Are: Albrecht wins super combi; Miller 6th

By Published On: February 8th, 2007Comments Off on Are: Albrecht wins super combi; Miller 6th

Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht leapfrogged six fellow racers with better downhill times — including American Bode Miller — to win the men's super combined event Thursday and become the first Swiss world champion in the event since Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1985.
    Austria's Benjamin Raich, who clocked the fastest time in the slalom to counter just the 14th-fastest effort in the downhill earlier in the day, finished second by just 0.08 seconds. Swiss Marc Berthod, the current leader in the World Cup combined standings, was third, and teammate Didier Defago fourth in a dominant performance by the Swiss. The nation is tied with Austria with three medals to lead the way at these World Championships.
    Albrecht has only one other top-10 finish in World Championship competition — a seventh in the combined at Bormio in 2005. In January he was fifth in the super combi in World Cup competition in Wengen, Switzerland, and he was fourth in the traditional combined at the Olympics in Torino. [Check out SR's Web photo gallery here]
    "I had a good feeling after the downhill. I was happy to be so close to the leaders. I was starting to think about my chances to clinch a medal and made me a little nervous," Albrecht said. "I was hoping eventually to make a medal, but this is really a surprise for me, a great achievement."


ARE, Sweden — Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht leapfrogged six fellow racers with better downhill times — including American Bode Miller — to win the men's super combined event Thursday and become the first Swiss world champion in the event since Pirmin Zurbriggen in 1985.
    Austria's Benjamin Raich, who clocked the fastest time in the slalom to counter just the 14th-fastest effort in the downhill earlier in the day, finished second by just 0.08 seconds. Swiss Marc Berthod, the current leader in the World Cup combined standings, was third, and teammate Didier Defago fourth in a dominant performance by the Swiss. The nation is tied with Austria with three medals to lead the way at these World Championships. [Check out SR's Web photo gallery here]
    Albrecht has only one other top-10 finish in World Championships competition — a seventh in the combined at Bormio in 2005. In January, he was fifth in the super combi in World Cup competition in Wengen, Switzerland, and he was fourth in the traditional combined at the Olympics in Torino.
    "I had a good feeling after the downhill. I was happy to be so close to the leaders. I was starting to think about my chances to clinch a medal and made me a little nervous," Albrecht said. "I was hoping eventually to make a medal, but this is really a surprise for me, a great achievement."
    Raich picked up the sixth worlds medal of his career, and he credited what he called one of his better downhill runs of the season with getting him in position.
    "I had a very good start in the upper part of the course. Maybe I didn’t nail the middle parts so well, the turnier parts, so I couldn't take all the speed into the bottom," Raich said. "I think it's one of my best performances of the season in downhill, and at the end of the day I'm pleased by this performance."
      Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, the second-fastest after the downhill, had a big fan following in the grandstand that included 11 bare-chested, cowboy hat-wearing men with one letter of their hero's name painted on their respective chests. But Svindal ran into trouble late in his run on the difficult final pitch. He crossed the line and buried his head in his hands in disbelief. He ended up fifth, posting the 18th-fastest slalom time of the day. The big Norwegian had won the super combi at Beaver Creek, Colorado, on Nov. 30 and has five career World Cup top 10s in the new discipline. He was the combined silver medalist at the 2005 worlds and has been the most consistent skier on the men's tour this season, leading the World Cup overall headed into the World Championships.

Late trouble costs Miller
    Miller was the fastest among 69 racers in the field after the downhill, giving him the chance at a sixth worlds medal with a solid slalom run. Miller has struggled mightily in the slalom for more than a year and he skied aggressively Thursday. Some slippage on the lower section of the course sent Miller's skis sideways on a few occasions and he lost a lot of time, posting just the 21st-fastest time in the slalom portion to finish sixth overall.
    Miller has struggled to finish slaloms the past two seasons. But he finished 25th in the Schladming World Cup slalom on Jan. 30. Before that, Miller hadn't completed a World Cup slalom since finishing 18th in Kitzbühel on Jan. 22, 2006.
    Miller won the downhill and super G at the 2005 worlds, but was a DNF in the combined. That was the traditional two runs of slalom, one run of downhill. The 2007 worlds is the first using the super combi format of one downhill run, one slalom run, which is fairer to both technical and speed specialists. Miller also won the GS and combined at the 2003 worlds at St. Moritz.
    A double medalist from the 2005 Bormio worlds, Miller struggled in Tuesday's super G, finishing 24th, with Steven Nyman 12th.
    Nyman had a strong showing Thursday, finishing ninth. Fourth-fastest after the morning downhill race, Nyman maintained his lead through most of the slalom run despite a broken pole caused by a slalom gate that also cracked against his wrist and knocked his goggles askew.
    "I could only see out of my right eye," Nyman said.
    The tail of Nyman's left ski appeared to catch in a rut five or six gates from the finish and disrupted his balance. He got thrown in the back seat, losing time and speed. After crossing the finish line, Nyman fell over on his side with an exasperated look and raised his hands in the air, not wanting to believe that he got so close to the finish with a nearly mistake-free run before running into that late trouble.
    A former junior world champion in slalom, Nyman has grown into more a speed racer in recent years. But he said switching to a stiffer pair of slalom skis only recently has helped manage his power between the gates.
    "I just kind of put my mind toward slalom. That’s all it really has come to," he said. "I know I have it in me and I'm healthy to where it can happen.
    "[My run] was a little rough run, but I'm happy with it."               

