PARALYMPICS: Alpine preview: New categories highlight Torino Games

PARALYMPICS: Alpine preview: New categories highlight Torino Games{mosimage}The IX Paralympic Winter Games introduces a new three-category system for alpine skiing, creating a more competitive environment that will increase the value and significance of medals earned among a field of more competitors.

The three disability categories will include sitting, standing and visually impaired for all four alpine disciplines: downhill, super G, giant slalom and slalom.

‘In the last Paralympics, they had to work harder to beat 10 other people. Here, they need to work harder to beat 80 or 100 other people — that’s motivating to the team’ said Kevin Jardine, head coach for the U.S. Paralympic alpine team. ‘That extra competition is great for the sport. I think it shows that different disabilities can compete against each other and be very competitive, with a good factoring system in place to equal out the different disabilities.’

The factoring system multiplies the athlete’s actual race time by a pre-determined factor based on historical race results. The goal of the factored result is to create a level playing field for the athletes with different disabilities who are competing directly against one another.

The men’s sitting category is the U.S. team’s most competitive class, but as Jardine points out, it is also the other countries’ most competitive too. All of the U.S. men mono-skiers have been on the podium in at least one discipline during the 2005-06 season. Chris Devlin-Young and Tyler Walker finished second and third respectively in the Overall World Cup standings. Devlin-Young secured the top finish in super G, while Walker locked down first in the giant slalom.

Other strong contenders in the sitting category are veteran mono-skiers Nick Catanzarite, Carl Burnett, Roger Lee and Joe Tompkins. Watch for Kevin Bramble, a crowd favorite in the downhill and super G races.

Paralympic newcomers John Knudsen, Gerald Hayden and Erik Bayindirli also add depth to the men’s mono-skiing roster.

In the women’s sitting classification, the U.S. team boasts three top competitors: Laurie Stephens, who has dominated the podium with three consecutive World Cup overall titles; as well as returning Parlympic medalists Stephani Victor and Lacey Heward.

Expect strong performances from these women in all four disciplines, as they battle for podium positions against solid international competition: Japan’s Kuniko Obinata and Tatsuko Aoki and Canada’s Kimberley Joines.

U.S. stand-up skiers and team veterans Clay Fox, George Sansonetis and Monte Meier have the experience and skill to put up strong performances across the different disciplines. With top finishes during the season, Brad Washburn heads into his first Paralympic Games as a talented up-and-coming competitor.

Also competing in the standing category are veteran Paralympians Jim Lagerstrom and Reed Robinson, who have nine Games between them, as well as first-time Paralympians Josh Sundquist, Chris Canfield and Ralph Green, the first African-American male to be named to the U.S. Paralympic alpine team.

Sandy Dukat, Allison Jones, Elitsa Storey and Hannah Pennington will represent the United States in the women’s stand-up field.

Probably the most anticipated event for the U.S. team is this weekend’s downhill, which features a flat, rolling section up top, technical area mid-course and a steep finish: a total vertical drop of 550 meters.

The Americans have a big advantage in the speed events, particularly downhill, because the team has more of an opportunity to train for it than other countries. With the men’s downhill portion of the competition recently canceled at World Cup Finals (Artesina, Italy) due to a nearby avalanche, the team is ready to prove itself on the Paralympic stage.

‘I’m stoked that we’re running the men’s [Olympic] downhill course. We’re running what the big boys run’ said stand-up skier George Sansonetis. After George found air yesterday, he was pleased that the Paralympic course was being taken seriously. ‘I like to see that they’re adding another challenge, another obstacle for us. I just need to make a few equipment changes and I’ll be ready.’

After training for the Salt Lake (2002) downhill by bungee jumping in New Zealand, mono-skier Victor said, ‘There is no feeling that I have found in life that compares to what you feel when you cross the finish line. It’s gratifying and rewarding to train downhill — you use your brain, dig deep, push the limits. I like being challenged that way.’

Andy Parr and his guide A.K. Walker will be the only U.S. competitors in the VI category.

The U.S. team kicks off competition in Sestriere Borgata on Saturday, March 11, with men’s and women’s stand-up downhill. The men’s and women’s sitting and VI fields will race downhill on Sunday, March 12.

– USOC