CARRABASSETT VALLEY – The homecoming celebration at Sugarloaf/USA is becoming more festive for Kirsten Clark.
The Raymond skier, who grew up racing at the mountain, edged Olympic teammate Stacey Cook by six-hundredths of a second Friday to capture the FIS downhill on the opening day of the U.S. Alpine Championships.
J.J. Johnson of Park City, Utah, found some redemption for not making the Olympic Team, by winning the men’s downhill.
Clark, a Carrabassett Valley Academy graduate, had a time of 1:19.86. Cook was timed in 1:19.92 for the silver medal in the field of 53 skiers, while Julia Littman of Vail, Colo., completed the podium with a time of 1:16.17, just .13 seconds ahead of Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso.
Lindsey Kildow, fifth in this year’s overall World Cup standings, was sixth.
“It’s always good to race here,” said Clark. “The first day of training, I was smiling all the way down. “I’ve skied this course a lot of times … a lot … racing, training with CVA, chasing my brother down it. It’s a fun course.”
Snow conditions, Clark said, are really good.
“It gets a little more bumpy each day, but that happens when you’ve got men and women training and racing the same course.”
Earlier, Johnson was clocked in 1:15.75 with Scott Macartney of Redmond, Wash., taking the silver medal in 1:15.98. Erik Fisher of Middleton, Idaho was third.
“This was a little redemption,” said Johnson, who is aiming for the downhill title to help further soothe the frustrations of the season. “I was on a roll for a couple of years,” he said, referring to his return to the U.S. Ski Team after six years away, “and I thought I was ready for this season, but it didn’t work out that way. So now I want to finish on an up note and start getting ready for next season.”
He said the 1.9K course was in good shape, although it got a little dicey over the last few gates.
“The track was fine, really fast,” Johnson said.
Olympians Daron Rahlves had the eighth-fastest time, while Ted Ligety was 17th and Bode Miller 22nd.
Auburn’s Bump Heldman, a student at Gould Academy, made an impressive debut at the national championships by placing 24th, just .13 seconds behind Miller.
Sam Sweetser, of Cumberland and a CVA graduate, placed 12th to lead all Maine racers.
Comments are no longer available on this story