Raich and Dorfmeister win races before World Cup moves to Europe

By Published On: December 6th, 2004Comments Off on Raich and Dorfmeister win races before World Cup moves to Europe

Raich and Dorfmeister win races before World Cup moves to EuropeBenjamin Raich won the World Cup slalom in Beaver Creek today, while his fellow Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister won the World Cup super G in Lake Louise.

Last year’s Sprint/ Ski Racing Juniors of the year were also the top American finishers in each race; Lindsey Kildow finished third in Lake Louise, while Ted Ligety tied for fifteenth in Beaver Creek.

Kildow had only cracked the top-10 in three World Cups before this week. But at the three-event speed races in Lake Louise, she finished first, fifth and third.

“My confidence is really high and I’m going to try to keep the ball rolling,” said Kildow. “The main thing is to keep my head cool, and I think I did that pretty well this weekend, especially after having my first win. I just need to keep relaxed and focused.”

Miller hooks a tip, new faces at the top
“I’ve had a great weekend here, a very long weekend also, starting with downhill and super G,” said Benjamin Raich after his win. “I’m very strong in every discipline but this might change every weekend.”

Bode Miller, racing for the first time on Atomic slalom skis, hooked a tip on the first run of the Beaver Creek slalom, missing a chance to pad his World Cup lead and to win a race in each discipline by early December.

“I didn’t even straddle,” said Miller after the race. “I hooked a tip. It rolled over the gate and I almost kept going … I was balanced. I was online.”

The slalom came on the last day of Beaver Creek’s four-event World Cup blowout. The “mini world championship,” in the words of FIS World Cup race director Gunther Hujara, was a huge success, bringing in almost twice as many media representatives as last season.

Andre Myhrer, a Swede born in 1983, came flying out of the 56th start position to finish fifth. Right behind him in seventh was Felix Neureuther of Germany, the future of German alpine skiing; born in 1984, the youngster sat out the World Cup opener in Soelden because of heart problems. Doctors told him this fall that he had to avoid letting his heart rate surpass 100 beats per minute, or else he would aggravate an inflammation of his heart’s casing.

One real thrill of the day came when Paul McDonald, the Dartmouth skier who qualified for this World Cup based on his performance in a do-or-die NorAm slalom two weeks ago in Snow King, left the start in the first run wearing bib 70 (second to last).

McDonald got bucked a couple times by ruts, but skied well enough to cross the line in 31st. “It feels awesome,” said McDonald, who seemed simultaneously delighted to have finished and disappointed to have missed the cut for a second run. “It’s unbelievable to ski in front of fans.”

McDonald whooped it up for the home crowd, as did Ted Ligety, who carried his team after Miller and Erik Schlopy failed to finish, and Jesse Marshall made a mistake near the end of a solid run. Other Americans in the race, Chip Knight and Tom Rothrock failed to qualify for the second run. Jimmy Cochran crashed.

Ted Ligety, on the cover of Ski Racing magazine this week for the first time in his young career, spoke with a large cluster of reporters (among the print outlets in town because of Bode Miller were Sports Illustrated, the Times of London, the Boston Globe, USA Today and more). “I have nothing to lose, so I might as well go all-out,” said Ligety, whose only previous appearance in the second run of a World Cup was at Kranjska Gora last year, where he crashed three gates from the finish after a beautiful run. “I don’t leave anything out there. I try to go as fast as I can every run.”

Kildow comes into her own
Kildow is now over the 400-point mark on the World Cup Start List, so she has the option of racing any World Cup race she wants, inserted after the top-30 ranked skiers, unless she is among that group.

‘It’s great to be a part of this team,” said Kirsten Clark, who is back in World Cups after a bad crash ended her season last year in Haus, Austria. “Lindsey is definitely leading us right now, but it shows that the rest of us can be there on the podium too.’

World Cup

Women’s Super G
Lake Louise, Alberta
Dec. 5. 2004

1. Michaela Dorfmeister, AUT 1:16.24
2. Renate Goetschl, AUT 1:16.39
3. Lindsey Kildow, USA 1:16.64
4. Hilde Gerg, GER 1:16.70
5. Janica Kostelic, CRO 1:16.81
6. Martina Ertl, GER 1:16.85
7. Katja Wirth, AUT 1:17.10
8. Brigitte Obermoser, AUT 1:17.16
9. Ingrid Jacquemod, FRA 1:17.34
9. Julia Mancuso, USA 1:17.34
11. Kirsten Clark, USA 1:17.36
12. Anja Paerson, SWE 1:17.47
13. Sylvaine Berthod, SUI 1:17.51
14. Kelly Vanderbeek, CAN 1:17.55
15. Allison Forsyth, CAN 1:17.60
16. Isolde Kostner, ITA 1:17.71
17. Libby Ludlow, USA 1:17.73
18. Genevieve Simard, CAN 1:17.75
19. Tina Maze, SLO 1:17.76
20. Angelika Gruener, ITA 1:17.91
21. Bryna McCarty, USA 1:17.92
22. Mojca Suhadolc, SLO 1:17.94
22. Janette Hargin, SWE 1:17.94
24. Fraenzi Aufdenblatten, SUI 1:18.12
25. Alexandra Meissnitzer, AUT 1:18.14
26. Elisabeth Goergl, AUT 1:18.18
27. Karin Meilleur, FRA 1:18.21
27. Silvia Berger, AUT 1:18.21
29. Carole Montillet-Carles, FRA 1:18.22
30. Eveline Rohregger, AUT 1:18.26
other North Americans:
31. Emily Brydon, CAN 1:18.27
38. Melanie Turgeon, CAN 1:18.54
50. Gail Kelly, CAN 1:19.40
51. Kaylin Richardson, USA 1:19.53
DNF: Caroline Lalive, Jonna Mendes, USA; Anne Marie LeFrancois, CAN.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

equipment
Women’s Super G, Lake Louise, Dec. 5, 2004
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Dorfmeister, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Goetschl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Kildow, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Gerg, Volkl/Lange/Marker
5 Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Ertl, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol
7 Wirth, Blizzard/Lange/Marker
8 Obermoser, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
9 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Mancuso, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Women’s super G, Lake Louise, Dec. 5, 2004. … It is the seventh race of a 32 race (plus one combined) women’s World Cup schedule. … It is the first of eight scheduled SG’s. … It is the last of five races scheduled at Lake Louise this season (two men’s three women’s). … Top eight skiers finish within a second. … Winning margin is a tenth and a half.

