TORINO: Alpine: Men's super G postponed after 17 racers; jury is in a bind

By Published On: February 18th, 2006Comments Off on TORINO: Alpine: Men's super G postponed after 17 racers; jury is in a bind

TORINO: Alpine: Men’s super G postponed after 17 racers; jury is in a bindThe Olympic men’s super G has been postponed after 17 racers due to bad weather that caused several racers, notably Lasse Kjus of Norway, to have terrible runs. The jury has said that the race could begin again at racer No. 1 at 2:30 p.m. on the same course, setting the stage for protests.

At noon, the jury decided that racers who hadn’t gone down the course in the first 17 could have an opportunity for a “slide down inspection.” At 1:30, the weather was clearing and the projected race start was set for 2:30.

A new race on the same course won’t happen without a protest from coaches who will say that the first 17 racers will have the unnatural advantage of having skied the course once already. Meanwhile, re-setting the course is also not an option, racers typically have 60 to 90 minutes to inspect the track.

“I’m sure that will be a point of contention, and there’s no easy way around it,” said U.S. men’s speed team coach John McBride. “They couldn’t just start again at 18 because for all they know the course has gotten three seconds slower. But if they start again at the beginning, people are going to be mad. There’s no easy way around it.”

McBride, reached on the mountain on his cell phone, said the weather was clearing and the likelihood of running the race was good.

The last racer to go before the hold was Switzerland’s Bruno Kernen, who happens to have played a lead role in the controversy that erupted over the Dec. 2 super G at Beaver Creek, Colo. Kernen and several coaches complained vigorously about the decision to continue that race in similar conditions.

Visibility was awful on the Kandahar Banchetta course, with fog and snow hampering the racers’ ability to read the terrain. ‘You can’t see anything’ said Steve Nyman. ‘You have to trust what you saw in inspection. It was rough, dark. You have to go with it and give it your all. It is more of a lottery.’

Things got particularly bad after the first 13 racers, by which point athletes were making gestures of frustration on finish-corral television cameras, and the host broadcaster kept cutting to race referee Guenter Hujara, who was conferring with the jury on his radio as wet snow piled up on his shoulders.

“You can’t see anything,” said Kjus, who lost his footing on a blind piece of terrain. “It’s very unstable. This is difficult and even dangerous.”

“This is not an uncommon situation and it’s unfortunate it happens at the Olympics,” said Scott Macartney, who broke through in super G three weeks ago at Garmisch, Germany, .

Hermann Maier’s coach, Andreas Evers, got to set the course after being selected in a special draw among World Cup coaches. On Friday, in a press gathering at the Austria house in Sestriere, Maier said that he had no preferences for how Evers would set the course other than making the first gate a red one.

There have been five super G races on the men’s World Cup tour so far this season. They were at Lake Louise, Canada (Nov. 26 winner: Aksel Lund Svindal); Beaver Creek, Colorado (Dec. 3 winner: Hannes Reichelt); Val Gardena, Italy (Dec. 17, winner: Hans Grugger); Kitzbuehel, Austria, (Jan. 20, winner Hermann Maier); and Garmisch, Germany, (Jan. 29).

Super G was added to the Olympic program in 1988, when Franck Piccard of France won at Calgary. Since then, the gold-medal winners have been Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway (Albertville, 1992); Markus Wasmeier of Germany (Lillehammer, 1994); Hermann Maier of Austria (Nagano, 1998) and Aamodt again at Salt Lake City in 2002.

On Saturday, Aamodt was ready to run for a third gold medal, having pulled out of the combined at the last minute with strained ligaments in his left knee.

Also returning to competition was Canada’s best speed specialist, Erik Guay, who broke hearts from Whistler to Mont Tremblant when he pulled out of the downhill with a calf injury, depriving the Canadian team from their best hope for a speed-event medal.

Bode Miller, who has been both politically correct and somewhat subversive in recent weeks, was set to start 23. Daron Rahlves was prepared to start 29th, and Maier 30th.

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