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Headline RSS FeedSnow affects downhill start location
November 30, 2007 —
The Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup downhill is under way as I write, but the starting gate has been moved down to the “bad weather” start as snow begins to fall here.
The winning time ought to be somewhere around the 1:13 mark, and falling snow will change the track speed as we move through the 62 races slated to ski today.
My pick among the Americans today is Steve Nyman, who finished 2nd yesterday in the downhill leg of the super combined. Also watch out for Bode Miller, who was sixth in the downhill yesterday. Marco Sullivan, Scott Macartney, and 21-year-old World Cup rookie Andrew Weibrecht will also race today.
Sullivan grabbed a podium Nov. 24 in Lake Louise, Alberta, in the downhill race there. It was the first of his career, but with a good run today he could grab his second. He was ranked 8th in the overall World Cup standings coming into this weekend, tied with American Ted Ligety.
Macartney has only one podium in his eight-year career, a Super-G in 2006, but Americans have had good luck here in the US the past few years, and he could have a good run as well.
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Andre Agassi, Bode Miller, among stars at the Beav’, but Albrecht steals the spotlight
November 29, 2007 —
Here to promote a watch company, tennis star Andre Agassi made quite a stir at the Birds of Prey World Cup super combined race today, but it was Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecht who stole the show with a victory in one of the most challenging events in ski competition.
Albrecht came out tops with a time of 2:00.26, followed by Jean-Baptiste Grange of France (2:00.93) and Ondrej Bank of the Czech Republic (2:01.23).
Bode Miller put on (yet another) fantastic display of skiing prowess with a wild slalom run, yet his efforts left him off the podium by a mere 5 hundredths of a second and he finished fourth.
The American men put three skiers in the top 10, continuing their remarkable stretch of quality performances in Beaver Creek. Olympic medalist Ted Ligety made up a full second in his slalom run to place 8th (2:01.67) and TJ Lanning placed 10th (2:01.89).
Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Weibrecht , of Lake Placid, New York, skied a tremendous slalom run and marked the best finish of his career with a time of 2:02.46.
Photo by David O. Williams
Big air at Birds of Prey
November 29, 2007 —
Course conditions have made for a spectator-friendly course today during the first leg of the super combined at the Birds of Prey World Cup weekend. Course features are more pronounced, making for even bigger air off the jumps than we’ve seen here in years past.
The downhill portion of the super combined has shown that courage and self-control will play a big role in this weekend’s speed events. Today’s downhill racers are coming out of the starting gate right into “The Brink,” a very steep segment of the course. I spoke with a few course workers and the report is that the course is rock hard and very, very ice – even more than usual for a World Cup race – so they key is to keep speed under control and avoid a DNF.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland leads going into the slalom after posting a downhill time of 1 minute, 13.5 seconds. American speedster Steve Nyman is second (1:13.7) and Bode Miller, who led the combined here last year after the downhill but skied out in the slalom, is sixth this year, .58 seconds back.
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Good morning from Birds of Prey
November 29, 2007 —
RealVail is officially on-site and ready for coverage of the Birds of Prey World Cup skiing weekend here in Beaver Creek. I'll be working with KZYR, 97.7 the Zephyr to bring live coverage of the event, and you can check in here to read up on what's happening at today's races.
On tap for today: An interview with USSA head honcho Bill Marolt plus race previews, race results, and images from the day of racing.
Downhill combined is the event of the day, with a downhill run at 11 a.m. and a slalom run at 2:45. The racer with the fastest combined runs wins the day.
The 2013 bid party is tonight as well, with free drink and gear givaways plus live music from Cracker.
Parking is free, and so is admission.
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