U.S. Nationals: Healthy Lanning tops DH podium
SUGARLOAF, Maine — T.J. Lanning has been oh so close before. On Monday he finally notched a national championship, claiming the downhill at the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.
There was no secret, he said, to winning here. He was just healthy this season for the first time in roughly, forever.
Lanning has missed all or part of the 2003, ‘04, ‘05 and ‘06 seasons after sustaining injuries ranging from mere broken bones to two ruptured disks. This season has been a workmanlike battle through some of the toughest competition on the planet, and he punctuated that with a Europa Cup downhill win at Crans-Montana Switzerland in January, a race he won by more than a second. Racing at Sugarloaf, he said, was an enjoyable experience, win or lose.
“It’s less serious,” he claimed, “There’s more camaraderie. It’s just a lot of fun.”
But then, he admitted, it’s always a little more fun when you win.
SUGARLOAF, Maine — T.J. Lanning has been oh so close before. On Monday he finally notched a national championship, claiming the downhill at the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.
There was no secret, he said, to winning here. He was just healthy this season for the first time in roughly, forever.
Lanning has missed all or part of the 2003, ‘04, ‘05 and ‘06 seasons after sustaining injuries ranging from mere broken bones to two ruptured disks. This season has been a workmanlike battle through some of the toughest competition on the planet, and he punctuated that with a Europa Cup downhill win at Crans-Montana Switzerland in January, a race he won by more than a second. Racing at Sugarloaf, he said, was an enjoyable experience, win or lose.
“It’s less serious,” he claimed, “There’s more camaraderie. It’s just a lot of fun.”
But then, he admitted, it’s always a little more fun when you win.
Lanning scorched the well-regarded Narrow Gauge trail at Sugarloaf his first National Championship. He has five podiums from previous national title races, but had never before quite managed to punch in a championship winning run. “I got what I was after, it was just a clean run. Not perfect, but pretty clean.”
It needed to be every bit as clean as it was, for less than three tenths behind was Andrew Weibrecht.
Weibrecht vaulted into national recognition at the very beginning of the season with a scintillating run in a World Cup downhill at Beaver Creek. Starting back in the pack and finishing in the top 10, his willingness to accept risk had folks scrambling to find video of the run.
“That raised the expectations,” he said, “but it also helped with the confidence.” He said he was satisfied with the second-place finish, “but I sure wish I could have found a few more tenths.
“I podiumed at nationals, it’s obviously cool.”
Claiming third was Chris Beckmann, who said he had been concerned the course might break up before he got to start. It was plenty cold at Sugarloaf, but scheduling difficulties had made it necessary to hold back-to-back super G’s on the track yesterday, and two training runs, plus the women’s downhill before the men got to their race.
“I thought it would be a little rattlie after the four runs and the chicks racing the same course. It was great, and actually got a little bit faster,” he said.
Like Lanning, Beckmann recorded a Europa Cup win this season, taking a super G in Italy. This result, he said, would help him carry that success into next season.
“I had some good stuff going on this year, it’s good to get the momentum going,” Beckmann said. “I’m ready to attack the World Cup circuit for next year.”
Bryon Friedman had won the training run held in the morning and was considered the favorite to repeat that performance, but he said he had his skis “wash out” beneath him high on the course and suddenly found himself on one ski headed straight into the nets. He needed all of his athleticism to save himself from a nasty crash.
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 8 | 534567 | LANNING Thomas (tj) | 1984 | USA | 1:09.04 | 10.44 |
2 | 7 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:09.26 | 14.74 |
3 | 9 | 534698 | BECKMANN Christopher | 1986 | USA | 1:10.07 | 30.58 |
4 | 4 | 533842 | FRANCIS Kevin | 1982 | USA | 1:10.25 | 34.10 |
5 | 3 | 534539 | SWEETSER Samuel | 1984 | USA | 1:10.60 | 40.94 |
