the first step. It’s good to be feeling like my old self again,” said Mendes grinning from ear to ear.

“Today I was taking risks. I was going tighter on most of the gates, and letting my skis roll off the jumps instead of making a huge press,” said Friedman. “I just took it down the hill. I was aggressive. I was looking for speed everywhere and it paid off.

“I knew I had to carry my speed off the flats into waterfall. Yesterday I kindof swooped around the line so I could get a good press in. Today I just took it right at the gate and carried it across the sidehill. I knew when my tips were flapping on that sidehill that I was hauling. That’s what I was looking for.”

Chevy Truck U.S. Alpine Championships

Alyeska Resort, Alaska

March 19, 2004

Women’s Downhill

1.) Jonna Mendes 1:44.25

2.) Julia Mancuso 1:45.18

3.) Libby Ludlow 1:45.41

4.) Bryna McCarty 1:45.86

5.) Kristen Bybee 1:46.12

Men’s Downhill

1.) Bryon Friedman 1:38.96

2.) Jeremy Transue 1:40.85

3.) Daron Rahlves 1:40.94

4.) Jakub Fiala 1:41.08

5.) Justin Johnson 1:41.33