Zamansky Takes NZ Winter Games SG

CORONET PEAK, New Zealand (Aug. 26) – Despite wind gusts in excess of 50 mph, Jake Zamansky (Park City, UT) tipped the victory scales Wednesday with a super G win to open the alpine skiing portion of first annual New Zealand Winter Games.

Zamansky and the U.S. Ski Team men's tech group have been training at Coronet Peak for over a week. Originally slated for Tuesday, the super G races where postponed one day due to weather.

"It was awesome, not too rounded and the conditions were great," said Zamansky, who battled his way back onto the U.S. Ski Team last season by scoring World Cup points in three giant slalom races, including a career best 15th in Sestriere, Italy.

The winning time of 1:03:26 bested German slalom ace Felix Neureuther by .38 seconds. Third place went to Olivier Jenot of Monaco. Canadian Britt Janyk topped Swede Marie Pietelle-Holmner for the women's title, followed by Shona Rubens, also of Canada. The women's U.S. Ski Team returned to America last week in order to prepare for a September training camp in Chile.

Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, CA) snagged the No. 4 spot after he was granted a rerun when a gust of wind blasted him off course. Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) also popped into the top 10 with seventh.

The New Zealand Winter Games continue Friday with giant slalom before wrapping up Saturday with slalom. The U.S. Ski Team will start Nolan Kasper (Warren, VT), Tim Kelley (Starksboro, VT), Tommy Ford (Bend, OR), Thomas Biesemeyer (Keene, NY) and David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) in giant slalom.

Ford, Kelley, Biesemeyer, Kasper and Chodounsky will also race slalom along with Paul McDonald (Bellevue, WA).

For complete results: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=26678&cal_suchsector=AL