ORBITORBITTHE SECOND FRONT PAGE

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

Sunday Focus: Sports & Recreation

TELLURIDE DAILY PLANETOLYMPICS

EUROS UPSET VONN IN SUPER-GVail star denied

sweep of speed eventsBy ANDREW DAMPF

AP Sports Writer

WHISTLER, BritishColumbia (AP)A n d r e aFischbacher gotA u s t r i a ’ s

“Wunderteam” back on track bywinning gold in the Olympicsuper-G Saturday, denyingLindsey Vonn a sweep of thespeed events.

Taking advantage of a trickycourse-set arranged by one ofher coaches, Fischbacher navi-gated her way down Franz’s Runin 1 minute, 20.14 seconds.

“It was really crazy,”Fischbacher said. “It was a real-ly straight course and you had topush from start to finish.”

Tina Maze of Slovenia took asurprise silver, 0.49 secondbehind, and Vonn had to settlefor bronze, 0.74 second back.

While many of the pre-racefavorites struggled with a sharpright turn midway down, Vonnmade it through that sectionwithout a problem. But then shelost nearly half a second on thebottom section of the course.

“Once I got past those diffi-cult sections, I kind of backed offthe gas pedal,” Vonn said. “I feltlike I just didn’t ski as aggres-sively as I could have, and I thinkthat’s where I lost the race.”

Vonn celebrated as if she hadwon, raising her arms in tri-umph, then was relaying acourse report via a two-way radioup to her teammates still at thestart when Fischbacher beat her.

Fischbacher looked like shedidn’t believe it when sheglanced at the scoreboard uponcrossing the line, backing intothe safety mattresses lining thefinish area and nearly fallingover.

“It’s just a great feeling,”Fischbacher said.

Vonn, who lives and trains inVail, Colo., won gold in the down-hill to open her Olympics andthen wiped out in the slalom legof the super-combined.Depending on how her bruisedright shin holds up, theAmerican still has two eventsremaining at the VancouverGames giant slalom and slalom.

Vonn was hurt Feb. 2, whenshe tumbled and slammed thetop of her right boot against hershin during pre-Olympic prac-tice in Austria. While otherskiers were free-skiing thecourse Friday, Vonn took a com-plete day off to give her shinmore time to heal.

1.On your Sunday afternoon, take in an opera. The Palm will be screening an encoretransmission of “Der Rosenkavalier” from the Metropolitan Opera House at 4 p.m.

Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and $15 for students.

2.Local acting company SquidShow Theatre presents the opening performance of “BigLove” on Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Ah Haa. This is theatre like you are not used to. It’s

free, call 708-3934 to make a reservation. SquidShow will also perform this Charles Meeplay on Monday, as well as Feb. 28 and March 1.

3.Monday night is movie night at the Wilkinson Public Library. On the marquee:“Johnny Mercer, the Dream’s On Me.” Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Mercer’s

birth with this documentary. It’s at 6 p.m., free.

Planet Picks

Gus Kenworthy as he appeared in an ad for Smith. [Photo by Brian Becker]

SPORTS

Young Telluride pro sweeps three events

By BRITTANNY HAVARDPlanet Contributor

Named the eighth bestskier in the worldunder 18 by Powdermagazine, TelluriderGus Kenworthy is liv-

ing up to his press. Proving age is just a number,

young park skier Kenworthy, 18,demonstrated his prowess bytaking first in three ski eventsthis month.

He’s also shown he knowshow to make a comeback. Due toan injury, he missed the first twoevents this year of the three-event Dew tour.

“I was actually feeling badlyfor him,” said Gus’ father, PeterKenworthy. “He broke his collar-bone and was out for twomonths.”

Gus pushed his injury — hisdad thought prematurely — tocome back for the third tourevent at Mt. Snow Feb. 7, whereKenworthy struggled in the firsttwo events, failing to qualify ineither the pipe or slopestyle.

However, during the big airevent, his last chance,Kenworthy walked away withfirst place with his cork 900 nosegrab to true tail grab. In lay-man’s terms, Kenworthy spuntwo-and-a-half times and shiftedhis hand from grabbing the tip of

his skis to the tail of his skis.Kenworthy made this extremelydifficult maneuver look effort-less.

Winning big air, said dadPeter, “really re-charged him. Itwas really encouraging,”

Kenworthy then went on tothe Aspen/Snowmass Open, Feb.12 and 13, one of the largestopen events in the world, secondonly to the European FreeskiOpen in Laax, Switzerland.

In Aspen, he swept the pipeand slopestyle, winning over$10,000 in prize money.

A solid run with stylish grabshelped Gus nab the win in pipe.In slopestyle, his winning runwent like this: “left foot forwardK-Fed on the top rail, switch 630on 270 out of the gap to downbox, 360 nose tap over the hitch-ing post, 450 on 630 out of therainbow rail, kangaroo flip overthe first table, switch right 720mute, into a switch dub cork1080 Japan.”

Out of all the recent wins,which victory does Kenworthyfind the sweetest?

“Definitely the Aspen Open,”Kenworthy said. “I drove up withmy roommate Colby Ward. Wewent up there and pipe was first.I train most heavily forslopestyle, but when I got to thepipe I was feeling it. I was hop-

ing to place top five in the pipeand top three in slopestyle. Towalk away winning both pipeand slopestyle was incredible.Someone told me the last timesomeone came away with bothwas Tanner Hall in 1998, so towin this was incredible.”

Kenworthy moved toTellurider when he was 2, andtook right to skiing.

