Ski team takes on the Squaw challenge

Click to Enlarge Bonanza Photo – Carrie Richards Incline Village resident Lila Lapanja, J-4 racer for the Diamond Peak Ski Team, took second place on both Saturday and Sunday during competition at Squaw Valley.Browse and Buy T Tahoe Bonanza Photos

staff reports January 10, 2007 Newly-christened Julia’s Gold, the prestigious run named after Squaw Valley’s native daughter Julia Mancuso who took Olympic gold in Torino, set the stage for the Far West J4/5 giant slalom Saturday and Sunday that drew more than 250 ski racers wanting to take the challenge and make their mark. Shortened due to lack of snow, the course was transformed from longer, diverse GS classic to a fast, steep, and icy technical sprint-and the race was on. Diamond Peak’s J4 Lila Lapanja applied both heart and technical prowess to win two-out-of-four runs over the weekend, bringing her two solid, second-place finishes with a combined time of 1:04.10 on Saturday and 1:03.06 on Sunday.

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Tahoe Bonanza Photos

“The course was hard and challenging,” said Lapanja. “You needed a lot of pressure on your skis because it was icy, but you also wanted to let them run.” On Saturday, teammates Elizabeth Ryan (14th with a time of 1:11.51), Katherine Fulwider (18th with 1:13.19), and Julia Bjorkman (23rd at 1:16.00) finished in the top twenty-five. J4 Makenzie Malvey rounded out the top half of the field with a 1:24.02. On day two, the J4 women completed well-executed runs and finished at the top of the field again with Fulwider in 18th, Bjorkman in 20th, Malvey in 21st, and Ryan in 24th place. Diamond Peak’s Grace Dolan fell, recovered, and then lost a ski in the ruts on the first day and missed a gate on the second day after an impressive first run. “Sometimes you have hard days in order to have good days,” noted Coach Josee Lacasse. “Grace is one of our strongest skiers who just had a rough weekend.” Other J4 Women’s podium finishers included Sugar Bowl’s Lena Andrews who captured first place on both days; the bronze went to Whitney Gardner of Heavenly on Saturday and Maddie Hall of Sugar Bowl on Sunday. Diamond Peak’s J4 Ty Sprock stayed true-to-form on Saturday taking the top-step of the podium with a first-place time of one minute, 4.27 seconds. On Sunday, Sprock pre-release from his binding taking him out of the running for a second gold, but left his call card with the fastest second-run time. Erik Johnson also clocked the third- and fifth-fastest times each day on two runs, but lost a ski and fell on the others. Coach Lacasse was encouraging. “When you go for the win, that happens. Erik’s on the right track. He can hang with the big boys.” Squaw Valley J4 racers Thomas Robles and Kenny Wilson joined Sprock on the podium on Saturday in second and third, respectively. Sunday’s top three included Max Hall of Squaw in first, Nicolo Monforte of Squaw in second, and Heavenly’s Hughston Norton in third. Diamond Peak’s J5 Team saw Marie Johnson set the pace in her field with a strong fifth-place finish on Saturday with a time of 1:11.80 and a close sixth-place (1:10.60) on Sunday. J5 teammate Lauren Keller joined the team on Sunday and placed 19th out of 55 racers. Diamond Peak’s top J5 men’s racer Harrison Holetz gave it his best at his first Far West race but fell on the second run. “Coming from Tahoe League to the Far West, they skied pretty impressively and handled this course like champs,” said Coach Lacasse. “We’ve been training on a gentler slope. We are fundamentally and technically one of the strongest teams around and now we just need mileage. The kids skied great and I’m really proud that the kids skied hard.”

U.S. Alpine skiers shining in obscurity By Elliott Almond, MEDIANEWS STAFF Inside Bay Area SAN JOSE — U.S. Alpine skiers won an unprecedented nine World Cup medals in six days last month, but not many Americans took notice.Like swimmers, runners and gymnasts, ski racers have but one chance every four years to showcase their talents when it comes to the short attention spans of Americans. They compete in a vacuum until those magical two weeks of the Olympic Games.Ted Morris, vice president of marketing for the U.S. Ski Association, said World Cup racing in Colorado gets a small share of the television market. “Then every four years all of a sudden we’re doing a 30 rating,” he said. Such a situation left many wondering if the American streak came 10 months too late.

[Read More...]

By Associated Press | January 7, 2007 Olympic champion Benjamin Raich rediscovered his winning touch, capturing a World Cup giant slalom yesterday for the first time this season. For Bode Miller, it was more of the same: He failed to finish. Miller, a contender this season in the overall standings, appeared to misjudge the slope. He dropped onto his side and veered off course. Ted Ligety was the top American, finishing 17th. “Today was a sad way to begin the new year,” US coach Phil McNichol said. “It was a very poor showing from our guys with how strong we’ve been. Bode went out. Ted had his worst finish in any World Cup race he’s finished.” Raich, of Austria, had a combined time of 2 minutes 25.29 seconds on his two runs on the Kuonisbaergli course in Adelboden, Switzerland, for his 25th career World Cup victory. Massimiliano Blardone of Italy finished second in 2:26.14. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was third in 2:26.29. Women’s giant slalom – Austrian Nicole Hosp won the World Cup race, her first title of the season, finishing with a total of 2:09.85 on the difficult Podkoren course in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Libby Ludlow of Bellevue, Wash., was the only American in the top 30, finishing 14th after starting in 55th. Olympic champion Julia Mancuso of Truckee, Calif., started first out of the hut, but slid wide off the tricky course after hitting an icy patch at the top.

Bahrke is back Tahoe City moguls specialist collects her first win in nearly four years U.S. Ski Team reports January 8, 2007 MONT GABRIEL, Que. — Olympic moguls medalist and former World Cup champion Shannon Bahrke of Tahoe City collected her first victory in nearly four years Saturday, winning by one-hundredth of a point and leading four U.S. women into the top 10 to open the World Cup in steady rain, fog and soft conditions. Bahrke qualified fourth behind reigning Olympic and World Cup champion Jenn Heil of Canada, but she stuck a heli and backflip-cross, good for 24.60 points and the sixth win of her career. Swede Sara Kjellin was second at 24.59 and Margarita Marbler of Austria third. “I’m so excited, I can’t believe it,” Bahrke said, even three hours after the competition. “All those injuries, all that bad stuff is behind me now. It’s been too long, so this is even sweeter.” Since winning the 2003 World Cup title, Barhke had, among other things, broke her jaw when she slammed down on a ski pole in the middle of run in 2004 and then tore her right anterior cruciate ligament in 2005. But on Saturday, Bahrke said everything felt right. “Some days you feel like everything’s gonna be good, and that’s how I was (Saturday) morning,” she said. “It was so good to get back up there and get going.” Despite the frustrating non-start to the season — until Saturday — Bahrke said she had drawn some inspiration from the U.S. Alpine Team’s historic run of success before Christmas when five skiers produced nine top-3s, including five victories, one of which came from Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley.

[Read More...]