1. ORBITORBITTHE SECOND FRONT PAGE
FEBRUARY 21, 2010
Sunday Focus: Sports & Recreation
TELLURIDE DAILYPLANET
OLYMPICS
EUROS
UPSETVONN
INSUPER-G
Vail star denied
sweep of speed events
By ANDREW DAMPF
AP Sports Writer
W
HISTLER, British
Columbia (AP)
A n d r e a
Fischbacher got
A u s t r i a ’ s
“Wunderteam” back on track by
winning gold in the Olympic
super-G Saturday, denying
Lindsey Vonn a sweep of the
speed events.
Taking advantage of a tricky
course-set arranged by one of
her coaches, Fischbacher navi-
gated her way down Franz’s Run
in 1 minute, 20.14 seconds.
“It was really crazy,”
Fischbacher said. “It was a real-
ly straight course and you had to
push from start to finish.”
Tina Maze of Slovenia took a
surprise silver, 0.49 second
behind, and Vonn had to settle
for bronze, 0.74 second back.
While many of the pre-race
favorites struggled with a sharp
right turn midway down, Vonn
made it through that section
without a problem. But then she
lost nearly half a second on the
bottom section of the course.
“Once I got past those diffi-
cult sections, I kind of backed off
the gas pedal,” Vonn said. “I felt
like I just didn’t ski as aggres-
sively as I could have, and I think
that’s where I lost the race.”
Vonn celebrated as if she had
won, raising her arms in tri-
umph, then was relaying a
course report via a two-way radio
up to her teammates still at the
start when Fischbacher beat her.
Fischbacher looked like she
didn’t believe it when she
glanced at the scoreboard upon
crossing the line, backing into
the safety mattresses lining the
finish area and nearly falling
over.
“It’s just a great feeling,”
Fischbacher said.
Vonn, who lives and trains in
Vail, Colo., won gold in the down-
hill to open her Olympics and
then wiped out in the slalom leg
of the super-combined.
Depending on how her bruised
right shin holds up, the
American still has two events
remaining at the Vancouver
Games giant slalom and slalom.
Vonn was hurt Feb. 2, when
she tumbled and slammed the
top of her right boot against her
shin during pre-Olympic prac-
tice in Austria. While other
skiers were free-skiing the
course Friday, Vonn took a com-
plete day off to give her shin
more time to heal.
1.On your Sunday afternoon, take in an opera.The Palm will be screening an encore
transmission 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 “Big
Love” 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 Mee
play 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 HAVARD
Planet Contributor
N
amed the eighth best
skier in the world
under 18 by Powder
magazine, Tellurider
Gus Kenworthy is liv-
ing up to his press.
Proving age is just a number,
young park skier Kenworthy, 18,
demonstrated his prowess by
taking first in three ski events
this month.
He’s also shown he knows
how to make a comeback. Due to
an injury, he missed the first two
events this year of the three-
event Dew tour.
“I was actually feeling badly
for him,” said Gus’ father, Peter
Kenworthy. “He broke his collar-
bone and was out for two
months.”
Gus pushed his injury — his
dad thought prematurely — to
come back for the third tour
event at Mt. Snow Feb. 7, where
Kenworthy struggled in the first
two events, failing to qualify in
either the pipe or slopestyle.
However, during the big air
event, his last chance,
Kenworthy walked away with
first place with his cork 900 nose
grab to true tail grab. In lay-
man’s terms, Kenworthy spun
two-and-a-half times and shifted
his hand from grabbing the tip of
his skis to the tail of his skis.
Kenworthy made this extremely
difficult maneuver look effort-
less.
Winning big air, said dad
Peter, “really re-charged him. It
was really encouraging,”
Kenworthy then went on to
the Aspen/Snowmass Open, Feb.
12 and 13, one of the largest
open events in the world, second
only to the European Freeski
Open in Laax, Switzerland.
In Aspen, he swept the pipe
and slopestyle, winning over
$10,000 in prize money.
A solid run with stylish grabs
helped Gus nab the win in pipe.
In slopestyle, his winning run
went like this: “left foot forward
K-Fed on the top rail, switch 630
on 270 out of the gap to down
box, 360 nose tap over the hitch-
ing post, 450 on 630 out of the
rainbow rail, kangaroo flip over
the first table, switch right 720
mute, into a switch dub cork
1080 Japan.”
Out of all the recent wins,
which victory does Kenworthy
find the sweetest?
“Definitely the Aspen Open,”
Kenworthy said. “I drove up with
my roommate Colby Ward. We
went up there and pipe was first.
I train most heavily for
slopestyle, but when I got to the
pipe I was feeling it. I was hop-
ing to place top five in the pipe
and top three in slopestyle. To
walk away winning both pipe
and slopestyle was incredible.
Someone told me the last time
someone came away with both
was Tanner Hall in 1998, so to
win this was incredible.”
Kenworthy moved to
Tellurider when he was 2, and
took right to skiing.
“I grew up skiing moguls in
Telluride Ski School,” Kenworthy
said. “I wanted to go pro.”
As a teenager, Kenworthy has
practically lived in Telluride’s
terrain park. Eventually, people
took notice. And, two years ago,
Kenworthy got what he wanted.
“CoreUPT Skis came to me
with a contract and a salary, so
that’s when I technically became
pro,” he said.
He now lives mostly in the
high-flying world of pro skiing,
sponsored by CoreUPT Skis,
Smith Optics and Helmets,
Empire Gloves and Skullcandy.
Consumed by skiing, he
spends the winters in
Breckinridge, which he thinks
has the best terrain park. He
keeps one foot in Telluride, com-
pleting his courses for Telluride
High School online, his teachers
grading him via the Internet.
