Marsaglia tags a tricky course set for win in Beaver Creek

By Published On: December 1st, 2012Comments Off on Marsaglia tags a tricky course set for win in Beaver Creek

Matteo Marsaglia collected his first World Cup win on a tricky, and very fast super G course that dared the racers to take risk, and punished them when they did.

Aksel Lund Svindal kept his streak of podium finishes intact with second and Hannes Reichelt, like Svindal a former winner here, got third. Ted Ligety put down a smart and clean run for fourth place, his second fourth in the discipline in two races this season.

It didn’t take long for the difficulty of the course to make itself known as Stephan Keppler, the first man out of the start house launched off the course and slid for long minutes before finally getting intimate with the safety fence. The tenth racer, Max Franz, one of the early bright lights of the Austrian squad this season, crashed in less spectacular but more damaging fashion. He was transported to the Vail hospital. Unofficial reports from the Austrian team said he sustained a concussion, experienced unconsciousness and complained of pain in the shoulder and neck, but that no serious injuries to his shoulder or leg were determined. There were some facial cuts reported and he sustained a broken nose as well.
 
One of the few who got away with taking risks was Marsaglia who said “You need to do it (take risk) but when you do it, you must also relax.”

Svindal has used risk taking to his advantage in his three previous podiums this season (wins in DH and SG at Lake Louise and second in DH here) said taking risks on this course, set by Austrian coach B Schaeffer.

Reichelt, so far the only Austrian to podium here this season, said he was content with his result no matter where he had placed. “If I am not on the podium it is still a great result   This hill is among the best. This was among the  toughest I have ever seen and the course setting was very difficult.”

Ligety figured he had used the right strategy, saying some blind gates had cost other skiers severely. “I went for it really hard in the places I could and tried to ski smart in the places you had to be smart. I think Marsaglia took more risk than the rest of us and it paid off because he didn’t make mistakes.”

More than a few skiers, but as a primary example Kjetil Jansrud, might well have won the race save for one big mistake. Jansrud nearly skied off course on the final pitch and barely recovered to stay on and get a time. He wound up in sixth place, less than a second off the pace.

Lighting up the US biased crowd like a comet was Thomas Beisemeyer, posting 18th from a start of 38th. He jumped the fence to celebrate with friends in the finish and needed to be called back to talk with media.

“I gave a little time in the Abyss. … where you come off Golden Eagles and you tuck straight into a compression, and they had radioed up that you have to give up speed there or you’ll go out of the course. But all the rest of it I skied relaxed and athletics and tried to stay within my limits. Yeah, a good day.”

There was room among the top group to squeeze in placings, and with the rock hard conditions not giving away much, a number were ablpe to take advantage. Among the longest climbs up was that of Frenchman Guillermo Fayed, placing 15th from start 61. The French seemed to have the right approach as top 10 placings were won by French skiers starting 34th (Gauthier DeTessieres), and 42nd (Thomas Mermillod Blondin).

Beside Ligety in fourth and Biesemeyer the Americans got help from a new generation with Brennan Rubie scoring 27th, in his first career World Cup start and after a DQ, Jared Goldberg scored his first Cup point in 30th.

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup super G, Beaver Creek, USA, Dec. 1, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Marsaglia, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
3 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
5 Heel, Head/Head/Head
6 Jansrud, Head/Head/Head
7 Mayer, Head/Head/Head
8 DeTessieres, Head/Head/Head
9 Mermillod Blondin, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Hudec, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s World Cup super G, Beaver Creek, USA, Dec. 1, 2012
. … It is the 11th of 74 races on the 2012-13 World Cup schedule. … The sixth of 36 men’s races on the schedule and the second of six scheduled men’s super G’s. … It is the 49th World Cup race held at Beaver Creek and the 14th super G at the site. … It is the second of a three race set at the site this season.

