Janka crushes Wengen field, Miller exits course

By Published On: January 16th, 2010Comments Off on Janka crushes Wengen field, Miller exits course

Carlo JankaThe iceman was hot. Swiss Carlo Janka ravaged the Lauberhorn Saturday (Jan. 16th) for his second downhill win of the season, overpowering a quality field by .66 of a second.

Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis got second while Leichtenstein’s Marco Buechel, a training mate of the homestanding Swiss, got third.

Bode Miller had won the downhill leg of Friday’s combined and was a heavy favorite. With a quarter  of a second lead on the field (before Janka ran) Miller said he had difficulty with vision and lost the line. He exited the course just above the finish. Top U.S. finisher on the day was Andrew Weibrecht in 13th.

The Swiss were more than ready to celebrate on the 80th anniversary of the Lauberhorn, traditionally a three race event in January. Janka’s win gave them cause. “Winning at Wengen,” Janka explained, “is the dream of any Swiss skier.”

Known as the iceman for a decided lack of visual emotion, Janka took the lead at the third interval timing post and never relinquished it, dropping tenths of seconds the length of the course. It was a performance worthy of admiration, particularly since he had only raced the full length course once previously. On top of that he took over the lead of the World Cup overall standings passing Austrian Benjamin Raich, who did not race.

In addition the Swiss got Didier Cuche in fifth, Didier Defago in seventh and they’ll be happy to count Buechel’s podium as a welcome bonus.

This was a field of players on top of their game. Osborne-Paradis in second has tallied two wins this season including the downhill at Val Gardena. Fourth finishing Italian Werner Heel has recorded two podium finishes this season, Cuche has a downhill win and a second in his tote bag and Andrej Jerman, who tied Cuche on the day, won at Bormio two weeks ago. Seventh finishing Defago won here last season.

The consecutive wins – Janka this season and Defago last – is also important locally. Although the Swiss have won the Lauberhorn downhill in 25 of the 80 years, 17 of those wins came before 1950, well before the World Cup was created in 1967. Today’s win marked the first time since the 1980’s that Swiss skiers have won the race two consecutive years, and just the second time since the World Cup was formed.

The podium for Osborne-Paradis was unexpected even though he has tallied two wins earlier this season. “I was having a lot of doubts this week,” he said. “I have no idea how I was fast today.” He reasoned he took more risk, held his tuck when things got rough, but he was definitely surprised.

“We’ve had flat light all week,” he said, adding that an eye stigmatism make certain types of light difficult for him. “I tried really hard in the combined downhill and couldn’t make the top 30.”

After a few years on the downhill tour, Osborne-Paradis said, “little things don’t bother you anymore. I had things I wanted to correct and I did.”

Canada also got points from Erik Guay in 18th. The Americans from Steven Nyman in 21st and Erik Fisher in 28th.

Miller said his ankle injury is “coming around,” and reiterated that his ski set-up is fine. He said he just didn’t execute the game plan.

After a series of mistakes higher on the course, he said he resolved to push hard toward the bottom of the course. “I was really direct into the super G turns, which is where I made that mistake yesterday and I made the same mistake again today. It’s risky, you can pull it off, but I got bounced again and went real low at the entrance to the super G turns.”

While he recovered there he said “but I couldn’t really see that bump in the middle, the angle of the hill changes, and I just got pushed (off course).”

He allowed that had he been stronger he might have been able to make it through the longest downhill course on the World Cup. “It was a tactical error,” he said, “but yeah, if I was Hercules or something I could have probably stood up to it. I just missed the timing a little bit.”

“It was a bummer about Bode,” said Weibrecht. “He was giving it and would have been really fast.” The top U.S. finisher said he skied “clean and safe,” and tried to make up for his lack of experience. “I do want more,” he said, but I’m happy with my run today.”

So was his coach, Sasha Rearick, who said his racer had “executed from top to bottom his game plan. He skied fantastic through the difficult portions of the course. A great job today.”

The coach also said Nyman had continued to take positive steps as he fights back from injury. Nyman crashed in the finish area, showing the effects of the grueling course, but said his biggest problems were higher on the course. “In the Carousel Turns I just sucked. I’m not quite there yet, but am definitely on the up.”

photos by GEPA

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men’s Downhill, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2010

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Osborne-Paradis, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Buechel, Head/Lange/Head
4 Heel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
5 Jerman, Stoeckli/Lange/
7 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
8 Fill, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Streitberger, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Men’s Downhill, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2010. … It is the second race of the 80th annual Lauberhorn. … It is the 19th race of the men’s 35 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … The fifth of eight scheduled downhills. … It is the 88th World Cup race at Wengen (at least in part). … the 37th downhill.

