U.S. Takes Four Medals in Whistler
WHISTLER CREEKSIDE, BC - It was a medal-filled day for the U.S. as four athletes earned hardware in the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games downhill, with Alana Nichols (Farmington, NM; sit-ski) winning gold and Laurie Stephens (Wenham, MA; sit-ski) silver in women's sitting, Danelle Umstead (Taos, NM; visually impaired) taking bronze in the women's visually-impaired and Mark Bathum (Seattle, WA; visually impaired) winning silver in the men's visually impaired.
Nichols, who also won gold in Tuesday’s giant slalom race, won with a time of 1:23.31. Despite not feeling well, Stephens came in at 1:28.26 (+4.95) to claim the silver and Claudia Loesch of Austria won the bronze (1:29.89, +6.58).
“I love downhill,” said Nichols. “It’s my favorite event and I wanted to throw a solid run. I did what I came to do. It’s fulfilling and exciting for me to have executed it. Any athlete can relate to that – you want to do well, your personal best, and I did that today.”
A self-described “adrenaline junkie,” Nichols, like most of her U.S. teammates, loves the speed events. “I’m a little crazy. I think that’s what makes me a good speed skier. You have to be able to hold your upper body really strong and hold your position. It’s such an adrenaline rush,” she said.
Stephens is the defending gold medalist from Torino. “I definitely could have skied a little better,” Stephens said after the race. “The course is bumpy and I just didn’t have it today. I’m happy with the results and excited for my teammate.”
On Tuesday, Nichols became the first female U.S. Paralympian to win gold at both the summer and winter Games. She won gold with the women’s wheelchair basketball team in Beijing. She shared the podium on Tuesday with teammate, Stephani Victor (Park City, UT), who won silver in the GS and came in fourth in Thursday’s race.
Bathum missed out on the top spot by less than a half second. Taking gold in a time of 1:18.23 was Spain’s Jon Santacana Maiztegui, just 0.40 ahead of Bathum’s time of 1:18.63. Claiming the bronze were Gerd Gradwohl and his guide Karl-Heinz Vachenaur of Germany (1:20.40, +2.17).
Out of a field of 12, the USA duo was in first with six sets of skiers yet to run the course. They had to wait until the eventual gold medalists, the second to last skiers to race after being yellow flagged and getting a rerun, came down.
“After awhile you know who is able to make the podium,” commented Bathum. “I think there was one racer shortly after us, then one who got a rerun, who we knew could ski well enough to win. Unfortunately one of them did. But they're very good skiers and very nice guys.”
Capturing gold in the women’s visually impaired race was Canada’s Viviane Forest and her guide Lindsay Debou in a time of 1:27.51; Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova and her guide Natalia Subrtova took the silver (1:28.17 (+0.66); while Umstead finished in 1:30.18 (+2.67).
“I like the downhill and all the speed events,” added Umstead. “I seem to stay up better when I’m going a lot faster. It was a little firmer than I expected and a lot faster. I didn’t fall today, woo hoo!”
In the men’s sitting classification, Switzerland’s Christoph Kunz won gold with a time of 1:18.19. Japan’s Taiki Morii won silver at 1:18.63 (+0.44) and Akira Kano, also of Japan, won bronze with a time of 1:19.19 (+1.00). Of the 28 competitors in Thursday’s race, eight did not finish.
In the women’s standing cassification, Canada’s Lauren Woolstencroft collected gold in slalom and giant slalom here in Whistler and added to her gold medal haul today in the standing downhill in a time of 1:25.54. She was followed by France’s Solene Jambaque (1:29.94, +4.40) in silver and Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss took the bronze (1:30.58, +5.04).
The three competing sitting U.S. men, heavily favored to do well in today’s event, were among the victims of today’s crashes. Both Joe Tompkins (Juneau, Alaska; sit-ski) and Tyler Walker (Franconia, NH; sit-ski.) fell towards the top of the course and did not finish, while Chris Devlin-Young (Campton, NH; sit-ski) fell near the finish line (off “hot air”) and recovered to finish the race, but not in enough time put himself in medal contention.
Brad Washburn (Winter Park, CO; standing) topped the USA men’s standing downhillers, finishing in 14th place with a time of 1:26.40 (+5.60). George Sansonetis (Fraser, CO; standing), at 1:28.47 (+7.67), and Monte Meier (Park City, UT; standing), at 1:28.48 (+7.68), finished in 21st and 22nd place, respectively.
Allison Jones (Colorado Springs, CO; standing), who is just beginning to get into the speed events, finished in fifth place in the standing women’s downhill. Teammate Caitlin Sarubbi (Brooklyn, NY; visually impaired) did not finish after Sarubbi skied off the course right above Hot Air.
Races continue Friday March 19 with the sitting super G. Standing athletes will race the super G on March 20. The super combined for all athletes will be held on March 21.