It is the first career World Cup win for Matteo Marsaglia. … His previous best having been fourth scored in combined at Sochi and in super G at Schladming last season. … Five Italians have now won World Cups at Beaver Creek in four different disciplines.

It is the 45th career World Cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his 16th in SG. … it is his tenth podium scored at Beaver Creek and third at Beaver Creek in SG. … It is his fourth podium of the season in four completed races.

It is the 20th World Cup podium for Hannes Reichelt. … his tenth in SG. … His third in SG at Beaver Creek.

It is the 43rd time Ted Ligety has been fourth or better in a World Cup race. … and matches his second best result ever in SG. … He was second at Val d’Isere Dec. 12, 2009. … It is his second fourth place finish in SG this season in two races. … It is the 18th career World Cup top 10 for Jan Hudec. … his eighth in SG. … It is his second best result at Beaver Creek having been ninth in SG Dec. 3, 2007. … It is the fifth best result at Beaver Creek for Erik Guay. … He was seventh in SG at Beaver Creek last season. … It is a career best finish and the third Cup scoring result for Thomas Biesemeyer. … It is his second score of the season. … It is the first career scoring result for Rubie Brennan. … in his first career start. … It is the first career Scoring result for Jared Goldberg in his second career Cup start.

Aksel Lund Svindal maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 360-220 over Ligety. … Kjetil Jansrud (sixth in race) is third with 159pts. … Guay leads Canadians in overall in place 13 with 104pts. … Svindal leads the super G standings 180-129 over Marsaglia with Ligety third at 100. … Guay is top Canadian in tenth with 48pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 1055-770 for Italy with Norway third at 563. … The US is fifth with 385 and Canada sixth with 235pts.

Beaver Creek (USA)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Super G
Dec. 1, 2012

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  12  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   1:14.68  
 2  19  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:14.95  
 3  8  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:15.38  
 4  26  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:15.42  
 5  4  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:15.56  
 6  18  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:15.58  
 7  15  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   1:15.67  
 8  34  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA   1:15.79  
 9  42  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA   1:15.87  
 10  20  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:15.94  
 11  9  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:15.95  
 12  33  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:15.96  
 13  24  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:16.02  
 14  29  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:16.04  
 15  61  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   1:16.15  
 16  30  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:16.17  
 17  13  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:16.23  
 18  51  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   1:16.25  
 18  38  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA   1:16.25  
 18  3  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:16.25  
 21  16  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   1:16.30  
 22  63  501439 HEDIN Douglas  1990  SWE   1:16.39  
 23  17  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:16.40  
 24  5  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:16.48  
 25  22  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:16.49  
 26  31  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:16.59  
 27  52  934568 RUBIE Brennan  1991  USA   1:16.65  
 28  28  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:16.66  
 29  58  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:16.78  
 30  56  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca  1990  ITA   1:16.81  
 31  46  934643 GOLDBERG Jared  1991  USA   1:16.91  
 32  11  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI   1:17.01  
 33  6  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   1:17.02  
 34  2  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:17.04  
 35  36  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   1:17.05  
 36  49  481705 GLEBOV Alexander  1983  RUS   1:17.09  
 37  57  511852 CAVIEZEL Gino  1992  SUI   1:17.15  
 38  54  191778 PICHOT Sebastien  1981  FRA   1:17.25  
 39  68  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI   1:17.29  
 40  7  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:17.36  
 41  14  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   1:17.38  
 42  32  102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   1:17.46  
 43  70  292000 BLARDONE Massimiliano  1979  ITA   1:17.62  
 44  60  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:17.64  
 45  53  561217 KOSI Klemen  1991  SLO   1:17.68  
 46  55  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:17.69  
 47  45  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:17.90  
 48  48  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   1:17.94  
 49  59  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:18.66  
 50  43  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   1:18.71  
 51  65  220874 BALDWIN TJ  1990  GBR   1:19.04  
 52  66  561214 DEBELAK Tilen  1991  SLO   1:19.25  
 53  69  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG   1:19.73

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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.”