Lizeroux roars to Adelboden win
Julien Lizeroux ripped the second run of the Adelboden slalom Sunday (Jan. 10) to jump from the 12th position after the first run and claim his third World Cup victory. Austrian Marcel Hirscher got second with Ivica Kostelic in third and tour leader Benjamin Raich fourth.
The Americans had three chances with Jimmy Cochran finishing 15th in the first run, Bode Miller ninth and Ted Ligety seventh, within a second of first run winner Swede Matthias Hargin and early season slalom dominator Reinfried Herbst. Cochran straddled a gate just above the final pitch, Miller skied without igniting and dropped to 14th and Ligety, with a strong effort, hooked a gate at the same place as Cochran.
“I was pleased with the first run,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “We were set up.”
He said Ligety and Cochran went out on the exact same gate. “They came out of the delay there and got a little antsy,” trying to set up for the next sequence of turns,” he said.
Miller, he said, had worked hard before the race with his equipment man trying to get the right set-up. “It was a hell of an effort,” Rearick said. “He skied tactically smart. In the second run, the fog started to come back in so he switched goggles and put his lens in backwards.”
There is no subtlety to the race course at Adelboden. It drops to its finish like a brick. It is intimidating and the stands are packed. It has always been a GS staple of the World Cup season, with slalom added in 2000. To win here has always taken a little extra. Lizeroux had that extra, and it was still reverberating in him well after his run.
“I didn’t know if I was fast,” he said, “I made such a huge mistake in the first run I just knew I had to charge. … I got to the finish and saw the green (indicator of a lead) and a time of a second. I am shaking so much.”
At the time a lead of a second was substantial, but hardly secure. With 11 skiers left to run, the last of them with more than a second already in the bank, all Lizeroux had really accomplished at the time was set himself up as the target for the big guns to shoot at. He had, however, upped the ante considerably and added to the pressure of an always intense competition.
His teammate, Steve Missillier nearly matched him, but a big error just above the finish cost him many ticks of the clock. He finished 11th. Marcel Hirscher made a run, indeed put up the second fastest second run time (tied with Marc Gini) to come within .34, and still there were skiers left to attack.
Manfred Moelgg shot out of the start, but got tangled up and spun around high on the course. Ivica Kostelic, just returned to the circuit after taking time off to rest his chronically sore back and recovering from knee surgery, dropped slowly back over the full length of the course. Raich was clean, but not fast enough and Herbst roared from the start and exited almost before Raich finished. Hargin, with a 1.15 second advantage at the start got squirrelly early, struggled to hang on to the course and worked his way down, never really regaining form and finished fifth.
“I skied well and nobody could beat Julien today,” Kostelic told Reuters. “His crazy second run. … I don’t think Julien could repeat this.”
“He (Lizeroux) was beyond our guys. That was one inspiring run. It was awesome to see someone come out on a hill that tough, point ’em down and ski like that,” said Rearick. “That was amazing.”
Coupled with the second run DNF’s of Ligety and Cochran were some rough showings for the North Americans. The Canadians just missed the second run boat with Ryan Semple, Trevor White and Patrick Biggs finishing 32-33-34. For the U.S. Tim Jitloff barely got out of the start house and Dave Chodounsky fought down but finished 40th.
“Jit has been very fast in training,” Rearick said. “We need to look at his turns and get a longer period before he pressures the ski.”
While Rearick said the conditions were “just perfect; both runs,” Canadian Mike Janyk said he hadn’t made enough adjustment.
“The number of guys that went out in the top 15 is pretty high,” he said. “During our warm-up runs the course was pretty slick, and the race wasn’t like that. The snow was pretty aggressive and grippy, so I tried to go smoother when I noticed, but it didn’t work out for me.”
Lizeroux photos by GEPA
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Slalom, Adelboden, Switzerland, Jan. 10, 2010
Skier, skis/boot/bindings
1 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
2 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Hargin, Nordica/Nordica/
6 Gini, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
7 Imboden, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
8 Missillier, Dynastar/Lange/Look
9 Valencic, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
Men’s Slalom, Adelboden, Switzerland, Jan. 10, 2010. … It is the 17th race of the men’s 35 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … The four of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the 47th Cup race at Adelboden, all men’s races. … the eighth slalom at the site. … Adelboden hosted a men’s GS in the inaugural season of the World Cup in 1967, but the first slalom was in 2000. … Adelboden boasts of the steepest finishing pitch on the World Cup.
