The second halfpipe began with an awards ceremony for two famous local athletes: Alpine ski racer Hilde Gerg, who won the bronze medal in super G at the Alpine World Championships in St. Anton last week, and Markus Zimmermann, former Olympic and new World Champion in bobsleigh, who both stayed to watch the sixth halfpipe contest of the 2000/2001 Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup.
Together with 2,000 Snowboard fans, they were present to see Jan Michaelis and Sabine Wehr-Hasler taking a double win for the first time ever in halfpipe.
Similar to the previous days, warm temperatures caused problems and made the pipe even softer than it had been for the contest two days ago, but most did not complain and even applauded the organizers for a job well done.
Michaelis has claimed a couple of top-10 results this season, but was still missing a podium and had said in a pre-race interview that he was just too nervous most of the time. Taking the top score in the morning's qualifiers he joined the favorites for the nighttime contest and finally proved his skills, taking his first-ever win.
"Soft pipes are my favorite," he said, "although this one was a bit too soft really. As usual, I was pretty nervous in the qualifiers and did not feel safe in the finals either. My first run then turned out to be good and I knew I needed to push the limits in the second run so I tried the 'Backside 900' and for the first time ever in a contest, and it worked out alright. I am pretty confident now for the events to come, but I also have to get more used to icy pipes..."
Brett Carpentier from Canada was chasing Michaelis all day long but finally could not catch up despite two solid runs in the finals. "The pipe was very soft but I just did not care," the Canadian said, "it is good that it is different every once in a while, it keeps us on our toes... It was great to see how many people came out to watch, the more spectators there are the better the whole feeling is of the event so a big 'thank you' to everyone who came out. Second place is fine for me and I think I deserve it."
Swedish rider Stefan Karlsson pulled 3rd and also took the lead in the halfpipe standings. "I tried to go big in the second run but did not work it out and made some mistakes," he said. "The conditions could have been better but it turned out pretty fine, a really good contest with good riding so I'm happy."
His teammate Magus Sterner who missed making the finals today dropped back to 2nd overall. Michaelis is currently in 3rd place.
Sabine Wehr-Hasler claimed the gold in the women's competition and made it her second win this weekend. "Our physiotherapists have done a great job," she said, "both Jan and I felt so much energy up at the start when they had put some energy clips to our skin so those were worth it for gold. My first run had been good but then I made a little mistake early in the second run and everything or nothing then. I just cannot believe I worked it out for the second time in a row."
Lesley McKenna from Great Britain pulled 2nd and was overwhelmed: "This was kind of a shock," she said. "I was doing good all season but luck has not been on my side so far. I was very concentrated today, made sure to avoid any mistakes and it paid off. I usually don't like soft and small pipes like this here but this might have forced me to even concentrate more."
Finnish rider Satu Jarvela took 3rd place.
With today's win, Wehr-Hasler also claimed the yellow World Cup leader bib as Norwegian rider Stine Brun Kjeldaas dropped back to 2nd, ahead of Michiyo Hashimoto from Japan, neither of whom competed today.
With the Parallel Giant Slalom, the Berchtesgaden event has concluded and the World Cup now heads off to Japan.
— Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent
