Slovenian masters enjoy a good day at home

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Slovenian fans were more than satisfied with first final results of the downhill European Championships held at the famous ski resort of Kranjska Gora in Slovenia over the weekend. Slovenians took three medals, one of each color, in the masters races.

Andrej Sumbergar, the new European champion in the masters 35-39 age group, was the hero of the day. Sumbergar was the runner up in the European championships in 2006 in Italy. He was one of two favorites after yesterday's seeding run, during which he set the second fastest time. Bostjan Felc was fastest in qualifying, but made some mistakes at the bottom of the final run and finished second.

Sumbergar also set the fastest time of the day with 2:53.04. In addition to being one of the most charismatic figures of Slovenian downhill scene, Sumbergar also shares a birthday, height, weight and passion for beer with the more famous downhiller, Steve Peat.

Dusan Leposa completed Slovenia's collection of medals with a third place in the Master 34-39 category. Slovenians Aleks Kragelj and Sebastjan Zmrzljak were fastest in this category, but both made mistakes on the way to the finish in Kranjska Gora. Italian Paolo Alleva won and Dusan was third.

2009 European Champions
Women: Maeve Baxter (Irealand)
Men 30-34: Polo Alleva (Italy)
Men 35-39: Andrej Sumbergar (Slovenia)
Men 40-44: Jörg Heydt (Germany)
Men 45-49: Alastair MacLennan (Great Britain)
Men 50+: Max Schuster (Austria)