It is the third career World Cup win for Julien Lizeroux. … all in slalom. … It is his first win of the season and second podium in January having placed third at Zagreb. … He is the first French male to win this season, registering the fourth win for France.
It is the sixth career Cup podium for Marcel Hirscher. … His third in slalom. … His only win came earlier this season in GS at Val d’Isere. … It is his third podium of the season and the 25th for Austria.
It is the 30th career World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic. … His 24th in slalom. … It is his second podium of the season having been second at Levi Nov. 15. … It is the third podium of the season for Croatia.
It is the 155th time Bode Miller has finished 14th or better in a World Cup race. … It is his sixth best of seven scoring finishes this season. … his result matches his sixth best of eight Cup results at Adelboden. … It is a better placing than his finish of 16th in last season’s slalom at Adelboden.
Benjamin Raich (4th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 639-577 over Carlo Janka (DNF 1st). … Didier Cuche (did not race) is third with 481pts. … Ted Ligety (DNF 2nd) is the top American overall in 7th with 317pts. … Manuel Osborne-Paradis (did not race) is the top Canadian overall in 11th with 268pts. … Reinfried Herbst (DNF 2nd) maintains the lead of the Cup slalom standings 245-241 over Lizeroux. … Silvan Zurbriggen (10th in race) is third at 150. … Michael Janyk (DNF 1st) is the top Canadian on the slalom list in 10th with 103pts. … Jimmy Cochran (DNF 2nd) leads Americans on the slalom list in 21st place with 41pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 2616-2260 over Switzerland. … Italy is third at 1721. … Canada is fifth at 893 and the U.S. sixth at 840.
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Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 1 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | 56.35 | 55.53 | 1:51.88 | 0.00 |
2 | 9 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 55.77 | 56.45 | 1:52.22 | 1.82 |
3 | 4 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 55.63 | 57.05 | 1:52.68 | 4.29 |
4 | 11 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 55.54 | 57.16 | 1:52.70 | 4.40 |
5 | 6 | 501111 | HARGIN Mattias | 1985 | SWE | 55.20 | 57.79 | 1:52.99 | 5.95 |
6 | 23 | 511127 | GINI Marc | 1984 | SUI | 56.61 | 56.45 | 1:53.06 | 6.33 |
7 | 25 | 910000 | IMBODEN Urs | 1975 | MDA | 56.52 | 56.73 | 1:53.25 | 7.35 |
8 | 18 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 56.11 | 57.39 | 1:53.50 | 8.69 |
9 | 19 | 560355 | VALENCIC Mitja | 1978 | SLO | 56.69 | 56.94 | 1:53.63 | 9.39 |
10 | 13 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 56.91 | 56.90 | 1:53.81 | 10.35 |
11 | 10 | 201702 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 56.30 | 57.56 | 1:53.86 | 10.62 |
12 | 21 | 421400 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | 56.21 | 57.74 | 1:53.95 | 11.10 |
13 | 24 | 50981 | HOERL Wolfgang | 1983 | AUT | 57.30 | 56.78 | 1:54.08 | 11.80 |
14 | 16 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 56.14 | 58.12 | 1:54.26 | 12.76 |
15 | 42 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | 57.59 | 56.84 | 1:54.43 | 13.68 |
16 | 26 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 57.21 | 57.43 | 1:54.64 | 14.80 |
17 | 30 | 291145 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | 57.03 | 57.88 | 1:54.91 | 16.25 |
