Vermont boarder leads from start; halfpipe is next.
March 9th, 2007
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- World champion and Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) tore out of the start Thursday and rode to her second straight World Cup snowboardcross victory as the State Farm U.S. Snowboard Cup weekend got underway in bright sunshine but single-digit weather.
Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) was a close second to Canadian Drew Neilson in the men's SBX event with Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID) sixth. Brooke Shaw (Bantam, CT) finished seventh in the women's contest at Whiteface Mountain.
Jacobellis led from the start in the final run. She surprised herself a bit by grabbing the lead so quickly, but she wasn't about to let go.
Jacobellis listened to her inner voice
"I'm not one to always get the 'hole shot' [lead from the start] so when I get it," she explained, "I feel really good and I know I'm going to have a great race. I keep telling myself, 'Stay on my feet. Stay on my feet. One thing at a time - don't get ahead of yourself.'
"The course is fun. There's a lot of technical aspects and it might be a speed course to some people, but you can find some areas that are more critical than others to really nail."
Jacobellis, who collected her second consecutive SBX world title Jan. 14 in Arosa, Switzerland, also won the opening SBX event of the season Feb. 18 in Furano, Japan. The snow drought in central Europe forced cancellation of previously scheduled contest; Thursday's snowboard cross - the first of two during the State Farm events in the Lake Placid region - was pickup from Bad Gastein, Austria, in mid-December.
She conceded the late-season cold can be an issue, but the sun and a lack of wind helped athletes through the finals heats after the women qualified Wednesday; Jacobellis qualified second among the 31 women to easily make the finals group of 16.
"The cold's brutal. It makes it really hard to race. Your bindings, your boots - everything's a little stiffer than what you're normally used to," she said with a grin bordering on a grimace, "and your fingers are freezing, your toes are cold..."
Holland chased Neilson down the hill
While the women qualified the day before, the men's field was whittled to 32 with the better of two qualifying runs in the morning. Holland qualified fourth and Watanabe qualified eighth in the field of 59 riders.
"I came out of the gate and we were all tight on that first corner," Holland said. He cut inside Neilson on the next corner but the Canadian caught him and they led the final foursome down the course with its rolls, banked turns and other terrain features.
"I kind of buddy-buddied right up to him, made a little room for myself and then tried to follow him. I heard some racket going on behind me," Holland explained about the bottom third of the course, "but I never saw anybody in my peripheral [vision] so I was just following Neilson, trying to work the course for every ounce of speed I could.
"But he's a helluva competitor, a helluva rider and he's a tough guy to catch and pass. ...It's always a pleasure to be in finals and that's when you have to turn it on - and I did, but Neilson just out-rode me in the start today and I had to follow him down the course. I had the first-row seat for his finish."
The State Farm schedule calls for halfpipe qualifying Friday before halfpipe finals action Saturday, with a Paul Mitchell Progression Session quarterpipe exhibition - with the Rip-it Trick of the Day - Saturday night, and World Cup SBX Sunday at Whiteface Mountain.
FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP
State Farm U.S. Snowboard Cup
Whiteface Mountain
Lake Placid, NY - March 8, 2007
(4 make finals)
Men's Snowboardcross
1. Drew Neilson, Canada
2. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, CA
3. Simone Malusa, Italy
4. Markus Schairer, Austria
-
6. Graham Watanabe, Sun Valley, ID
28. Jason Smith, Basalt, CO
30. Alex Deibold, Manchester Center, VT
33. Nick Baumgartner, Iron River, MI
40. Ben Jacobellis, Winhall, VT
43. Pat Holland, Sandpoint, ID
45. Cody Brown, Morrison, CO
46. Robert Minghini, South Lake Tahoe, CA
48. Jonathan Cheever, Saugus, MA
50. Mark Schulz, Lake Oswego, OR
54. Nathan Galpin, Hailey, ID
58. Chris Mahaney, Greenwich, CT
--
Women's SBX
1. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT
2. Tanja Frieden, Switzerland
3. Sandra Frei, Switzerland
4. Maelle Ricker, Canada
-
7. Brooke Shaw, Bantam, CT
13. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, Girdwood, AK
19. Marni Yamada, Seattle
22. Kim Krahulec, Silverthorne, CO
23. Jordan Karlinski, Aspen, CO
27. Lynn Ott, Bend, OR
28. Heather Doolittle, Belgrade, ME
29. Lindsey Telling, Avon, CO
Complete results are here.
