ALPINE:

Hudec wins super-G, Cook 3rd at Nor-Am Finals

March 14, 2010 — U.S. Ski Team

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BURKE, Vermont — The Nor-Am Cup Finals commenced Sunday with the men’s super-G and super-combined. Canada’s Jan Hudec won the super-G with U.S. Ski Team member Will Brandenburg in second and Canada’s Dustin Cook third.

Brandenburg took the super-combined win with Chris Frank and Tim Jitloff also on the podium and Cook fourth.

With howling winds speeding up the course, race officials decided to reset the super-G. The reset pushed the start back 2 1/2, forcing competitors to wait.

“The course set was pretty fast with the tailwind. We were flying too far off the first jump,” explained Brandenburg. “We actually had to reset the whole course and reinspect and didn’t start running the super-G until 12 p.m.”

“It was pretty cool how hard the people at Burke worked to get the race off today,” Brandenburg said. “It was a long day for everyone, but it’s awesome how they worked to get it off at five o’clock this afternoon.”

Despite the delay, racers stayed focus ready to attack. Brandenburg charged to second in the super-G, placing himself in striking distance for the slalom. He laid down the second-fastest slalom run, to clinch the win by nearly two seconds. Frank and Jitloff moved up from sixth and ninth place in the super-G to close out the super-combined podium in second and third. Tommy Ford also had a fast slalom run, moving up from 11th in the super-G to finish fifth in the combined.

“My super-G skiing has been pretty solid throughout the year and things went well in that today, and then my slalom is clicking,” said Brandenburg. “I was pretty nervous for the super-combined slalom because I knew I could do good things if I put a run together, so it made the anticipation and waiting a little tough but it was fun.”

Brandenburg’s super-combined win clinched the Nor-Am super-combined title and moved him into the lead in the Nor-Am Cup overall standings. He is ahead by 40 points with three races to go.

The men will race the super-G at Burke on Monday before heading to Waterville Valley, N.H., for the tech events.  SRC