Kroell stirs Austrian hopes in last training

By Published On: January 24th, 2013Comments Off on Kroell stirs Austrian hopes in last training

Training counts for nothing, but don’t tell that to the thousands of fans and media in Austria. Klaus Kroell was the fastest down the Streif in the final training run ahead of Saturday’s downhill at Kitzbuehel.

Austria hasn’t won its own Hahnenkamm downhill trophy since 2006. Its only men’s downhill win this season has been a kiss-your-sister tie between Hannes Reichelt and Italian Dominik Paris in Bormio. It is difficult to understate the up swell created today (Jan 24) when Kroell produced the lead  the final training run time over Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal.

Svindal is a popular guy, but he’s definitely not Austrian. Kroell skied well under a sunny sky on a still bumpy but improved track. He was just .26 ahead of Svindal, and .28 ahead of a second Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, but these were fractions of a second in the right direction in a difficult season.

Italian Werner Heel was the early leader and finished fourth. A second Austrian, Georg Streitberger, was fifth.

The fastest man in the sport, Frenchman Johan Clarey (went 100 mph last weekend at Wengen) was sixth. Steven Nyman collected seventh, Erik Guay 10th and Travis Ganong 13th as the fastest of the North Americans.

The North American media won’t more than mention today’s result. The French, Italian and Norwegian press will report it, but little more. In Austria Kroell’s run will be the most talked about event of the day.

“My goal is to win this race as it is about time an Austrian wins here again,” said Kroell. “It has been a long time since that happened. … for sure we will be giving it our best shot.”

There was a spare American on course today. Daron Rahlves, 2003 winner, was a forerunner.

Gepa photo
Kitzbuehel (AUT)
Training
Men’s Downhill
Jan. 24, 2013

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  18  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:57.74  
 2  17  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:58.00  
 3  12  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:58.02  
 4  3  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:58.12  
 5  24  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:58.34  
 6  15  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:58.37  
 7  2  533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   1:58.40  
 8  5  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:58.50  
 9  7  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:58.56  
 10  16  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:58.67  
 11  9  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:58.89  
 12  8  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:59.11  
 13  4  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   1:59.20  
 14  10  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   1:59.21  
 15  22  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:59.28  
 16  23  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   1:59.33  
 17  47  400281 VAN HEEK Marvin  1991  NED   1:59.35  
 18  42  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   1:59.51  
 19  40  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:59.52  
 20  14  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:59.66  
 21  26  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   2:00.00  
 22  36  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   2:00.22  
 23  11  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   2:00.53  
 24  37  180570< /td>

ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   2:00.56  
 25  38  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   2:00.62  
 26  32  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:00.87  
 27  13  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   2:00.95  
 28  25  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:01.38  
 29  46  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA   2:01.39  
 30  55  660021 DANILOCHKIN Yuri  1991  BLR   2:01.60  
 31  49  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   2:01.70  
 32  44  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   2:01.81  
 33  50  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   2:01.84  
 34  51  561217 KOSI Klemen  1991  SLO   2:02.15  
 35  53  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   2:02.28  
 36  54  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI   2:07.60  
 37  35  194190 ROGER Brice  1990  FRA   2:09.14  
 38  31  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   9:01.62  
Did not start 1st run
   56  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej  1988  POL     
   52  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI     
   48  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA     
   45  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA     
   43  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA     
   41  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER     
   39  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT     
   34  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis  1991  FRA     
   33  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA     
   30  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN     
   28  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA     
   27  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI     
   21  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO     
   20  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT     
   6  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT     
   1  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA     
Did not finish 1st run
   29  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA     
   19  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA 

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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.”