TORINO: Macartney checks in with career Olympic best in super G

TORINO: Macartney checks in with career Olympic best in super G{mosimage}SESTRIERE, Italy – Scott Macartney posted his best career Olympic finish as he was seventh in Saturday’s super G.

Daron Rahlves was ninth, Steven Nyman was 43rd and Bode Miller did not finish his run. Norwegian Kjetil Andre Aamodt won the gold.

Macartney came in with a time of 1:31.23 on the Kandahar Banchetta course, .58 seconds behind Aamodt. Rahlves recorded a 1:31.37 and Nyman crossed the finish line in 1:36.22. Miller snagged his left ski on a gate and was unable to recover.

“I made a couple of small mistakes up on the top and lost some time and then really skied well on the bottom,” said Macartney. “Just looking at the splits quickly, I really made up some time down there.”

Macartney, who started 15th, was in first place for several skiers until Liechtenstein’s Marco Buechel (who started 19th) knocked him out of the top spot. Buechel ended up finishing sixth.

“It felt good and it was so fun to come across the line leading for a couple skiers,” said Macartney. “I’m still pretty happy with how I performed today.”

Already in these Games, Macartney skied the downhill (15th) and the combined (16th), where he was fourth in the downhill portion. A two-time Olympian, he finished 25th in super G at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Rahlves, who placed 10th in the downhill, never found enough speed through the fresh, bumpy snow.

“I was getting kicked around in all the wrong spots,” said Rahlves. “It was a little hectic. Going through that middle section is where things really picked up, that was kind of the more fun skiing I had on that run. The top is just really aggressive snow and pretty bumpy. I was just having problems keeping it smooth.”

“The super G I think is the one event I have a little less confidence in compared to the downhill and GS,” claimed Rahlves. “I was rolling pretty good, I was feeling good in training. Today here, I’m just shaking my head at the way I was skiing.”

Miller caught a gate with his left ski, which spun around in mid-air but never released, continued for a bit on his right ski and went off-course without ever crashing.

Weather has been wreaking havoc with several Olympic events since Thursday, and Satuday’s super G was no exception.

Originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m. (Torino time), the race was postponed (after several skiers had already taken their runs) until 1:30 p.m. due to heavy snowfall, winds and low on-course visibility. Following another delay until 2:30 p.m., a complete restart got under way at 2:45 p.m.

Macartney was one of the skiers that got his morning run in before the delay was announced.

“We deal with delays a lot,” said Macartney. “I actually took a little nap and had some pasta. I looked at the run that I did have on the course and made some tactical changes for (the second) run. I think it was a bit of an advantage to have one go at it and I was happy with how the second one went.”

Snowfall and blowing snow gave course workers a real headache, but the sun eventually peeked through and the race was restarted and completed with no further problems.

“It’s great (the course),” said Macartney after his second run on the course. “It’s good conditions for everyone. It’s good light right now, and, most importantly, it’s consistent. It’s going to be consisent for the whole field. It’s a much more fair race and it’s going to be a solid, normal event here.”

– USSA