Hirscher gets 1st World Cup slalom win
Austria’s slalom specialists exited early in the World Cup test at Val d’Isere today (Dec. 12) and still the Red and White took the top two spots with Marcel Hirscher in first and Benjamin Raich second. Third went to Frenchman Steve Missillier with an all-out second run attack that moved him from 25th (and 1.8 second out) after the first heat.
Our neighbors to the North had Julien Cousineau in fifth and Trevor White 12th, a potent showing that might have been much better as Michael Janyk, Brad Spence and Patrick Biggs all skied off course in the second run.
It was not the best of days for the U.S. squad. Ted Ligety had finished the first run in the top 15, but ran into a world of hurt in the second, finishing more than 35 seconds off the pace.
Will Brandenburg was the top American after run one in 12th, but could not keep the pace through the second run and exited.
For the young Hirscher (21) it was his first slalom win after two second places. After letting yesterday’s GS get away with a major error on the last pitch, he was determined to maintain in the slalom, skiing possessed.
With three Austrians exiting in the first run – Manfred Pranger, Mario Matt and Reinfried Herbst – and other favored skiers Jean-Baptiste Grange, Olympic champ Giuliano Razzoli and Bode Miller following suit, and with Manfred Moelgg leading after one, it was a difficult test for Hirscher. He never blinked.
“It is a very steep hill with a lot of rolls so you have to ski very technically,” Hirscher told Austrian reporters. “This is my best weapon in skiing. I took a rounder line because the snow was very bumpy. That was the plan and I followed it up.”
Perhaps the best skiing of the day was that of Missillier. Celebrating his 26th birthday he was more than a second faster than Hirscher in the second run saying that since it was impossible not to make some mistakes, he reasoned it was best to challenge the track and take as many risks as possible.
While the U.S. group wound up with zip for the day, the coach remained optimistic. “I was pleased with Willie, he was right in there, he just straddled is all – both guys straddled,” said Sasha Rearick.”It wasn’t easy at all. The first course took a lot of top guys out.”
Ted and Willie skied tactically smart. I was pleased with their skiing.”
Cousineau was pleased, but left wanting more. “I would have loved a podium,” he said. “I just tried to charge as hard as I could, but came out on the wrong side. It’s coming though, I know it. I’ve been fighting my way back for the last four years and now I’m where I want to be and where I think I should be. But I want more, so we’ll see.”
White, too, said his placing was “a good result. Val d’Isere is such a tough hill. It’s steep, it’s dark and relentless. It was really hard to charge today so I just tried to ski solid. There were a lot of casualties. … Unfortunately some of our guys were some of the casualties.”
The men have a GS at Alta Badia, Italy next on the schedule Friday then slip into Val Gardena Saturday and Sunday for a downhill and super G.
Gepa photo
The SCOOP
by Hank McKee
Men’sWorld Cup slalom, Val d’Isere, France, Dec. 12, 2010. … It is the ninth race on the men’s 38 race 2010-2011 World Cup schedule with a cancellation (Soelden GS) and a postponement (Beaver Creek DH) on the books. … It is the seventh race held. … It is the second of 10 scheduled slaloms. … It is the 154th Cup race held at least at Val d’Isere (including six combineds held in part at other sites). … the seventh slalom held at Val d’Isere and the second men’s slalom, the other won by Tomas Fogdoe Dec. 6, 1992.
It is the third career World Cup win for Marcel Hirscher, the first in slalom. … It is his fourth Cup podium at Val d’Isere. … It is his second podium of the season having placed third in the Beaver Creek GS.
It is the 87th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … his 39th in slalom. … It is his fourth Cup podium at Val d’Isere and first in slalom. … It is his first podium of the season.
It is the first career World Cup podium for Steve Missillier. … his previous best had been fifth in GS at Kranjska Gora Feb. 28, 2009. … His best result last season was eighth.
Julien Cousineau matches his career best result from the Jan. 26, 2010 night slalom at Schladming. … It is the second best career placing for Trevor White, his only better at eighth in slalom at Kitzbuehel Jan. 25, 2009. … Ted Ligety in 25th will receive no points for his finish due to the percent of time behind the winner he finished.
Aksel Lund Svindal (did not race) maintains his lead on the World Cup overall list 236-221 over Ligety. … Hirscher moves to third with 200pts. … Hirscher and Jean-Baptiste Grange (DNF 1st in race) share the lead of the slalom standings with 100pts each. … Silvan Zurbriggen (4th in race) is third with 90pts. … Cousineau is the top North American in seventh with 77pts. … Ligety is top U.S. skier in 30th with 13pts.
Austria stretches its lead in the men’s Nations Cup standings to 1294-880 over Switzerland. … France is third at 568. … The US is sixth with 311pts and Canada seventh with 298pts.
Cousineau photo by Gepa
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Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 12 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 51.64 | 53.06 | 1:44.70 | 0.00 |
2 | 3 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 51.57 | 53.44 | 1:45.01 | 1.81 |
3 | 18 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 53.24 | 52.02 | 1:45.26 | 3.26 |
4 | 1 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 51.49 | 53.96 | 1:45.45 | 4.37 |
5 | 14 | 102239 | COUSINEAU Julien | 1981 | CAN | 51.79 | 54.04 | 1:45.83 | 6.58 |
6 | 10 | 201702 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 51.94 | 54.07 | 1:46.01 | 7.63 |
7 | 29 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | 52.91 | 53.16 | 1:46.07 | 7.98 |
8 | 52 | 511896 | MURISIER Justin | 1992 | SUI | 53.35 | 52.79 | 1:46.14 | 8.39 |
9 | 11 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 51.44 | 54.73 | 1:46.17 | 8.56 |
10 | 34 | 50824 | DREIER Christoph | 1981 | AUT | 52.86 | 53.39 | 1:46.25 | 9.03 |
11 | 19 | 511127 | GINI Marc | 1984 | SUI | 53.00 | 53.28 | 1:46.28 | 9.21 |
12 | 41 | 102922 | WHITE Trevor | 1984 | CAN | 52.99 | 53.50 | 1:46.49 | 10.43 |
13 | 42 | 511174 | VOGEL Markus | 1984 | SUI | 53.36 | 53.49 | 1:46.85 | 12.53 |
14 | 36 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 52.63 | 54.46 | 1:47.09 | 13.92 |
15 | 20 | 421400 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | 52.54 | 54.56 | 1:47.10 | 13.98 |
16 | 49 | 290732 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | 52.98 | 54.30 | 1:47.28 | 15.03 |
17 | 32 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 52.76 | 54.59 | 1:47.35 | 15.44 |
18 | 5 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 52.13 | 55.59 | 1:47.72 | 17.60 |
19 | 28 | 501116 | LAHDENPERAE Anton | 1985 | SWE | 53.60 | 54.59 | 1:48.19 | 20.33 |
20 | 26 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 52.80 | 55.64 | 1:48.44 | 21.79 |
21 | 27 | 301709 | YUASA Naoki | 1983 | JPN | 53.13 | 57.63 | 1:50.76 | 35.31 |
22 | 7 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 52.03 | 59.18 | 1:51.21 | 37.93 |
23 | 39 | 180251 | PALANDER Kalle | 1977 | FIN | 53.53 | 58.16 | 1:51.69 | 40.72 |
24 | 47 | 50981 | HOERL Wolfgang | 1983 | AUT | 53.01 | 1:05.73 | 1:58.74 | 81.80 |
25 | 16 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 52.70 | 1:28.44 | 2:21.14 | 212.31 |
Disqualified 1st run | |||||||||
37 | 561148 | SKUBE Matic | 1988 | SLO | |||||
4 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | |||||
Did not qualify 1st run | |||||||||
74 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | |||||
69 | 480736 | KHOROSHILOV Alexander | 1984 | RUS | |||||
68 | 700830 | ZAMPA Adam | 1990 | SVK | |||||
67 | 220083 | BAXTER Noel | 1981 | GBR | |||||
65 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | |||||
60 | 150495 | VRABLIK Martin | 1982 | CZE | |||||
58 | 193967 | MUFFAT JEANDET Victor | 1989 | FRA | |||||
57 | 202462 | DOPFER Fritz | 1987 | GER | |||||
55 | 421669 | HAUGEN Leif Kristian | 1987 | NOR | |||||
54 | 532138 | KASPER Nolan | 1989 | USA | |||||
53 | 250127 | BJORGVINSSON Bjorgvin | 1980 | ISL | |||||
51 | 50931 | BECHTER Patrick | 1982 | AUT | |||||
50 | 293797 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | |||||
48 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | |||||
46 | 150594 | TREJBAL Filip | 1985 | CZE | |||||
44 | 193347 | TISSOT Maxime | 1986 | FRA | |||||
40 | 192943 | OBERT Anthony | 1985 | FRA | |||||
33 | 534508 | CHODOUNSKY David | 1984 | USA | |||||
23 | 501223 | BAECK Axel | 1987 | SWE | |||||
22 | 910000 | IMBODEN Urs | 1975 | MDA | |||||
Did not finish 2nd run | |||||||||
45 | 102456 | BIGGS Patrick | 1982 | CAN | |||||
35 | 530165 | BRANDENBURG Will | 1987 | USA | |||||
25 | 102912 | SPENCE Brad | 1984 | CAN | |||||
21 | 291145 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | |||||
8 | 102435 | JANYK Michael | 1982 | CAN | |||||
Did not finish 1st run | |||||||||
75 | 561117 | KUERNER Miha | 1987 | SLO | |||||
73 | 180534 | SANDELL Marcus | 1987 | FIN | |||||
72 | 291034 | PLANK Andy | 1989 | ITA | |||||
71 | 501401 | SAXVALL Per | 1989 | SWE | |||||
70 | 930107 | GREGORAK Will | 1990 | USA | |||||
66 | 990048 | BORSOTTI Giovanni | 1990 | ITA | |||||
64 | 380290 | SAMSAL Dalibor | 1985 | CRO | |||||
63 | 193986 | PLACE Francois | 1989 | FRA | |||||
62 | 560371 | DRAGSIC Mitja | 1979 | SLO | |||||
61 | 560425 | VAJDIC Bernard | 1980 | SLO | |||||
59 | 500909 | ANDERSSON Oscar | 1982 | SWE | |||||
56 | 194364 | PINTURAULT Alexis | 1991 | FRA | |||||
43 | 51395 | DIGRUBER Marc | 1988 | AUT | |||||
38 | 102727 | STUTZ Paul | 1983 | CAN | |||||
31 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | |||||
30 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | |||||
24 | 301312 | SASAKI Akira | 1981 | JPN | |||||
17 | 560355 | VALENCIC Mitja | 1978 | SLO | |||||
15 | 501111 | HARGIN Mattias | 1985 | SWE | |||||
13 | 50624 | PRANGER Manfred | 1978 | AUT | |||||
9 | 293098 | RAZZOLI Giuliano | 1984 | ITA | |||||
6 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | |||||
2 | 50605 | HERBST Reinfried | 1978 | AUT |