February 9, 2007
On February 8, the Alpine Ski Giant Slalom race was held at the Park City Mountain Resort, with 18 women and 25 men competing for a medal. The women went first, finding the mountain skiing conditions icy. Packed snow was the result of several days worth of racing on the courses with no fresh snow. But regardless, the first run went smoothly. However, the second run saw more crashes in one particular spot, halfway down the run.
The top five finishers in the women’s first run were Czech Tereza Kmochova (51.60 seconds), American Amanda Goyne (51.85), American Kelley Duran (54.62), Croatian Rea Hraski (55.12), and Dutch Pieternel Van Dis (57.41). After Duran finished the run, she was nauseous and vomited a little, citing a bad head cold.
The second run was more difficult because of the tracks of the 43 skiers who had just gone down the mountain, thus making the course even more slippery. However, the standings from the first run remained the same throughout the second: Duran finished the run in 57.63, giving her a final time of 1.52.25. Goyne, the home crowd favorite, completed the race with 1.48.49 after a second run of 56.64, and Kmochova sailed to an easy 54.05, totaling 1.45.65. And so it was: Kmochova winning the gold and the two Americans, Goyne and Duran, winning the silver and bronze medals, respectively.
The men’s pool had seven contenders who did not finish the race, leaving 18 skiiers vying for the gold medal. The strongest showing came from Italian Andrea Santini (51.10 seconds). Following Santini were German Matthias Becherer (51.14), Austrian Phillipp Perchtold (51.56), Slovakian Martin Legutky (51.76), and Swiss Roland Schneider (52.01).
The sun was shining brightly as the end of the race neared and the men started their second run. Italian Aaron Nider, who finished fifth in the first run with 52.13 seconds, came back to grab the best time in the second run, finishing with 53.38 for a total of 1.45.51. Becherer skied the run in 54.02 seconds, earning a final time of 1.45.16. Perchtold had the third best time in the second run (53.49), totaling 1.45.05. Santini, the leader of the first run, hit a few snags and put a few more seconds on his time, giving him a final time of 1.46.43. The winners of the men’s giant slalom race were Perchtold with gold, Becherer with silver, and Nider with the bronze medal.