From Andorra to Uzbekistan, including such skiing nations as Cyprus and Haiti, over 500 athletes from 69 Nations competed in those Alpine Skiing world championships.
Each race was an excitement in itself, simply because there were no shoe-ins. Even the American Lindsay Von was not a sure thing since, throughout this meet, she was ill with a flue. But she raced to a Silvermedal in the Ladies' downhill, just 44/100 of a second behind the Austrian Champ, Elisabeth Goergl. Talk about Elisabeth: Besides winning the Downhill, she does the same in the Super Giant Slalom.
And what about the rank "outsider", the Canadian Erik Guay? In the men's down hill he beats all the Greats like Switzerlands Didier Cuche, Italy's Christo Innerhofer, along with all the Austrian Aces.
Then there was the ladies' Slalom: With Marlies Schild and Kathrin Zettel, Austria takes the Gold and the Silver. As a Nation, Austria did very well in this competition. But only because the women of this country showed how you come down a steep hill...fast.
Of the 8 medals which Austria harvested, the women won 5 and were instrumental in a 6th.
(the Parallel slalom in which Nation competed against Nation.
So there you have the Medal count:
place: nation Gold Silver Bronce Total
1 Austria 4 3 1 8
2 France 2 1 1 4
3 Italy 1 2 3 6
4 USA 1 2 0 3
5 Slovenia 1 1 0 2
6 Canada 1 0 0 1
7 Norway 1 0 0 1
8 Sweden 0 1 3 4
9 Switzerland 0 1 0 1
10 Germany 0 0 2 2
11 Croatia 0 0 1 1
It was an exciting competition, with many individual stories of "Guts and Glory"..
See you all again in 714 days, on the 4th of February 2013 for the 42nd Alpine World Championships in Schladming, Austria.
Good by from Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany.
Bertstravels.
No comments:
Post a Comment