U.S. disabled team shines at The Hartford

By Published On: December 13th, 2006Comments Off on U.S. disabled team shines at The Hartford

The 19th annual Hartford Ski Spectacular was a rousing success for the U.S. Disabled Alpine Team, which claimed 17 of a possible 24 podium spots in two days of racing.
    New U.S. alpine head coach Ray Watkins said, “I was really impressed with the way our team performed. We did have 17 podiums, but our goal is to have 24 out of 24 podiums. With 13 athletes racing, I expect each one of them to be on the podium and they do too — we expect that in every race.”
BRECKENRIDGE, Colorado — The 19th annual Hartford Ski Spectacular was a rousing success for the U.S. Disabled Alpine Team, which claimed 17 of a possible 24 podium spots in two days of racing.
    New U.S. alpine head coach Ray Watkins said, “I was really impressed with the way our team performed. We did have 17 podiums, but our goal is to have 24 out of 24 podiums. With 13 athletes racing, I expect each one of them to be on the podium and they do too — we expect that in every race.”
    The event opened Thursday at Breckenridge with U.S. skiers grabbing nine of 12 podium spots in slalom before opening up the competition to giant slalom on Friday, where the U.S. dominated again, landing in the top three in eight out of 12 places.
    “I’m giving it to George Sansonetis [standup] and Carl Burnett [sit-ski],” added Watkins. “Those guys really skied well both days. They just went as fast as possible and put on a great performance.”
    Burnett finished second in the slalom and then won GS over Canadian Brad Lennea and Scott Meyer (sit-ski), who finished 2-3 respectively. Sansonetis narrowly missed the slalom podium, finishing fourth on Thursday, but powered back to win the GS with Australians Cameron Rahls-Rahbula and Toby Kane rounding out the podium.
    On the women’s side, Laurie Stephens (sit-ski) and Stephani Victor (sit-ski) swapped places from the day before with Stephens winning the super G on Friday and Ricci Kilgore (sit-ski) earning her second third place in two days.
    In the standing races, Sandy Dukat and Elitsa Storey landed back on the podium. After going 1-2 on Thursday, the pair finished 2-3 on Friday to close the event won by Canadian Arly Fogarty.
    “The team is definitely right were we need to be as we look to get into the World Cup in January,” said Watkins. “The coaches were really happy with everyone and now we’re looking to move those young skiers up into the podium spots we missed in Breckenridge, but everything is moving in the right direction.”
    Next up for the U.S. Disabled Alpine Team is the annual Huntsman Cup set for Jan. 2-8 in Park City, Utah. The team then opens the World Cup Jan. 16-22 in Aspen, Colo.    
    For complete results, click here.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh