Franz and Miller fastest in challenging St. Moritz training run

By Published On: January 30th, 2014Comments Off on Franz and Miller fastest in challenging St. Moritz training run
Travis Ganong in St. Moritz (GEPA/Wolfgang Grebien)

Travis Ganong in St. Moritz (GEPA/Wolfgang Grebien)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland – It has been 12 years since the last men’s World Cup events took place in St. Moritz and 11 years since the world championships were held at the exclusive Swiss resort. Ever since, the ladies’ races have been held here annually, but the men haven’t had the opportunity to return until today (Jan. 30). When the races originally scheduled in Garmisch-Partenkirchen had to be canceled due to warm temperatures and lack of snow, St.Moritz was chosen as a replacement venue.

Low visibility, light snowfall, powder on the slope and big jumps marked the first downhill training run. Despite traditionally being a ladies’ course, it didn’t cut the guys any slack.

Current overall leader and owner of the red bib in downhill and super-G, Aksel Lund Svindal was the first to admit today was not an easy run.

“It has really been a long time since I last skied here at the World Championships in 2003. Of course I recognize some parts of the course, but it snowed a lot last night and that changes things a bit. It’s dark today and it was a difficult training run. There is still some loose snow on the line and you can’t see it before you hit it. A lot of the skiers were skiing out, missing gates and having some troubles; this is for sure partly due to the new course but mostly because of the difficulty visibility,” noted Aksel Lund Svindal who finished 0.83 seconds behind the fastest time.

Max Franz, fresh off his third place in the Kitzbuehel super-G, faced the challenges best and clocked the fastest time of the day. He finished just 0.03 seconds ahead of Bode Miller and 0.16 seconds ahead of teammate Matthias Mayer who were second and third, respectively.

“The conditions are difficult, there is snow in the line and the jumps are quite tough, some have a little kicker on them and you had to focus during the whole run as you never knew what was coming next. It was not easy! It’s flat light all the way down, and it makes it hard to see the waves. I have never skied this course so it was hard to know what to expect. Normally I like flat courses with these kind of waves but it was only the first training so we will see how things go in the next days,” Franz said.

Canadian Manny Osborne-Paradis was fourth and American Travis Ganong fifth. After sitting out the Hahnenkamm to rest his aggravated knee, Erik Guay returned to competition but posted a conservative run in 28th, 1.66 back.

One more training run is scheduled for tomorrow (Jan. 31) on the slope before race time. This is the last weekend of racing before the Olympic Winter Games; a downhill is scheduled for Saturday and a giant slalom Sunday

Release courtesy of FIS

 

Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff.
 1  11  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:37.72
 2  13  532431 MILLER Bode 1977 USA  1:37.75  +0.03
 3  18  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:37.88  +0.16
 4  24  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:37.95  +0.23
 5  1  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  1:38.05  +0.33
 6  42  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI  1:38.34  +0.62
 7  12  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  1:38.37  +0.65
 8  60  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 1981 SUI  1:38.45  +0.73
 9  20  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:38.47  +0.75
 9  6  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:38.47  +0.75
 11  34  511352 VILETTA Sandro 1986 SUI  1:38.54  +0.82
 11  10  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:38.54  +0.82
 13  19  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR  1:38.55  +0.83
 14  28  50858 STREITBERGER Georg 1981 AUT  1:38.61  +0.89
 15  32  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  1:38.64  +0.92
 16  8  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:38.66  +0.94
 17  27  510727 DEFAGO Didier 1977 SUI  1:38.67  +0.95
 18  26  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA  1:38.77  +1.05
 19  16  293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA  1:38.84  +1.12
 20  36  511529 GISIN Marc 1988 SUI  1:38.94  +1.22
 21  46  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT  1:39.11  +1.39
 22  9  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  1:39.12  +1.40
 23  67  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  1:39.13  +1.41
 24  29  533131 SULLIVAN Marco 1980 USA  1:39.22  +1.50
 24  5  51332 SCHEIBER Florian 1987 AUT  1:39.22  +1.50
 26  73  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:39.26  +1.54
 27  30  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA  1:39.28  +1.56
 28  17  102263 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN  1:39.38  +1.66
 29  44  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO  1:39.39  +1.67
 30  64  510997 BERTHOD Marc 1983 SUI  1:39.44  +1.72
 31  39  561067 PERKO Rok 1985 SLO  1:39.46  +1.74
 32  65  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar 1987 ITA  1:39.63  +1.91
 32  59  194368 RAFFORT Nicolas 1991 FRA  1:39.63  +1.91
 34  43  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:39.65  +1.93
 35  58  103385 PRIDY Conrad 1988 CAN  1:39.70  +1.98
 35  23  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:39.70  +1.98
 37  63  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre 1985 FRA  1:39.71  +1.99
 38  21  102271 HUDEC Jan 1981 CAN  1:39.73  +2.01
 39  25  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:39.77  +2.05
 40  14  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:39.82  +2.10
 41  15  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  1:39.83  +2.11
 42  54  194542 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 1992 FRA  1:39.89  +2.17
 43  66  491151 DE LA CUESTA Paul 1988 SPA  1:39.90  +2.18
 44  72  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  1:40.03  +2.31
 45  40  560447 SPORN Andrej 1981 SLO  1:40.05  +2.33
 46  4  51327 PUCHNER Joachim 1987 AUT  1:40.10  +2.38
 47  48  481705 GLEBOV Alexander 1983 RUS  1:40.11  +2.39
 48  47  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin 1987 CAN  1:40.14  +2.42
 49  3  293141 VARETTONI Silvano 1984 ITA  1:40.15  +2.43
 50  69  6291029 BATTILANI Henri 1994 ITA  1:40.17  +2.45
 51  62  201606 KEPPLER Stephan 1983 GER  1:40.20  +2.48
 51  57  53837 KRAMER Manuel 1989 AUT  1:40.20  +2.48
 53  52  53936 DUERAGER Markus 1990 AUT  1:40.28  +2.56
 54  53  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:40.30  +2.58
 54  33  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey 1984 CAN  1:40.30  +2.58
 56  49  220695 CRAWFORD Douglas 1987 GBR  1:40.42  +2.70
 57  68  501076 OLSSON Hans 1984 SWE  1:40.62  +2.90
 58  41  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:40.64  +2.92
 59  37  534939 FISHER Erik 1985 USA  1:40.68  +2.96
 60  22  191964 POISSON David 1982 FRA  1:40.85  +3.13
 61  55  103612 PRIDY Morgan 1990 CAN  1:41.24  +3.52
 62  71  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:41.28  +3.56
 63  35  53981 KROELL Johannes 1991 AUT  1:41.42  +3.70
 64  61  501439 HEDIN Douglas 1990 SWE  1:41.80  +4.08
 65  45  6530104 BENNETT Bryce 1992 USA  1:41.91  +4.19
 66  75  670037 ZAKURDAEV Igor 1987 KAZ  1:42.09  +4.37
 67  74  481054 MURAVYEV Ivan 1989 RUS  1:42.45  +4.73
 68  77  670058 KOSHKIN Dmitriy 1986 KAZ  1:42.89  +5.17
 69  56  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA  1:44.86  +7.14
 70  2  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  1:49.70  +11.98
Did not start 1st run
 78  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG
 70  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO
 51  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA
 50  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT
 38  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA
 31  534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA
 7  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI
Did not finish 1st run
 76  370031 ALESSANDRIA Arnaud 1993 MON

 

 

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