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U.S. snowboarders to hit Park City hill
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News staff writer
U.S. snowboarders will get to race on home snow Friday for the only time before the 2002 Winter Games.
The massive bleachers under construction at Park City Mountain Resort will be empty, but there is much at stake in terms of the Olympics. Riders will test each other and the reshaped parallel giant slalom course in an International Ski Federation (FIS) Continental Cup race, the second of five U.S. Olympic team selection meets.
"It's a really challenging hill," said Lisa Kosglow, Boise, Idaho, who's trying to qualify for her second Winter Games.
Friday's field of about 100 men and women will consist of mostly American and Japanese riders and possibly a few Canadians. Qualification rounds start at 9 a.m., with finals scheduled for noon.
Nagano Olympian Chris Klug, Aspen, Colo., who has struggled on the FIS World Cup tour so far this season, and Jeff Greenwood, Hartford, Conn., are the best male riders. Kosglow and Rosey Fletcher, Girdwood, Alaska, are tops among the women.
Greenwood and Fletcher won the first qualifying meet at Whistler, B.C., earlier this month. Four men and four men will make the Olympic team.
Kosglow, a former University of Utah student, and her teammates have been practicing on the course the past couple of days. Several might return before the Games for two or three days of additional training, giving them about six days in all.
"It doesn't feel like we'll have a home-town advantage," she said. But Americans will get to ride the revamped course more than foreign competitors.
Though still steep at the top, the hill has changed since the last World Cup race in March when snowboarders complained that the fall line favored one course over the other in the head-to-head races. Depending on the rider's stance on the board — regular (left foot forward) or goofy (right foot forward) — some turns proved difficult. Crashes were commonplace.
Crews blew in snow and removed some trees to level off the course.
"They did a great job evening the hill out," Kosglow said. "It went from a hill that we really didn't like to ride to one that is enjoyable to ride."
The start gates last year were problematic, not only throwing riders' timing off but catching fire at one point when some electrical wires burned up.
New gates installed this week will be tested for the first time Friday. Because the start is critical in a PGS race, Kosglow said, getting used to the gates now will give racers an advantage come Games time.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
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December 20, 2001
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