It is the sixth career World Cup win for Carlo Janka. … His second in downhill. … It is also his second win at Wengen having claimed the combined last season. … It is his fourth win of the season, the first since sweeping all three races at Beaver Creek in early December. … He has been on the podium in eight of his 11 scoring finishes this season. … It is the 25th time a Swiss has won the Wengen downhill, the eighth time since the World Cup started in 1967.

It is the ninth career World Cup podium for Manuel Osborne-Paradis, eighth in downhill. … It is his second podium at Wengen having placed third in 2008. … It is his third podium of the season, the other two wins – in SG at Lake Louise and DH at Val Gardena. … It is the fifth Cup podium for Canada this season.

It is the 18th career World Cup podium for Marco Buechel. … His eighth in DH. … It is his first career Cup podium at Wengen. … and his first of the season. … It is the first of the season for Liechtenstein and first since 2008 when Buechel was second in DH at Beaver Creek.

It is the sixth best career Cup result for Andrew Weibrecht. … his fourth best this season. … It is his best career result at Wengen of three scoring finishes. … It is the 66th best of  87 World Cup scoring results for Erik Guay. … his 37th best of 50 in DH. … It is his sixth score of the season. … It is the 28th best of 40 Cup scoring results for Steven Nyman. … His third best of three DH scores at Wengen. … And his third best of three this season. … It is the ninth career scoring result for Erik Fisher, his first at Wengen and his fifth of the season.

Janka regains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 757-689 over Benjamin Raich (did not race). … Didier Cuche (5th in race) holds third at 526. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is the top U.S. skier in 7th with 362pts. … Osborne-Paradis is the top Canadian in eighth with 348. … Cuche leads the downhill standings 296-284 over Janka with Osborne-Paradis third at 224. … Bod
e Miller (DNF) is the top U.S. skier tied in 17th with 81pts. … Austria still leads the men’s Nations Cup 2756-2682 over the Swiss. … Italy is third at 1897. … The U.S. is ranked 5th with 1018pts and Canada 6th with 994pts.

Place   Wengen
(SUI)
  Discipline   Downhill
Date   16.01.2010   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   1448   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Yout Emmanuel (FRA)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  18  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:32.23  0.00
 2  16  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   2:32.89  5.72
 3  9  350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE   2:33.05  7.11
 4  10  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   2:33.06  7.20
 5  21  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   2:33.09  7.46
 5  15  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   2:33.09  7.46
 7  19  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:33.61  11.97
 8  25  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:33.70  12.75
 9  17  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   2:33.83  13.87
 10  3  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   2:33.86  14.13
 11  1  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   2:33.96  15.00
 12  14  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:34.04  15.69
 13  7  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   2:34.09  16.13
 14  4  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   2:34.21  17.17
 15  20  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:34.24  17.43
 16  22  50041 WALCHHOFER Michael  1975  AUT   2:34.52  19.86
 17  11  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   2:34.60  20.55
 18  13  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   2:34.86  22.80
 19  6  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   2:34.93  23.41
 20  31  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:35.01  24.11
 21  5  533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   2:35.10  24.89
 22  43  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   2:35.13  25.15
 23  26  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   2:35.15  25.32
 24  36  292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA   2:35.16  25.41
 25  27  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   2:35.17  25.49
 26  46  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   2:35.31  26.71
 27  32  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   2:35.45  27.92
 28  2  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   2:35.66  29.74
 29  30  50833 GRUGGER Hans  1981  AUT   2:35.67  29.83
 30  29  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   2:35.95  32.26
 31  42  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   2:36.32  35.46
 32  35  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   2:36.44  36.51
 33  24  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   2:36.49  36.94
 34  41  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   2:36.64  38.24
 35  45  511039 KREUZER Ralf  1983  SUI   2:36.65  38.33
 36  28  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   2:37.28  43.79
 37  47  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA   2:37.33  44.22
 38  51  561085 KRIZAJ Andrej  1986  SLO   2:37.53  45.96
 39  53  103375 NELLA Tyler  1988  CAN   2:37.64  46.91
 40  34  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   2:37.65  47.00
 41  33  532490 MACARTNEY Scott  1978  USA   2:37.82  48.47
 42  49  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   2:38.19  51.68
 43  52  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   2:38.46  54.02
 44  48  201987 STRODL Andreas  1987  GER   2:38.50  54.37
 45  39  561087 MARKIC Gasper  1986  SLO   2:38.93  58.10
 46  54  20174 VIDOSA Roger  1984  AND   2:42.72  90.96
 47  55  60159 VAN BUYNDER Frederik  1988  BEL   2:43.09  94.17
Did not start 1st run
   50  40171 BRANCH Craig  1977  AUS     
   38  50451 GRUBER Christoph  1976  AUT     
   8  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI     
Did not finish 1st run
   44  150421 ZAHROBSKY Petr  1980  CZE     
   40  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT     
   37  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA     
   23  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA     
   12  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA     

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”