Published February 5, 2007 12:00PM
February 4, 2007
ARE, SWEDEN – (USST News Bureau Release) – Two-time Olympian Scott Macartney (Redmond, WA) was named Sunday to replace Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) in the men’s super G, which is scheduled to be the first race of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, NH) is the defending world champion.
U.S. fans will be able to follow World Championships coverage live beginning Monday with the rescheduled men’s super G. NBCSports.com and MediaZone.com will team up for live coverage of every race during the World Championships, which run until Feb. 18 in Are.
The SG originally was to be held Saturday but high winds and snow forced a 48-hour postponement to Monday at 6:30 a.m. ET. The women’s super G, originally scheduled for Sunday, was pushed back two days because of continued high winds plus a mix of rain followed by blowing soft snow, which buried parts of the course, including the tops of safety netting.
Guenther Hujara, the men’s tour race director, said organizers were considering using the men’s backup start, farther down the race 2.2K Olympia course, if workers were unable to clear snow all the way to the top of the course. Hujara said he was “very optimistic” the race would be run, from at least the lower start.
Head Coach Phil McNichol said Sullivan, also a two-time Olympic racer, may have torn a muscle because of heavy coughing in the last day or two, and it was painful for him to breathe. He was scheduled to have an X-ray, but because of the pain, McNichol picked Macartney – a Dartmouth College graduate – to fill Sullivan’s place in the starting lineup.
The U.S. Ski Team will have five starters in the super G – Miller, Macartney, Steven Nyman (Provo, UT), T.J. Lanning (Park City, UT) and Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety (also Park City). The men’s super combined – a downhill and one run of slalom – is scheduled to make its debut at Worlds Thursday.
When the race was postponed Sunday morning, the U.S. women’s team took some down time and then regrouped for a volleyball game against the coaches. “Athletes won, of course,” said Lindsey Kildow (Vail, CO), who has won a super G this season and stands second in World Cup SG points.
Kildow, who rooms with Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), said she also went to a grocery store to buy Mexican food for the evening meal rather than dine at the team’s hotel, noting she was playing chef. She relaxed and savored a “pretty boring” day before the championships heat-up in the coming week, she said.
Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA), who also has won a super G this winter and is No. 4 in the World Cup standings, said she got some extra sleep and found time during the day to get in some powder skiing, which put a smile on her face.