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2002 World Downhill Skating Championships
August 29 to September 1, 2002 - Belluno, Italy
|
by Simon Sharp
of
InlineDownhill.ch
The Third Annual World Downhill Inline Skating Championships
in Belluno Italy was an exciting event with many surprises.
1st Place - Daniel Ladurner of Austria
2nd Place - Oscar Galliazzo of Italy
3rd Place - Dominik Dobler of Austria
|
Photo copyright by Simon Sharp of InlineDownhill.ch
View Larger Image
Men's Race
In the men's race, Daniel Ladurner of Austria took first place
after an outstanding run, and second place went to last year's
world champion, Oscar Galliazzo of Italy.
In the qualification round, Ladurner was very content to place
second because until the last minute he was running third. He
managed to secure second place by making a perfect driving run at
the end of the race, braking only at the last possible minute.
Franco Innocente of Switzerland came in a surprising 7th,
even though he had little time to train for the event
due to a torn knee ligament injury.
1st Place - Severine Thomas of France
2nd Place - Gabi Leuenberger of Switzerland
3rd Place - Natacha Ponthus of France
|
Photo copyright by Simon Sharp of InlineDownhill.ch
View Larger Image
Women's Race
The women's winner was a surprise to everyone.
Severine Thomas of France took first place over favorites
Gabi Leuenberger of Switzerland and Valentina Liguori of Italy,
and the 2001 world champion, Elisabeth Schrenk of Austria.
Course Description
The course was very fast with good asphalt.
First there was a 400 meter straight-away. followed by three 180 degrees turns.
Next there was a very fast combination of lighter turns where the riders
were required to tumble from one edge to the other, at a speed of
nearly 90 to 100 km/h. At one very steep point, a 90 degrees turn to the left
resulted in many accidents.
That turn was followed by a very fast 600 meter strait-away to the finish line.
Injuries
The course gave many of the participants a fantastic ride, but unfortunately
there were also quite few falls and injuries during the race.
Gerhard Laister of Austria splintered his lower leg bone when he
slipped and hit the metal pole of a guard rail at the end of
a turn. Dan Burger of the United States seriously injured his
knee ligaments when he hit the pole at a spot in the course where
there was no protection at all.
Close Calls
Three other riders narrowly missed being seriously injured
when they encountered obstacles while skating at a high rate of speed.
Tobias Woehre of Germany
hit a hay ball going 90 km/h while making a fast left-right-left
transition. He was not seriously hurt, but the hayball just exploded.
Gian Marco Rivella of Italy missed hitting a tree with his head
by less than a half meter.
Max Bavieri hit the inside curb with his skates and slipped
into the guard rail head first. He got stuck in
the guard rail and it took about two minutes to get him out.
Photos by Max Bavieri
(reprinted on SkateGRRL.com with permission from Max)
Franco Innocente of Switzerland
Severine Thomas of France Celebrating with Friends
Valentina Liguori of Italy
Results and Other Information
Semi-Final Results
InlineDownhill.com
Final Results
InlineDownhill.com
2002 Downhill World Championships - Home Page
Event Announcement by Dr. Marotta of FIRS
Guide to Belluno, Italy (Event Venue)
2000 and 2001 World Championships
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