Ligety's run interrupted
    American Ted Ligety, the reigning Olympic champion in combined, was barreling down the last pitch in slalom when, about six gates from the finish, two course workers — one right in front of Ligety and the other just below him on the slope — couldn't get out of the way in time. He was forced to stop and, after shaking hands with the closest course worker when he came over t
o apologize for his foulup, was given a rerun, but skied off-course just above the final pitch.
    FIS referee Guenter Hujara apologized to Ligety and the U.S. team in a team captains meeting following the race.   
    Fellow U.S. Ski Teamer T.J. Lanning finished a solid 21st place after posting the 14th-fastest slalom time.
    "It was another tough day," U.S. head coach Phil McNichol said. "I was surprised Bode lost as much time. He didn't make any big mistakes but he was hanging on at the end, and you can't just hang on. You have to let it go at the bottom, and he didn't.
    "Ted was just too far out in the downhill … and Nyman was impressive. I thought he had a really good downhill and was pretty solid in slalom until he lost time at the bottom. And T.J. was firing in slalom. No complaints on his effort."
    The men have another downhill training run Friday before running downhill Saturday. Miller is the defending downhill world champion and will be joined by Nyman, Scott Macartney and Marco Sullivan.
   
— Don Cameron and Whitney Childers contributed to this report


THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's super combined, Are, Sweden, Feb. 8, 2007

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
7 Baumann, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
8 Zurbriggen, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia
9 Nyman, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Bank, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men's super combined, Are, Sweden, Feb. 8, 2007. … It is the third race of the 2007 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships. … It is the first race of the title meet held on schedule. … It is the 66th combined event held at a World Championship, the first held in 1932.
    It is the first World Championships medal for Daniel Albrecht. … He was seventh in combined at 2005 worlds, his best result outside of the team event. … He was fourth in combined at the 2006 Olympics. … He has never placed better than fourth in a World Cup event, having achieved the placing twice, in combined at Wengen on Jan. 14, 2005, and in slalom at Beaver Creek Dec. 13, 2006. Last Swiss championship medal in combined was 2003 with Marlies Oester earning bronze. Last time Swiss had two medalists in a World Championships combined was 1991 with Chantal Bournissen winning and Vreni Schneider third. …He was sixth in DH, fifth in SL.
    It is the sixth career World Championships individual medal for Benjamin Raich. … His second in combined, having won in Bormio 2005. … He is tied for 11th on the all-time worlds medal list. … He also won a bronze medal in combined at Snowbasin at the 2002 Olympics. … He was a second run of slalom DNF in the 2006 Olympics. … It is his first combined podium result of the season. … He was 12th in DH, won the slalom.
   It is the second result at a World Championship for Marc Berthod and his first medal. … He placed 25th in combined in 2003. … He was seventh in combined at the 2006 Olympics. … It is his fourth podium result of the season, three of those coming in combined, having placed second in World Cup at Beaver Creek on Nov. 30 and Wengen on Jan. 14. … He leads the World Cup combined standings. … He was ninth in DH, fourth in SL.
   It is the ninth top-10 placing at World Championships for Bode Miller. … He won the combined in 2003. … He led after the downhill leg by two-tenths. … It is the first combined he has completed this season. … It is the second result at a World Championships for Steven Nyman, having also placed 12th in SG this season. … He placed 29th in combined at the 2006 Olympics. … The result matches his third-best of the season in all disciplines and is his best in combined this season and second-best of his career, bettered only by a sixth at Kitzbühel Jan. 2006. … It is the fourth-best of four worlds results for Francois Bourque. … He was 10th in the 2005 combined. … He was 21st in combined at the 2006 Olympics. … It is his second-best combined result of the season after a 12th at Beaver Creek. … It is the second-best of three career World Championships results for Ryan Semple. … He has also placed 15th in GS in 2005 and 33rd in slalom in 2003. … His best World Cup result in combined is 21st scored at Wengen on Jan. 13, 2006. … It is the best of two World Championship results for T.J. Lanning. … He was also 34th in the SG two days ago. … He has one World Cup scoring result for his career, a 19th in SG at Hinterstoder on Dec. 20, 2006. … It is the second World Championships result for Michael Janyk. … The other an 11th in slalom in 2005. … Of his 16 career World Cup scoring results, 15 are in slalom, the other a 26th in combined at Reiteralm earlier this season. … It is the weakest of five World Championships placings for John Kucera. … He was ninth in combined in 2005 and 17th at the 2006 Olympics. … His best World Cup combined result is 12th scored at Wengen in 2005. … His best of the season is 13th at Reiteralm.
    Winning margin is .08 of a second. … Top seven are within a second. … Top 16 within two seconds. … 36th (last) place is 14.21 seconds off the winning time.

