The following article is from www.teamtoday.org
Andrew Newell, movie producer, director, moving picture photographer, actor, stuntman, daredevil (www.xskifilms.com) and a truly world-class sprinter.
Pontresina, Switzerland. FIS Sprint Race. The race was held at night on the streets of Pontresina. The course was lined from start to finish with fans.
Andrew Newell won the prologue ahead of Tobias Fredrickson and a host of other elite world cup sprinters. Newell then went on to qualify for the finals in dominating fashion by controlling each of his heats. In the final he went up against Tobias Fredrickson — defending sprint world champ, Christian “Zorro†Zorzi — Olympic and World Championship medallist, and Renato Passini — consistently among the top 16 on the World Cup. Newell took the lead from the start and held the lead going into the final 150 meters. Tobias Fredrickson moved past him ever so slightly to take the lead, but had to throw everything he had into it to do so. With 11 meters to go Newell had second place locked in. Zorzi was 3 meters behind and Renato was a further 3 back. But then Newell caught his ski tip in one of the pine boughs separating the finish lanes and went down hard. The others flew past and he ended up 4th.
There are big things to come…
Wendy Wagner also had a good day. She qualified 8th, about 2.5 seconds behind prologue and final winner Beckie Scott.
