Disappointed Henrik couldn’t make it ’Appen

Teenager Henrik Von Appen admitted to frustration after not being able to translate his form in training to the cauldron of competition in the Winter Olympics.

Sochi – The 19-year-old came 32^nd in the super combined out of 34 competitors, though another 15 didn’t finish and one was disqualified.

Switzerland’s Sandro Vileta scooped the gold with Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic and Italy’s Christof Innerhofer taking silver and bronze respectively.

Von Appen finished 13.71 seconds behind the winner after recording 1min 58.49secs in the downhill and 1min 00.42secs in the slalom. Earlier in the Games, Von Appen was 41^st in the downhill.

He said: “I’ve trained really well and finished ahead of many competitors that beat me in the super combined.

“I’m disappointed because I believe that I’ve demonstrated that my level of skiing is high, but I haven’t been able to prove it in the races.”

However, the youngster knows that he has got time on his side and can build on the knowledge he’s picked up in Russia.

He added: “I think I’ve shown I’m capable of big things. I just need to stay working and gain more experience.”

Von Appen has been pencilled in for three more events – the super giant (Sunday, Feb 16), giant (Wednesday, Feb 19) and slalom (Saturday, Feb 22). He’s eager to do the super giant, but may decide to drop one or both of the other events that are more technical.