Medal count
SUI 3 (1g, 2b)
AUT 3 (2s, 1b)
ITA 1 g
SWE 1 g
USA 1 s

Are World Championships men's super combined results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1    510993 ALBRECHT Daniel  1983  SUI   2:28.99  
 2    50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   2:29.07  
 3    510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI   2:29.23  
 4    510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:29.50  
 5    421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:29.59  
 6    532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   2:29.97  
 7    51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   2:29.98  
 8    510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   2:30.01  
 9    533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   2:30.18  
 10    150398 BANK Ondrej  1980  CZE   2:30.21  
 11    50707 MATT Mario  1979  AUT   2:30.34  
 12    380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:30.39  
 13    292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:30.40  
 14    192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  1984  FRA   2:30.58  
 15    421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   2:30.59  
 16    50547 SCHOENFELDER Rainer  1977  AUT   2:30.60  
 17    102814 BOURQUE Francois  1984  CAN   2:31.43  
 18    290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   2:31.54  
 19    102403 SEMPLE Ryan  1982  CAN   2:32.17  
 20    534567 LANNING Thomas (tj)  1984  USA   2:32.47  
 21    560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   2:32.53  
 22    102435 JANYK Michael  1982  CAN   2:32.69  
 23    192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   2:33.44  
 24    150594 TREJBAL Filip  1985  CZE   2:33.64  
 25    220083 BAXTER Noel  1981  GBR   2:33.81  
 26    150421 ZAHROBSKY Petr  1980  CZE   2:35.44  
 27    700037 HEIMSCHILD Ivan  1980  SVK   2:35.75  
 28    20174 VIDOSA Roger  1984  AND   2:36.47  
 29    501026 RAINER Niklas  1983  SWE   2:37.15  
 30    480752 KONOVALOV Anton  1985  RUS   2:37.76  
 31    380291 RATKIC Ivan  1986  CRO   2:38.31  
 32    102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   2:38.53  
 33    480794 CHAADAYEV Alexey  1986  RUS   2:40.23  
 34    430357 ZAGORSKI Wojciech  1985  POL   2:40.67  
 35    110142 ANGUITA Cristian  1984  CHI   2:41.81  
 36    301312 SASAKI Akira  1981  JPN   2:43.20

Did not start:
SOLBAKKEN Bjarne (NOR), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), STEHLE Johannes (GER), KEPPLER Stephan (GER), BRIDGWATER Mark (NZE), BUECHEL Marco (LIE), MICKEL Finlay (GBR), GAYME Maui (CHI)

Did not finish:
ROUX Christophe (MDA), WOJTIUK Jan (POL), GREIG Andrew (NZE), GORZA Ales (SLO), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), BOURGEAT Pierrick (FRA), BABUSIAK Jaroslav (SVK), SIROKI Tin (CRO), WALCHHOFER Michael (AUT), GRIFFIN Benjamin (NZE), HEEL Werner (ITA), PERKO Rok (SLO), PELLINEN Jouni (FIN), OLSSON Hans (SWE), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), SPORN Andrej (SLO), MANDRU Jorge (CHI), LIGETY Ted (USA), LARSSON Markus (SWE), HOROSHILOV Alexandr (RUS), ROMAR Andreas (FIN)

Disqualified:
PAQUIN Pierre (FRA), ZRNCIC-DIM Natko (CRO), INNERHOFER Christof (ITA), SATS Konstantin (RUS)

               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               

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