Marco Sullivan Finishes 3rd at Wengen! - 1/19/2009
Marco Sullivan Finishes 3rd at Wengen!
Nordica Athlete Marco Sullivan finshed 3rd this past weekend at the famous Wengen downhill course in Switerland. Sullivan starting 10th in the order was just 2 tenths of a second behind Bode Miller (2nd) and 4 tenths behind race winner Didier Defago.
A guy with plenty of power was Sullivan, bolstered by the presence of a family dominated fan club. He won the first split at the top of the course and but for a couple of small mistakes might have won the day.
"They had a record attendance today (over 30,000) and my family is here," he said. "They've never seen me race in Europe before. There's lots of hype, I guess, but this morning I went out and free skied by myself. It's such a beautiful place, I checked out the Eiger and was looking around - it's so beautiful here. I tried to make my family proud and it worked."
His coach might consider having the family shipped in everywhere, because he was sure impressed.
"Marco skied the top like an absolute stud," said head coach Sasha Rearick. "The first part of the course has some tough terrain and Marco skied aggressive, came out clean and aerodynamic, skied a great race. He lost a little time after that but it was an awesome race for him."
The coach said Sullivan has been skiing well all season, but that in Wengen he kept getting better in each training run, "It's great to see," Rearick said. "That's something he's been working on."
That's not the only thing he's been working on. "Things are coming together," said Sullivan. "I've been skiing well, I've had a lot of fast sections in races but for one reason or another haven't been able to put it all together. Even today I had a couple of big mistakes. On such a long course it's sort of inevitable. I was really good up top, but then lost time just before the Hundschopf. I had a big mistake. Luckily, I was able to keep focus and charged the bottom. … I learned that about myself today, that not giving up even after that one big mistake can turn out really well."
He said he also learned the importance of conditioning, noting that his legs felt good during the last seconds of a two minute 30 second course.
"They had a record attendance today (over 30,000) and my family is here," he said. "They've never seen me race in Europe before. There's lots of hype, I guess, but this morning I went out and free skied by myself. It's such a beautiful place, I checked out the Eiger and was looking around - it's so beautiful here. I tried to make my family proud and it worked."
His coach might consider having the family shipped in everywhere, because he was sure impressed.
"Marco skied the top like an absolute stud," said head coach Sasha Rearick. "The first part of the course has some tough terrain and Marco skied aggressive, came out clean and aerodynamic, skied a great race. He lost a little time after that but it was an awesome race for him."
The coach said Sullivan has been skiing well all season, but that in Wengen he kept getting better in each training run, "It's great to see," Rearick said. "That's something he's been working on."
That's not the only thing he's been working on. "Things are coming together," said Sullivan. "I've been skiing well, I've had a lot of fast sections in races but for one reason or another haven't been able to put it all together. Even today I had a couple of big mistakes. On such a long course it's sort of inevitable. I was really good up top, but then lost time just before the Hundschopf. I had a big mistake. Luckily, I was able to keep focus and charged the bottom. … I learned that about myself today, that not giving up even after that one big mistake can turn out really well."
He said he also learned the importance of conditioning, noting that his legs felt good during the last seconds of a two minute 30 second course.