Vonn Wins Again at Beaver Creek
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Beaver Creek, CO, Dec. 6, 2000–U.S. Ski Team athlete Thomas Vonn (Newburgh, NY) wrapped up a solid stint on the Chevy Truck Super Series tour with a giant slalom win Wednesday on the Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek.
Outdoor Life Network will broadcast coverage of the race March 8 and 15 at 9 p.m. EST.
Vonn was in second after the first run, but overtook Canadian Erik Guay with his second run. Vonn won with a time of 2:26.51. Canadian Jean-Phillipe Roy, third after the first run, also passed Guay and finished in second with a time of 2:27.19. Guay took third, recording a two run timeof 2:27.22.
The win capped off an impressive three days for Vonn as he also won Monday’s super G race on the challengingBirds of Prey course. He picked up a $1500 check for each of the victories and now has a nice Christmas gift forsomeone as he also won a sweater each day.
The runs Vonn laid down to take the double victories were especially sweet due to the nature of the course. Theextreme steeps and big air sections caused 23 skiers not to finish Monday’s race. In Tuesday’s second super G, 20competitors never saw the finish line. Today, 19 racers did not finish their first run and 23 failed on their secondrun.
Guay led the field after the first run and had a .13 advantage over Vonn.
“Second run, I didn’t try to be real pretty. I just tried to attack it a lot,” said Vonn. “It didn’t feel real good, but itdid the trick.”
Vonn, feeling his first run was much smoother than his second, gave props to Guay’s first run.
“Erik skied a really good first run. I mean, I want to know what he ate for breakfast because he was skiing fast.”
“First run was a lot smoother,” claimed Vonn. “I ran early and I tried to be aggressive. I made a little mistakegoing onto the flat and that cost me some time.”
Vonn didn’t have much time to talk after the win as he and his teammates had to cruise to Denver and catch aflight out. Vonn will ski Saturday and Sunday in World Cup races in Val d’Isere, France.
Also finishing in the top-10 was Scott Macartney (Redmond, WA) in fifth (2:28.45), Bryon Friedman (Park City, UT)in sixth (2:28.82) and Travis Svensrud (Bozeman, MT) in 10th (2:30.51). Friedman finished on the podium in third inTuesday’s super G.
The Chevy Truck Super Series takes a long break while the athletes compete in Europe. The next stop for the menon the Super Series tour will be an Olympic preview as they ski two downhills and a super G Feb. 9-11 atSnowbasin, Utah, the venue for the speed events at the ’02 Olympics.