Ligety crushes GS field for biggest win margin of season

By Published On: March 10th, 2012Comments Off on Ligety crushes GS field for biggest win margin of season

Misson accomplished. Ted Ligety was out to show the boys of the World Cup tour what winning GS is all about at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia Saturday (March 10). It suffices to say that down the final pitch of the Podkoren 3 course, where much of the tour’s best had experienced difficulty, Ligety lost time. He still won by an astounding 1.61 seconds, the biggest GS margin of victory this season.

Claiming second with a miraculous recovery about five gates into his second run was Frenchman Alexis Pinturault. It was his best GS result (he did win the Moscow show parallel) since the opening race of the season, which was nice for him, but more importantly it pushed the season’s technical star, Marcel Hirscher down to third and that left a mighty slim door open for Ligety to regain his GS title.

Should Ligety win the final GS at Schladming next week, and Hirscher finish 23rd or worse, he would overtake the Austrian. He does not hold out much hope.

“Hirscher would have to pull a Ted and blow out in the final,” Ligety said, in order for him to win. “I skied really well today. In the last couple of races I’ve had the right amount of intensity. I went hard, for sure, in both runs (today) and it’s definitely nice. It’s just too bad I couldn’t have done it a couple of weeks ago.”

The other season long battle, that for the World Cup overall title, tightened up. Swiss Beat Feuz leads the war, but did not attend the gate races at Kranjska Gora. Hirscher did finish third, displaying his own ample recovery skills when caught running a touch too straight on a bumpy Podkoren 3 course, and cutting Feuz’s lead to 55 points. Third on the list of overall contenders is Ivica Kostelic, making his  return to the tour from knee surgery Feb. 13. He finished 25th, an indicator he is not yet to full strength. His six points gained leave him 201 shy of Feuz. Aksel Lund Svindal has climbed back into the fight finishing eighth, and pushing his season total into four digits to 1031, or 219 back.

With the season winding down there was a lot of clean skiing at Kranjska Gora with racers out of the running for titles and post season awards concentrating, perhaps, on technique and skiing just a touch reserved.

That is not to say there wasn’t full bore attacking going on from others, Ligety, Pinturault, Hirscher and  fourth finishing Massimiliano Blardone as prime examples. Matts Olsson charged from 16th in the first run to finish sixth and Steve Missillier recorded the third fastest second run to move from 18th to ninth.

But the fastest runs of the day, both in the first heat, and the second came from Ligety. He is back in top form. “It’s the most points I’ve score in GS,” he said. “It’s a crazy season Hirscher has had, that’s a Stenmarkesque skier for sure.”

Hirscher said that although he is now perhaps favored for multiple World Cup titles, he is taking nothing for granted.

“Maybe I’ll get a globe and Maybe I’ll get none. Regardless this has been an incredible
season for me. I won eight races and with or without a Globe- it was
really fun.”

Of Ligety, Hirscher said, “He was not of this planet today.”

Gepa image

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup GS, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 10, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
2 Pinturault, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Blardone, Dynastar/Lange/Look
5 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Olsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Dopfer, Nordica/Nordica/
8 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
9 Missillier, Dynastar/Lange/Look
10 Richard, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Men’s World Cup GS, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 10, 2012
. … It is the 39th of 45 races on the men’s 2012 World Cup season, with one cancellation. … There are five races remaining. … It is the eighth of nine scheduled GS’s. … It is the 75th Cup race to be held at Kranjska Gora. … The 37th GS. …  It is the third race of the season at the site as the women visited Jan. 21 and 22.

It is the 11th career World Cup win for Ted Ligety. … all in GS. … It is his fourth win at Kranjska Gora. …  It is his third win of the season, the first since Beaver Creek Dec. 6. It is the 240th US World Cup win. … and 17th of the season.

It is the fifth career World Cup podium finish for Alexis Pinturault. … the third in GS. … And his second at Kranjska Gora having been second last season as well. … It is his fourth podium of the season and second in GS having also placed second to Ligety at Soelden to open the season Oct. 23.

It is the 25th career Cup podium result for Marcel Hirscher. … his tenth in GS. … It is his fifth podium in six completed races at Kranjska Gora. … It is his 12th podium of the season in 15 completed races. … the sixth podium of the season in GS.

North Americans: It is the fourth best career World Cup finish for Tommy Ford. … third best of the season. … It is the fourth best of four scoring finishes at Kranjska Gora for Jean-Philippe Roy. … his sixth GS score of the season. … It is also the sixth GS score of the season for Tim Jitloff.

Standings: With five races remaining Beat Feuz (DNQ 35th 1st) leads the World Cup overall standings 1250-1195 over Hirscher. … Ivica Kostelic (25th in race) is third with 1049pts. … Ligety leads the US skiers in ninth overall with 774pts. … Erik Guay (did not race) is the top Canadian in 16th with 517pts, Jan Hudec is 17th with 494pts. … Hirscher leads the GS standings 605-513 over Ligety. … Massimiliano Blardone (fourth in race) is third in the GS standings with 408pts. … Roy leads Canada in 29th with 62pts. Jitloff finishes his season in 27th and Tommy Ford in 28th, not qualifying for the World Cup Finals cut-off of 25.