6 | 6 | HELIE Louis-Pierre | 1986 | CAN | 1:10.75 | 43.88 | |
7 | 11 | 530874 | GANONG Travis | 1988 | USA | 1:10.79 | 44.66 |
8 | 16 | 534959 | JITLOFF Tim | 1985 | USA | 1:10.89 | 46.61 |
9 | 2 | 534289 | FRANK Chris | 1983 | USA | 1:11.00 | 48.77 |
10 | 25 | 534040 | COCHRAN Jimmy | 1981 | USA | 1:11.06 | 49.94 |
11 | 10 | 530165 | BRANDENBURG Will | 1987 | USA | 1:11.17 | 52.09 |
12 | 15 | 530751 | BARTELS Greg | 1986 | USA | 1:11.29 | 54.44 |
13 | 14 | 530925 | HELDMAN Bump | 1988 | USA | 1:11.31 | 54.83 |
14 | 1 | 530731 | CASTON Marcus | 1988 | USA | 1:11.32 | 55.02 |
15 | 34 | 930107 | GREGORAK Will | 1990 | USA | 1:11.48 | 58.15 |
16 | 19 | 930024 | MAPLE Wiley | 1990 | USA | 1:11.53 | 59.13 |
17 | 17 | 530644 | HAMMER Maximilian | 1988 | USA | 1:11.61 | 60.69 |
18 | 29 | 531452 | BIESEMEYER Thomas | 1989 | USA | 1:11.71 | 62.65 |
19 | 24 | 534507 | CHRISTIANSON Charles | 1984 | USA | 1:11.72 | 62.84 |
20 | 30 | 533397 | ZAMANSKY Jake | 1981 | USA | 1:11.73 | 63.04 |
21 | 20 | 534901 | ASOIAN Nathan | 1985 | USA | 1:11.77 | 63.82 |
22 | 27 | 533115 | MCNEILL Jason | 1980 | USA | 1:11.91 | 66.56 |
23 | 28 | 530782 | CREMENO Michael | 1986 | USA | 1:12.03 | 68.91 |
23 | 26 | 530837 | KELLEY Tim | 1986 | USA | 1:12.03 | 68.91 |
25 | 18 | 531181 | THORSON Tague | 1985 | USA | 1:12.06 | 69.49 |
26 | 31 | 532554 | PHILLIPS Andrew | 1989 | USA | 1:12.12 | 70.67 |
27 | 42 | 930040 | BAKER Jake | 1990 | USA | 1:12.21 | 72.43 |
28 | 32 | 930285 | VEST-BURTON Taylor | 1990 | USA | 1:12.31 | 74.38 |
29 | 35 | 532270 | MCLAUGHRY Luke | 1989 | USA | 1:12.32 | 74.58 |
30 | 21 | 531799 | FORD Tommy | 1989 | USA | 1:12.59 | 79.86 |
31 | 47 | 530827 | ELLIOT Jeremy | 1988 | USA | 1:12.60 | 80.05 |
32 | 23 | 530117 | SHAMPENY Kristopher | 1986 | USA | 1:12.64 | 80.83 |
33 | 41 | 530920 | SWENSSON Joey | 1986 | USA | 1:12.66 | 81.23 |
34 | 55 | 530729 | CARROLL James Finley | 1988 | USA | 1:12.71 | 82.20 |
35 | 60 | 532138 | KASPER Nolan | 1989 | USA | 1:12.72 | 82.40 |
36 | 12 | 530841 | KERR Errol | 1986 | USA | 1:12.73 | 82.59 |
37 | 51 | 934551 | MOFFAT Keith | 1991 | USA | 1:12.77 | 83.38 |
38 | 38 | 531145 | SPENST Taggart | 1988 | USA | 1:12.82 | 84.35 |
39 | 48 | 530641 | FINK-DEBRAY Miles | 1988 | USA | 1:12.87 | 85.33 |
40 | 22 | 220658 | MORTON Kenneth | 1986 | GBR | 1:13.09 | 89.63 |
41 | 37 | 532165 | LEAFE Trevor | 1989 | USA | 1:13.10 | 89.83 |
42 | 33 | 930163 | KEMP John | 1990 | USA | 1:13.30 | 93.74 |
43 | 36 | 934518 | DANIELS Nick | 1991 | USA | 1:13.40 | 95.69 |
44 | 13 | 530259 | LOVE John | 1987 | USA | 1:13.46 | 96.87 |
45 | 46 | 531918 | JONES Alex | 1989 | USA | 1:13.53 | 98.24 |
46 | 52 | 530262 | LUND Jacob | 1987 | USA | 1:13.62 | 100.00 |
47 | 40 | 534126 | CHRISTOPHER Jason | 1983 | USA | 1:13.64 | 100.39 |
48 | 61 | 930234 | ROBERTSON Aaron | 1990 | USA | 1:13.67 | 100.97 |
48 | 44 | 930170 | LAMB Max | 1990 | USA | 1:13.67 | 100.97 |
50 | 49 | 534165 | JOHNSON Erik | 1983 | USA | 1:13.75 | 102.54 |
51 | 58 | 934572 | SCHLEPER Hunter | 1991 | USA | 1:13.78 | 103.13 |
52 | 56 | 934502 | ANKENY Michael | 1991 | USA | 1:13.82 | 103.91 |
53 | 54 | 930023 | COFFEY Sam | 1990 | USA | 1:13.92 | 105.86 |
54 | 65 | 930029 | ACOSTA Christopher | 1990 | USA | 1:14.01 | 107.62 |
55 | 69 | 534801 | MENARD Leo | 1984 | USA | 1:14.26 | 112.51 |
56 | 50 | 934643 | GOLDBERG Jared | 1991 | USA | 1:14.31 | 113.49 |
57 | 66 | 934555 | MULHERN Liam | 1991 | USA | 1:14.37 | 114.66 |
57 | 59 | 930188 | MARSHALL Tucker | 1990 | USA | 1:14.37 | 114.66 |
59 | 53 | 934525 | FLOWERS Kitt | 1991 | USA | 1:14.39 | 115.05 |
60 | 39 | 530645 | HARRIS Martin | 1988 | USA | 1:14.40 | 115.25 |
61 | 43 | 103515 | SYROVATKA Mark | 1989 | CAN | 1:14.63 | 119.75 |
62 | 67 | 6530250 | MORSE Ben | 1992 | USA | 1:14.74 | 121.90 |
63 | 71 | 930160 | KELLEY Robby | 1990 | USA | 1:15.10 | 128.94 |
64 | 57 | 6530115 | CHRISTIANSON Kieffer | 1992 | USA | & nbsp;1:15.18 |
130.50 |
65 | 68 | 934681 | MASSIE Marc | 1991 | USA | 1:15.28 | 132.46 |
66 | 63 | 531392 | JAMPOLSKY Grant | 1989 | USA | 1:15.35 | 133.82 |
67 | 64 | 930133 | HIGGINS Sean | 1990 | USA | 1:15.40 | 134.80 |
68 | 62 | 530255 | KULLAS Nicholaus | 1987 | USA | 1:16.26 | 151.62 |
69 | 70 | 930205 | NELSON Joey | 1990 | USA | 1:17.50 | 175.87 |
Did not finish 1st run :
FRIEDMAN Bryon (USA)