Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001


VAN ERT TAKES 3RD AT SCHOENRIED GS

SCHOENRIED, Switzerland (Jan. 10) - At the Snowboard World Cup season's
second, and last, giant slalom race of the season, Austrian Stefan
Kaltschuetz and Italian Marion Posch were victorious on the Horneggli
course. U.S. Snowboard Team racer Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID) was on
the podium in third place.

Like so many other European resorts, Schoenried has struggled with less
than adequate snow conditions this season, but the organizers put
maximum effort into grooming an exciting course for the season's final
GS.

Posch won with a two-run time of 1:46.62, surprising since she was in
seventh following the first run. France's Nathalie Desmares was second
in 1:46.67 and Van Ert was just behind in 1:46.74.

Van Ert, who won last season's race at Schoenried, led after the opening
run with a time of 51.87. Rosey Fletcher (Girdwood, AK), who won a
parallel slalom Sunday in Austria, was just behind Van Ert with a 52.22,
but faltered in the second run and ended up finishing 14th.

For Van Ert, it was her first World Cup podium of the season. She won a
Chevy Truck U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix GS at Okemo Mt., VT on Dec. 18,
but her last World Cup podium was the win in Schoenried on Jan. 19 of
last season.

"I never like to move back in the standings," Van Ert said. "It was just
challenging and it was hard to stay on top of it. I knew a lot of the
others had problems and whenever you get such a message, you start
thinking about what's wrong out there. I also knew that there was at
least one who didn't have any problems, so at least I wanted to try."

Kaltshuetz took the win with a two-run time of 1:36.48 and was followed
by Swede Stephen Copp in 1:37.44. France's Nicolas Huet and Sweden's
Daniel Biveson rounded out the podium, tying for third with times of
1:37.79.

The victory for Kaltshuetz was the result of his blazing second run time
of 48.81, the only time below 49 seconds and over a full second better
than Copp's 49.84. Copp, who won last season's GS in Schoenried, looked
he was going to repeat as he led after the first run by .07 over
Kaltschuetz. However, Copp couldn't measure up to Kaltschuetz in the
second run and he gave the Austrian his first World Cup win of the
season.

"I'm super happy with today's result," said Kaltschuetz, last year's
World Cup GS champion said. "It's just a shame that it was the last race
this year. It went perfect today and that's great, especially with
regard to the World Championships in two weeks time."

American Chris Klug (Aspen, CO) was the top American man as he finished
tied for sixth with Austrian Alexander Maier (1:38.07). Ian Price
(Manchester Center, VT) also finished in the top-20, tying for 12th with
another Austrian, Harald Walder, each with a time of 1:39.29.

The Schoenried World Cup concludes Thursday with a parallel slalom race.

SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP
Schoenried, Switzerland
Jan. 10, 2001
Giant Slalom

MEN
1. Stefan Kaltschuetz (Austria), 1:36.48
2. Stephen Copp (Sweden), 1:37.44
3. Nicolas Huet (France); Daniel Biveson (Sweden), 1:37.79
5. Walter Feichter (Italy), 1:37.89
6. Chris Klug (Aspen, CO); Alexander Maier (Austria); 1:38.07
8. Tomaz Knafelj (Slovenia), 1:38.31
9. Dieter Krassnig (Austria), 1:38.63
10. Markus Ebner (Germany), 1:38.64
11. Richard Richardsson (Sweden), 1:39.17
12. Ian Price (Manchester Center, VT); Harald Walder (Austria), 1:39.29
14. Klaus Sammer (Austria), 1:39.36
15. Dejan Kosir (Slovenia), 1:39.45
16. Werner Ebenbauer (Austria), 1:39.58
17. Jerome Sylvestre (Canada), 1:39.63
18. Jasey Jay Anderson (Canada), 1:39.76
19. Jonas Aspman (Sweden), 1:40.31
20. Felix Stadler (Austria), 1:40.32
21. Eric Warren (Bennington, VT), 1:40.35
22. Thomas Bourgault (France), 1:40.68
23. Ingemar Walder (Austria), 1:41.00
24. Guillaume Sachot (France), 1:41.16
25. Andreas Prommeggar (Austria), 1:41.17
26. Maxence Idesheim (France), 1:41.27
27. Joni Vastamaki (Finland), 1:41.94
28. Lukas Gruener (Austria), 1:43.55
29. Darren Chalmers (Canada), DNF
30. Gerhard Unterkofler (Austria), DSQ

--

Did Not Qualify for 2nd Run
40. Pete Thorndike (Meredith, NH), 50.68
41. Adam Smith (Bend, OR), 50.83
42. Jeff Greenwood (Hartford, CT), 51.09
53. Anton Pogue (Hood River, OR), 52.06
56. Mike Thomas (Brighton, CO), 52.62

WOMEN
1. Marion Posch (Italy), 1:46.62
2. Nathalie Desmares (France), 1:46.67
3. Sondra Van Ert (Ketchum, ID), 1:46.74
4. Margherita Parini (Italy), 1:47.48
5. Isabel Zedlacher (Austria), 1:48.19
6. Anna Kaltiainen (Finland), 1:48.26
7. Dagmar Mair U.D. Eggen (Italy), 1:48.27
8. Stacia Hookom (Edward, CO), 1:48.30
9. Birgit Herbert (Austria), 1:48.69
10. Heidi Renoth (Germany), 1:48.75
11. Karine Ruby (France), 1:49.19
12. Claudia Riegler (Austria), 1:49.21
13. Sandra Farmand (Germany), 1:50.53
14. Rosey Fletcher (Girdwood, AK), 1:58.02
15. Maria Kirchgasser-Pichle (Austria), DNF

--

Did Not Qualify for 2nd Run
17. Lynn Ott (Bend, OR), 54.89
25. Lisa Kosglow (Boise, ID), 55.53
31. Elisabeth Odynski (Reno, NV), 56.64
42. Erin O'Malley (Mammoth Lakes, CA), 57.71