Top British skier to return for N.Z. series

Press, 15 May 1981, Page 24

Top British skier to return for N.Z. series

By TIM DUNBAR Konrad Bartelski, the surprise star of the international downhill races at Mount Hutt last year, will return to New Zealand in July for the 1981 Europa F.I.S. ski-ing series. The 27-year-old Briton was his country’s sole representative in 1980; this time he will be accompanied by two other downhill exponents, Martin Bell and Frederic Burton. All three “Bs” will arrive in Christchurch on July 25 to begin training for the F.I.S. series which starts at Coronet Peak on August 1. They are the first confirmed entries received by the organising committee and the chairman, Mr Neil Harrison, says the British team will also include a trainer, possibly the quiet Austrian, Sigi Bernegger, who coached Bartelski here last year. Although Bartelski finished twelfth in the downhill at the Lake Placid Winter Olym-

pics in February, 1980 —’the best by a male Briton in Olympic alpine ski-ing — his performances at Mount Hutt last July were still most surprising. In the first downhill race the retired Polish pilot’s son placed a creditable fourth, but there was sensation in the second race a day later when he shaded the worldranked Canadian, Ken Read, by a bare one-hundredth of a second.

Bartelski had travelled 20,000 km for the first downhill win of his ski-racing career.

Rather less is known about the other two team members, though it seems Burton formerly raced in all three disciplines downhill, slalom, and giant slalom — under French co’ours. Bartelski, incidentally, raced for the Dutch a few years back. The British team may well remain at Mount Hutt training the high-speed downhill while other racers travel down to Coronet Peak for the start of the series. Slalom and G. S. events only are slotted in for Coronet with the two downhill races at Mount Hutt between August 3 and 8. Austria, which has not yet made its intentions entirely clear, is apparently sending an advance scout out to Mount Hutt in late Juneearly July to check out the snow, accommodation, and facilities generally.