O’Brien wins super-G, Ross says goodbye as racing resumes at nationals in Aspen
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
Nina O’Brien added to her career nationals haul and Laurenne Ross again said goodbye as the U.S. Alpine Championships got back to racing with the women’s super-G on Tuesday at Aspen Highlands.
O’Brien, a native Californian, took the super-G national championship with a time of 1 minute, 15.78 seconds, nearly a full second ahead of runner-up Hannah Saethereng of Norway. Former University of Denver ski racer Storm Klomhaus was third, a full 1.13 back of O’Brien.
More of a technical specialist, the 23-year-old O’Brien was competing in her first super-G since the 2019 nationals. She avoided any rust to win her eighth career national championship.
“I really haven’t trained much, so I didn’t have many expectations going into today other than I wanted to remind myself that I want to go fast in speed and not be afraid of the speed,” O’Brien said. “So I was pretty happy to do that on my run. It was a little bit soft and sugary, but I felt super comfortable on the course and I could go for it and attack it … and it was pretty fun. It was nice to ski super-G again.”
O’Brien is coming off a career-best season, which included her best individual World Cup result to date, when she finished ninth in a Dec. 29 slalom in Semmering, Austria. She also finished 10th in giant slalom at this year’s world championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
During the races, Oregon’s Ross took her career’s victory lap. She announced recently she would retire after this week’s U.S. nationals and officially competed for the final time in Saturday’s downhill, which she won.
Tuesday’s plan had originally been to hold a combined, with a super-G and a slalom, but warm weather Tuesday led organizers to split that event into two days. There will now be a slalom on Wednesday, which will be added to Tuesday’s super-G results to determine the combined national champion.
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American alpine skier Laurenne Ross hugs her coach Karin Harjo during Ross’s final lap to celebrate her retirement during the National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. “I was a fan before I got to coach them,” said Ross about the women’s World Cup speed team. “They’re amazing.” (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Skiers celebrate on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skiers AJ Hunt, left, and Resi Stiegler share a moment at the bottom of Aspen Highlands after finishing the Women’s Super G FIS event on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Sarah Schleper, left, Resi Stiegler, Laurenne Ross and Alice McKennis Duran drink champagne at the base of Aspen Highlands after the Women’s Super G events on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Women alpine skiers pose for a large group photo after the Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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An alpine skier competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Norwegian alpine Hannah Saethereng competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Saethereng placed second in the National Championships. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Norwegian alpine Hannah Saethereng competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Saethereng placed second in the National Championships. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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An alpine skier competes in the Women’s super-G National Championships on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Canadian alpine skier Sarah Bennett competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Bennett finished in 4th place. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Tricia Mangan competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Mary Bocock competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Canadian alpine skier Justine Lamontagne competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Aspen’s Galena Wardle competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Emma Resnick competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Gwen Wattenmaker competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Lila Lapanja competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Lila Lapanja competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Lila Lapanja competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Sophia Tozzi competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Paige Doyle competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Allison Mollin competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Mia Hunt competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Estonian alpine skier Kaitlyn Vesterstein competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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An alpine skier competes in the Women’s Super G National Championship at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Dasha Romanov competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Maddie Welling competes in the Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Two-time Olympian and two-time national champion Laurenne Ross skis a lap on Aspen Highlands to celebrate her retirement from the US Ski Team on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Canadian alpine skier Britt Richardson competes in the Women’s Super G FIS event at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier AJ Hurt competes in the Women’s Super G FIS event at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. Hunt took first place in the FIS event after not completing her first run during the National Championships. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Nellie Rose Talbot competes in the Women’s super-G FIS event at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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Laurenne Ross stands at the base of Aspen Highlands after her retirement lap on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier AJ Hurt stands at the base of Aspen Highlands after placing first in the Women’s FIS Super G event on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skiers Resi Stiegler, left, and Paige Doyle chat at the bottom of Aspen Highlands after their second run for the Women’s FIS Super G event on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
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American alpine skier Emma Resnick stands on the podium after placing first for the junior Women’s Super G National Championships at Aspen Highlands on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
There was a second super-G on Tuesday, this a standard FIS race won by California’s AJ Hurt. Canada’s Britt Richardson was second and Saethering was third, with Klomhaus finishing just off the podium in fourth. O’Brien did not finish her run in the FIS race.
“It’s really nice to be able to pull off the event … I feel like all season everything was uncertain,” O’Brien said. “I was so glad we got that done, but to come home and race with everyone in the U.S. is also really special. So, thanks to Aspen for hosting us.”
The U.S. Alpine Championships remain scheduled to conclude this week with the women’s giant slalom on Thursday and the women’s slalom on Friday.
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