Victory went to the United States and Canada in the men’s and women’s Super G events respectively, at the 100% New Zealand Winter Games at Coronet Peak today, when top seeds Britt Janyk (CAN) and Jake Zamansky (USA) won the prestigious inaugural titles.

The ANC (Australia New Zealand Cup) Continental Cup race was held in clear but very windy conditions today after bad weather yesterday postponed it.

Thirty five women and 34 men from the USA, Sweden, Canada, Monaco, France, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, the Ukraine, the Netherlands, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Korea, Australia and New Zealand competed on the 418m course, which started at the top of the mountain, following a steep track over the Hurdle, through Eighth Basin to finish in the Rocky Gully arena.

It was a head-to-head clash in the women's event between third seed 29-year-old Britt Janyk and 23-year-old Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden. Jaynk managed to claim the gold medal when she clocked 1.04.74, a mere quarter of a second ahead of Pietilae-Holmner who crossed the finish in 1.04.98. Third place went to Jaynk's team mate 22-year-old Shona Rubens in 1.05.01.

Top seed and highly vaunted 2006 Olympic gold medallist Anja Paerson of Sweden did not finish her run after going out of the course and indicated later the wind was a factor.

Janyk was excited about winning the inaugural Winter Games and ANC Super G title and praised the commitment of the Coronet Peak race department, course workers and volunteers for creating an excellent course in challenging conditions.

"The opportunity to train at Coronet Peak and race in the Winter Games ANC series is fantastic because it helps so much with preparation for World Cup races and the Winter Olympics next year."

The men's race was even tighter than the women's but American Jake Zamansky 28, stamped his name on the men's title with a blistering run in 1.03.26 edging out Felix Neureuther 25 of Germany who stopped the clock at 1.03.64. Twenty-one-year-old Olivier Jenot of Monaco completed the tight finish finishing in third in 1.03.73 only a split ahead of Travis Ganong of USA in 1.03.74

Ganong was forced to have a re-run after being literally blown out of the course on his first run by a strong gust of wind.

Zamansky, who has recently returned to the US team, was ecstatic about the race.

"It was awesome, not too rounded and the conditions were great."

Special awards for the fastest athletes under the age of 20 went to Charline Vion 19 and Geoffrey Mattei 20, both of France. Vion was 10th in 1.06.80 and Mattei 12th in 1.05.24.

The first New Zealanders were 21-year-old Lucie Tait- Jamieson of the Cardrona High Performance Centre who finished 14th in 1.08.29, virtually halving her Super G FIS points, and 22-year-old Tim Cafe of Queenstown who claimed a creditable sixth place, lowering his world ranking with a time of 1.03.88.

Ski Racing New Zealand Alpine Director James Lazor said the two Kiwi performances were stand out. "This race was a Continental Cup race and is similar to a Europa Cup event which is the drawcard for many overseas athletes, particularly in the build up to the Olympics next year. The standard of the competitors and the course enabled both Tim and Lucie to drastically reduce their points and rankings which is fantastic for them."

Technical Director Amanda Shaw of Canada was pleased with the outcome of the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games Super G which was held in "hard, fast and safe conditions."

"While the wind was gusting up to 80kmh at times at the start, it did not affect the racers and we had a good finish rate with 24 women and 25 men completing the race. It was an excellent competition."

While the able bodied Super G was completed successfully the adaptive skiers were not so fortunate and their race had to be cancelled due to the high winds which affected the erection of safety netting.

"It was most disappointing for all the athletes both from overseas and from New Zealand who were looking forward to racing on the same course as the able bodied racers for the first time. But you can't control Mother Nature," said Libby Blakeley, Adaptive Snowsports Manager, Snowsports New Zealand. "We are now looking forward to the Winter Games giant slalom on Friday (August 28) and the slalom on Saturday (August 29) which are both being held at Coronet Peak."

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009
WinterGamesNZ.com