Mixed ski-ing fortunes for Fiona Johnson

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 30

Mixed ski-ing fortunes for Fiona Johnson

NZPA Washington The New Zealand team wound up its participation in tiie winter Olympics yesterday when Fiona Johnson (Canterbury) had mixed fortunes in the women’s slalom. She was one of 26 of the 49 competitors to complete the first run down a 178metre vertical drop with 52 gates, but failed to finish the second run. She completed the first run in 49.55 seconds, 7-05 seconds off the leader, but hooked the sixth gate from the end in the second and skied off the course. Only 19 competitors finished both runs in the event which was won by Hanni Wenzel (Liechtenstein) —

her second gold medal of the games. On Saturday, Scott Kendall (Auckland) finished twenty-seventh in the men’s slalom with an aggregate time of 2.00.99, 16.73 secs behind the gold medal winner, Ingemar Stenmark (Sweden). The two other New Zealanders, Stuart Blakely and Mark Vryenhoek (both Canterbury) left the course on the second and fourth gates respectively on the first run.

Stenmark raced down the 541 m second run through the 60 gates to finish in 1:44.26 for his second gold medal. The American, Phil Mahre, who led after the first leg, made one bad mistake, and it cost him the gold. He

took the silver half a second behind Stenmark. The New Zealand team manager Mr Richard Johnson, yesterday summed up the performance of his three men and two women competitors: “We competed, we did our best, and we publicised New Zealand.

“In the process we showed considerable improvement over the New Zealand performances of ■ four years ago." Mr Johnson said he had compared the times of the 1980 team with those recorded by New Zealand competitors in 1976. “These show that our standards have improved. We have caught up a bit, but, of course, we have a long way to go yet," he said.