“I grew up skiing moguls inTelluride Ski School,” Kenworthysaid. “I wanted to go pro.”

As a teenager, Kenworthy haspractically lived in Telluride’sterrain park. Eventually, peopletook notice. And, two years ago,Kenworthy got what he wanted.

“CoreUPT Skis came to mewith a contract and a salary, sothat’s when I technically becamepro,” he said.

He now lives mostly in thehigh-flying world of pro skiing,sponsored by CoreUPT Skis,Smith Optics and Helmets,Empire Gloves and Skullcandy.

Consumed by skiing, hespends the winters inBreckinridge, which he thinkshas the best terrain park. Hekeeps one foot in Telluride, com-pleting his courses for TellurideHigh School online, his teachersgrading him via the Internet.And on June 4, graduation day,

OLYMPICS

AMERICANSDOMINATING

SLOPESMiller, Weibrecht

medal behindSvindal in super-G

By HOWARD FENDRICHAP Sports Writer

WHISTLER, BritishColumbia (AP) óLeave it to BodeMiller to bring alittle trash talk to

Alpine skiing.After his silver and Andrew

Weibrecht’s bronze behind win-ner Aksel Lund Svindal ofNorway in Friday’s super-G,Miller was asked to explain whythe Americans have been domi-nating the slopes with sixmedals through four races atthese Olympics.

Miller smiled that here-comes-a-good-one smile of hisand began, “Aside from the factthat we’re just much better thaneverybody else ...”

Can’t really argue with theguy.

With six events still to go, theUnited States already has col-lected its most Alpine medals ata single Winter Games, toppingthe five at Sarajevo in 1984.Norway is the only other countrywith more than one medal so far,thanks entirely to Svindal, whoalso got a silver in the downhill.

Indeed, that first medal easedhis mind before Friday’s race.Standing in the start gate, withMiller and Weibrecht holdingthe day’s top two times to thatpoint, Svindal thought to him-self, “You already have a silverand it can only get better, soenjoy this and give it all youhave. Don’t hold anything back.”

He finished in 1 minute, 30.34seconds, 0.28 faster than Millerof Franconia, N.H., who gaveaway time at the bottom of thecourse and acknowledged he“ran out of gas a little bit.”Weibrecht of Lake Placid, N.Y.,never before fared better than10th in a significant race butwound up only 0.03 of a secondslower than Miller.

“If you don’t watch ski racingevery weekend, you might missmy name,” Weibrecht dead-panned. “It definitely feels goodto establish myself.”See SSKKIIEERR,, Page 30

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Kenworthy plans to walk withthe rest of his Telluride class.

Gus’s parents, Pip of Pip’sFine and Funky Consignment,and Peter, Executive Director ofMountainfilm, are elated at theirson’s success.

“He won $10,000 last week!We were so excited, we took himout to dinner,” said Pip, eagerlypointing out a glossy photo of herprodigy in Powder magazine.

Attending as many localevents as they can, Gus canalways rely on his parents sup-port.

“My parents are so support-ive. They’re behind me 100 per-cent,” Gus said. And, of all themountains Kenworthy shreds,Telluride is still no. 1. “Tellurideis home to me and it means I amout skiing with my friends. It

sounds so bad, but I’m just goingto say it: my favorite part of themountain is the terrain park,probably, because that’s what Ido.”

After his recent success, Guswill head to Switzerland for theEuropean Freeski Open in Laaxin hopes of coming out on top.Then it’s on to the Dumont Cupin Sunday River, Vt., the WorldSki Invitational in Whistler andthe Jon Olsson Invitational inSweden.

Kenworthy’s advice to aspir-ing pros: “Believe in yourself anddon’t be scared of failure. Someof these guys have beenimmensely successful with it[skiing professionally]. Rightnow I am just having fun anddoing what I love, and making alittle money at it.”

SSKKIIEERR, from page 32

Young Telluride pro

NBA

McGrady to start in Knicksdebut Saturday

By BRIAN MAHONEYAP Basketball Writer

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP)Tracy McGrady will be inthe starting lineup in his

New York Knicks debut onSaturday night againstOklahoma City.

Coach Mike D’Antoni said hedoesn’t know what the completelineup will be, but it will includeMcGrady. The Knicks acquiredthe seven-time All-Star onThursday in a three-team dealwith Houston and Sacramento.

McGrady played only limitedminutes in six games for theRockets this season after comingback from microfracture kneesurgery. He said he hopes he canplay 25 to 30 minutes Saturdayin what will be his first actionsince Dec. 23.

“Physically I feel good, butthen again I haven’t played in ayear and a half,” McGrady said.“Even the eight minutes I wasplaying, you really can’t get afeel of how long I can play. Butyeah, I think I’m ready to go.”

D’Antoni wasn’t sure either,since McGrady was limited toonly about 7 minutes a game thisseason after surgery lastFebruary. The swingman hasplayed 41 games over the lasttwo seasons.

“I asked him about everythingand he says ‘I have no idea,’”D’Antoni said. “We’ll talk aboutit during the game and there’sno restrictions on him from amedical standpoint, only how hefeels and the way he looks andall that. But he’ll communicatewith me when he wants to comeout.”

The Knicks held their firstmorning shootaround at homethis season so their new acquisi-tions could become more famil-iar with the offense. They alsobrought in point guard SergioRodriguez in the three-teamtrade, and acquired EddieHouse, Bill Walker and J.R.Giddens in a deal that sent NateRobinson to Boston.

New York Knick guard Tracy McGrady, for-merly of the Houston Rockets. [APPhoto/John Raoux, File]