Hubrich achieves ski-ing first

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 32

Hubrich achieves ski-ing first

Marcus Hubrich, competing in a giant slalom at Sapporo, Japan, has become the first New Zealand skier to win an international race overseas.

News of the ski-ing breakthrough reached New Zealand yesterday when the Hubrich brothers, Marcus and Mattias, telephoned their parents from Japan. The race at Sapparo, the venue for the 1972 Winter Olympics, was part of the Japan International Series and to win, Hubricb, aged 21, had to beat the whole Japanese national team, together with numerous top skiers from France, Austria, West Germany, and Aus-

tralia. “Marcus was very pleased, especially after his bad luck with his pole at the Olympics,” said Mr Peter Hubrich from Wellington yesterday. Hubrich, the national champion for the last three years, finished twenty-ninth in the giant slalom at Sarajevo last month in spite of leaving his pole at the start. In the Winter Olympic events he finished thirtyfifth in the downhill, and a startling fourteenth in the slalom, three places ahead of his 17-year-old brother.

Disappointed at that giant slalom mishap has been

very well compensated for by Marcus Hubrich’s results since the Olympics.

Four days afterwards he finished fifth in the giant slalom at the German national championships, beating three skiers with less than 10 F.I.S. (International Ski Federation) seeding points in the process.

And on Saturday he won the giant slalom at Sapporo, ahead of the Japanese hero, Toshihiro Kaiwa, and finished ninth in the slalom the next day.

“This is good for our sport,” Mr Hubrich said.

Marcus Hubrich has now

reduced his F.I.S. points for giant slalom to a low 27 and his slalom points to 52, an improvement of 25.

Both the Hubrichs are expected home in less than two weeks, while Bruce Grant, the downhill specialist, in the New Zealand Olympic team, is already back in Queenstown. The other member of the men’s team, Simon Wi Rutene, of Rotorua, is expected home this week-end. Mr Peter Hubrich, the assistant coach of the New Zealand team at Sarajevo, went on to the United States afterwards with Wi Rutene for the world junior championships at Sugar-

Wi Rutene was a disappointing forty-fourth out of 47 starters in the downhill, said Mr Hubrich, but performed very well for fourteenth place in the slalom. Unfortunately Wi Rutene could not complete the giant slalom, after the buckles on one boot opened and he nearly fell out of it.

“The conditions at Sugarloaf were extreme —- minus 25deg centigrade,” said Mr Hubrich. “After 15min on the slopes your boots would harden like concrete and you couldn’t ski. The Americans wore covers over their boots.”