Kranjska Gora (SLO)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Giant Slalom

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  7  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:10.73  1:11.74  2:22.47  0.00
 2  6  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis  1991  FRA   1:12.33  1:11.75  2:24.08  9.83
 3  1  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   1:12.34  1:12.16  2:24.50  12.40
 4  3  292000 BLARDONE Massimiliano  1979  ITA   1:11.95  1:12.58  2:24.53  12.58
 5  13  292120 SIMONCELLI Davide  1979  ITA   1:12.36  1:12.51  2:24.87  14.66
 6  28  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE   1:13.49  1:11.96  2:25.45  18.20
 7  14  202462 DOPFER Fritz  1987  GER   1:13.47  1:12.03  2:25.50  18.50
 8  5  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:13.16  1:12.35  2:25.51  18.56
 9  19  192506 MISSILLIER Steve  1984  FRA   1:13.61  1:11.91  2:25.52  18.62
 10  8  191423 RICHARD Cyprien  1979  FRA   1:12.99  1:12.82  2:25.81  20.40
 11  2  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp  1983  AUT   1:12.96  1:12.88  2:25.84  20.58
 12  22  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   1:13.76  1:12.11  2:25.87  20.76
 12  15  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:13.43  1:12.44  2:25.87  20.76
 14  10  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:13.96  1:11.94  2:25.90  20.95
 15  11  191750 FANARA Thomas  1981  FRA   1:13.18  1:12.78  2:25.96  21.31
 16  20  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:13.14  1:12.90  2:26.04  21.80
 17  29  531799 FORD Tommy  1989  USA   1:13.22  1:12.85  2:26.07  21.98
 18  24  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  1984  FRA   1:13.78  1:12.36  2:26.14  22.41
 19  23  990048 BORSOTTI Giovanni  1990  ITA   1:13.57  1:12.92  2:26.49  24.55
 20  18  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   1:13.03  1:13.48  2:26.51  24.67
 21  39  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER   1:14.46  1:12.10  2:26.56  24.98
 22  25  420148 KARLSEN Truls Ove  1975  NOR   1:14.41  1:12.19  2:26.60  25.22
 23  34  194495 FAIVRE Mathieu  1992  FRA   1:14.61  1:12.15  2:26.76  26.20
 24  30  101895 ROY Jean-Philippe  1979  CAN   1:14.37  1:12.56  2:26.93  27.24
 25  17  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:14.11  1:13.00  2:27.11  28.33
 26  43  511638 TUMLER Thomas  1989  SUI   1:14.32  1:13.07  2:27.39  30.04
 27  12  180534 SANDELL Marcus  1987  FIN   1:13.13  1:14.87  2:28.00  33.77
 28  26  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA   1:14.13  1:15.42  2:29.55  43.23
 29  9  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:13.75  1:16.47  2:30.22  47.33
 30  33  510993 ALBRECHT Daniel  1983  SUI   1:14.61  1:29.20  2:43.81  130.31
Disqualified 1st run
   70  561217 KOSI Klemen  1991  SLO         
Did not qualify for 2nd run
   74  380290 SAMSAL Dalibor  1985  CRO         
   73  680053 GELASHVILI Jaba  1993  GEO         
   72  150743 BERNDT Ondrej  1988  CZE         
   71  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG         
   69  561161 JAZBEC Patrick  1989  SLO         
   68  910004 DEFLORIAN Mirko  1980  MDA         
   67  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA         
   65  561244 KRANJEC Zan  1992  SLO         
   63  180666 TORSTI Samu  1991  FIN         
   62  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA         
   61  534507 CHRISTIANSON Charles  1984  USA         
   60  561148 SKUBE Matic  1988  SLO         
   59  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA         
   58  54144 MEIER Daniel  1993  AUT         
   57  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA         
   55  500933 OLSSON Jon  1982  SWE         
   53  51401 GRAF Bernhard  1988  AUT         
   52  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA         
   51  191778 PICHOT Sebastien  1981  FRA         
   50  421946 KRISTIANSEN Emil Bjoertomt  1990  NOR         
   48  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZE         
   47  51159 NOESIG Christoph  1985  AUT         
   46  700830 ZAMPA Adam  1990  SVK         
   45  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca  1990  ITA         
   44  421859 NILSEN Markus  1989  NOR         
   40  290693 PLONER Alexander  1978  ITA         
   37  192653 FREY Thomas  1984  FRA         
   36  561032 JAZBEC Janez  1984  SLO         
   32  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI         
   31  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI         
   27  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA         
   21  53985 MATHIS Marcel  1991  AUT         
   16  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT         
   4  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT         
Did not finish 2nd run
   42  292967 EISATH Florian  1984  ITA         
Did not finish 1st run
   66  561117 KUERNER Miha  1987  SLO         
   64  202265 STAUBITZER Benedikt  1990  GER         
   56  511634 SPESCHA Christian  1989  SUI         
   54  511718 PLEISCH Manuel  1990  SUI         
   49  501384 LINDGREN Tim  1989  SWE         
   41  481148 MAYTAKOV Sergei  1990  RUS         
   38  202437 LUITZ Stefan  1992  GER         
   35  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian  1987  NOR       

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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.”