18 | 44 | 150594 | TREJBAL Filip | 1985 | CZE | 56.99 | 58.12 | 1:55.11 | 17.32 |
19 | 20 | 560425 | VAJDIC Bernard | 1980 | SLO | 57.24 | 57.94 | 1:55.18 | 17.70 |
20 | 64 | 192943 | OBERT Anthony | 1985 | FRA | 57.44 | 57.77 | 1:55.21 | 17.86 |
21 | 48 | 301312 | SASAKI Akira | 1981 | JPN | 57.20 | 58.08 | 1:55.28 | 18.23 |
22 | 51 | 193347 | TISSOT Maxime | 1986 | FRA | 57.33 | 58.39 | 1:55.72 | 20.59 |
23 | 28 | 501223 | BAECK Axel | 1987 | SWE | 57.09 | 1:02.36 | 1:59.45 | 40.60 |
Disqualified 1st run | |||||||||
72 | 193986 | PLACE Francois | 1989 | FRA | |||||
Did not qualify 1st run | |||||||||
75 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | |||||
74 | 511896 | MURISIER Justin | 1992 | SUI | |||||
65 | 561148 | SKUBE Matic | 1988 | SLO | |||||
62 | 191425 | TISSOT Stephane | 1979 | FRA | |||||
58 | 380290 | SAMSAL Dalibor | 1985 | CRO | |||||
56 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | |||||
55 | 534508 | CHODOUNSKY David | 1984 | USA | |||||
54 | 102456 | BIGGS Patrick | 1982 | CAN | |||||
50 | 420148 | KARLSEN Truls Ove | 1975 | NOR | |||||
49 | 102403 | SEMPLE Ryan | 1982 | CAN | |||||
43 | 191640 | ANSELMET Alexandre | 1980 | FRA | |||||
40 | 102912 | SPENCE Brad | 1984 | CAN | |||||
39 | 102922 | WHITE Trevor | 1984 | CAN | |||||
37 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | |||||
35 | 50547 | SCHOENFELDER Rainer | 1977 | AUT | |||||
31 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | |||||
29 | 50931 | BECHTER Patrick | 1982 | AUT | |||||
27 | 102239 | COUSINEAU Julien | 1981 | CAN | |||||
Did not finish 2nd run | |||||||||
46 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | |||||
38 | 92591 | ALBRECHT Kilian | 1973 | BUL | |||||
22 | 534040 | COCHRAN Jimmy | 1981 | USA | |||||
17 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | |||||
15 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | |||||
7 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | |||||
5 | 50605 | HERBST Reinfried | 1978 | AUT | |||||
Did not finish 1st run | |||||||||
76 | 990081 | CASSE Mattia | 1990 | ITA | |||||
73 | 910001 | ROUX Christophe | 1983 | MDA | |||||
71 | 501324 | OLSSON Matts | 1988 | SWE | |||||
70 | 180570 | ROMAR Andreas | 1989 | FIN | |||||
69 | 511513 | CAVIEZEL Mauro | 1988 | SUI | |||||
68 | 302982 | OHKOSHI Ryunosuke | 1988 | JPN | |||||
67 | 201422 | KOGLER Stefan | 1981 | GER | |||||
66 | 501116 | LAHDENPERAE Anton | 1985 | SWE | |||||
63 | 102727 | STUTZ Paul | 1983 | CAN | |||||
61 | 480736 | HOROSHILOV Alexandr | 1984 | RUS | |||||
60 | 202462 | DOPFER Fritz | 1987 | GER | |||||
59 | 50824 | DREIER Christoph | 1981 | AUT | |||||
57 | 293797 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | |||||
53 | 180292 | LEINO Jukka | 1978 | FIN | |||||
52 | 534959 | JITLOFF Tim | 1985 | USA | |||||
47 | 300804 | MINAGAWA Kentaro | 1977 | JPN | |||||
45 | 301709 | YUASA Naoki | 1983 | JPN | |||||
41 | 192504 | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1984 | FRA | |||||
36 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | |||||
34 | 560371 | DRAGSIC Mitja | 1979 | SLO | |||||
33 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | |||||
32 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | |||||
14 | 290732 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | |||||
12 | 102435 | JANYK Michael | 1982 | CAN | |||||
8 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | |||||
3 | 293098 | RAZZOLI Giuliano | 1984 | ITA | |||||
2 | 50624 | PRANGER Manfred | 1978 | AUT |