And on June 4, graduation day,
OLYMPICS
AMERICANS
DOMINATING
SLOPES
Miller, Weibrecht
medal behind
Svindal in super-G
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Sports Writer
W
HISTLER, British
Columbia (AP) ó
Leave it to Bode
Miller to bring a
little trash talk to
Alpine skiing.
After his silver and Andrew
Weibrecht’s bronze behind win-
ner Aksel Lund Svindal of
Norway in Friday’s super-G,
Miller was asked to explain why
the Americans have been domi-
nating the slopes with six
medals through four races at
these Olympics.
Miller smiled that here-
comes-a-good-one smile of his
and began, “Aside from the fact
that we’re just much better than
everybody else ...”
Can’t really argue with the
guy.
With six events still to go, the
United States already has col-
lected its most Alpine medals at
a single Winter Games, topping
the five at Sarajevo in 1984.
Norway is the only other country
with more than one medal so far,
thanks entirely to Svindal, who
also got a silver in the downhill.
Indeed, that first medal eased
his mind before Friday’s race.
Standing in the start gate, with
Miller and Weibrecht holding
the day’s top two times to that
point, Svindal thought to him-
self, “You already have a silver
and it can only get better, so
enjoy this and give it all you
have. Don’t hold anything back.”
He finished in 1 minute, 30.34
seconds, 0.28 faster than Miller
of Franconia, N.H., who gave
away time at the bottom of the
course and acknowledged he
“ran out of gas a little bit.”
Weibrecht of Lake Placid, N.Y.,
never before fared better than
10th in a significant race but
wound up only 0.03 of a second
slower than Miller.
“If you don’t watch ski racing
every weekend, you might miss
my name,” Weibrecht dead-
panned. “It definitely feels good
to establish myself.”See SSKKIIEERR,, Page 30
Birthdays
FFeebb.. 2211:: Mark Campbell, Danny
Desantis, Bradley Domas, Pamela Hall,
Kathryn Holland, Eric Lackey, Ryan
Leblanc, Robert Murphy, Gerald
Newton, Rodney Porsche, Rhea
Reynolds,William Sheppard, Bob St.
Onge, Larry Wooddell; FFeebb.. 2222:: Kristi
Allen, Jerelyn Corby, Ronn Dilley, Heidi
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Damien Webster,Wiley Wood.

2. 3300 FEBRUARY 21, 2010 TELLURIDE DAILY PLANET ORBIT
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Kenworthy plans to walk with
the rest of his Telluride class.
Gus’s parents, Pip of Pip’s
Fine and Funky Consignment,
and Peter, Executive Director of
Mountainfilm, are elated at their
son’s success.
“He won $10,000 last week!
We were so excited, we took him
out to dinner,” said Pip, eagerly
pointing out a glossy photo of her
prodigy in Powder magazine.
Attending as many local
events as they can, Gus can
always rely on his parents sup-
port.
“My parents are so support-
ive. They’re behind me 100 per-
cent,” Gus said. And, of all the
mountains Kenworthy shreds,
Telluride is still no. 1. “Telluride
is home to me and it means I am
out skiing with my friends. It
sounds so bad, but I’m just going
to say it: my favorite part of the
mountain is the terrain park,
probably, because that’s what I
do.”
After his recent success, Gus
will head to Switzerland for the
European Freeski Open in Laax
in hopes of coming out on top.
Then it’s on to the Dumont Cup
in Sunday River, Vt., the World
Ski Invitational in Whistler and
the Jon Olsson Invitational in
Sweden.
Kenworthy’s advice to aspir-
ing pros: “Believe in yourself and
don’t be scared of failure. Some
of these guys have been
immensely successful with it
[skiing professionally]. Right
now I am just having fun and
doing what I love, and making a
little money at it.”
SSKKIIEERR, from page 32
Young Telluride pro
NBA
McGrady to
start in Knicks
debut Saturday
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Basketball Writer
G
REENBURGH, N.Y. (AP)
Tracy McGrady will be in
the starting lineup in his
New York Knicks debut on
Saturday night against
Oklahoma City.
Coach Mike D’Antoni said he
doesn’t know what the complete
lineup will be, but it will include
McGrady. The Knicks acquired
the seven-time All-Star on
Thursday in a three-team deal
with Houston and Sacramento.
McGrady played only limited
minutes in six games for the
Rockets this season after coming
back from microfracture knee
surgery. He said he hopes he can
play 25 to 30 minutes Saturday
in what will be his first action
since Dec. 23.
“Physically I feel good, but
then again I haven’t played in a
year and a half,” McGrady said.
“Even the eight minutes I was
playing, you really can’t get a
feel of how long I can play. But
yeah, I think I’m ready to go.”
D’Antoni wasn’t sure either,
since McGrady was limited to
only about 7 minutes a game this
season after surgery last
February. The swingman has
played 41 games over the last
two seasons.
“I asked him about everything
and he says ‘I have no idea,’”
D’Antoni said. “We’ll talk about
it during the game and there’s
no restrictions on him from a
medical standpoint, only how he
feels and the way he looks and
all that. But he’ll communicate
with me when he wants to come
out.”
The Knicks held their first
morning shootaround at home
this season so their new acquisi-
tions could become more famil-
iar with the offense. They also
brought in point guard Sergio
Rodriguez in the three-team
trade, and acquired Eddie
House, Bill Walker and J.R.
Giddens in a deal that sent Nate
Robinson to Boston.
New York Knick guard Tracy McGrady, for-
merly of the Houston Rockets.[AP
Photo/John Raoux, File]