It is the 17th career World Cup win for Michaela Dorfmeister. … Her fifth in SG. … Her last win was in DH at Innsbruck 3/1/03. … She had eight podium finishes last season without a win. … It is her fifth podium result at Lake Louise, but her first win. … She now has five results this season the next best a fourth in the first Lake Louise DH 12/3.

It is the 82nd career World Cup podium for Renate Goetschl. … Her second second place finish in two days. … It is her 30th career SG podium. …It is her 10th podium at Lake Louise. … She won the last SG at Lake Louise 12/7/03.

It is the third career World Cup podium for Lindsey Kildow. … Her second of the season. … Her first in SG. … Her second at Lake Louise. … It is just her 19th scoring result.

It is the third best career result for Julia Mancuso. … She has been fifth twice, at Altenmarkt DH 3/6/02 and Lenzerheide CMB 12/22/02. … She has scored in all four disciplines already this season and is one of just four women to do so: Anja Paerson, Janica Kostelic and Elisabeth Goergl being the others. … It is the 31st time Kirsten Clark has been 11th or better in her career. … It is her best result, of four, this season. … It is the best career result for Kelly Vanderbeek. … She has five scoring results all since 12/20 of last season. … It is the first career SG scoring result for Allison Forsyth. … She has 53 scoring results in GS and SL. … It is the fifth best career result for
Libby Ludlow and best in North America. … She crashed in the 12/3 DH and skipped the 12/4 race…. 18th place matches Genevieve Simard’s 18th best result. … It is the first SG scoring result for Bryna McCarty. … She has scored in eight DH’s dating back to 12/02. … Of her nine scoring results, six have come at Lake Louise. … Emily Brydon missed scoring a point by one one-hundredth of a second.

There were a couple of great performances from back in the starting order. … Sylvaine Berthod started 54th and finished 13th. … Angelika Gruener started 63rd and finished 20th to score her first Cup scoring finish. … Tina Maze started 59th and finished 19th.

Tanja Poutiainen – who did not race – maintains the World Cup overall lead 340-311 for Anja Paerson – who finished 12th -. … Janica Kostelic – finished fifth – is third at 282. … Top American is Kildow in seventh with 205. … Kristina Koznick is ninth at 157. … The Austrian women went over a 1000pts in the Nations Cup standings to lead the USA 1022-699.

World Cup
Men’s Slalom
Beaver Creek, Colo.,
Dec. 5, 2004

1. Benjamin Raich, AUT 1:51.06
2. Giorgio Rocca, ITA 1:51.27
3. Rainer Schoenfelder, AUT 1:51.55
4. Kalle Palander, FIN 1:51.70
5. Andre Myhrer, SWE 1:52.18
6. Felix Neureuther, GER 1:52.19
7. Manfred Pranger, AUT 1:52.32
8. Andrej Sporn, SLO 1:52.34
9. Mario Matt, AUT 1:52.43
10. Stephane Tissot, FRA 1:52.49
11. Manfred Moelgg, ITA 1:52.63
12. Akira Sasaki, JPN 1:52.64
13. Cristian Deville, ITA 1:52.66
14. Daniel Albrecht, SUI 1:52.71
15. Ted Ligety, USA 1:52.75
15. Johan Brolenius, SWE 1:52.75
17. Mitja Kunc, SLO 1:53.08
18. Kentaro Minagawa, JPN 1:53.12
19. Markus Larsson, SWE 1:53.17
20. Reinfried Herbst, AUT 1:53.19
20. Silvan Zurbriggen, SUI 1:53.19
22. Sebastien Amiez, FRA 1:53.34
23. Jukka Leino, FIN 1:53.49
24. Giancarlo Bergamelli, ITA 1:53.62
25. Ryan Semple, CAN 1:53.65
26. Mitja Dragsic, SLO 1:53.84
27. Andreas Nilsen, NOR 1:56.98
other North Americans:
DNQ 2nd: Paul McDonald, Jesse Marshall, Chip Knight, Tom Rothrock, USA; Michael Janyk, CAN.
DNF 1st: Bode Miller, Erik Schlopy, James Cochran, USA; Thomas Grandi, Jean-Philippe Roy, CAN.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

equipment
World Cup men’s Slalom, Beaver Creek, Dec. 5, 2004
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Rocca, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
4 Palander, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/Tyrolia
6 Neureuther, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
8 Sporn, Elan/Lang/Elan
9 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
10 Tissot, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s Slalom, Beaver Creek, Colo., Dec. 5, 2004. … It is the seventh race of a 35 race (plus 2 combineds) men’s World Cup schedule. … It is the first of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the final race of a four race set at Beaver Creek, and the final race of the annual North American swing. … It is just the second World Cup slalom held at Beaver Creek.

It is the 14th career World Cup win for Benjamin Raich. … his ninth in slalom. … his first of the season. … His last win came in a night slalom at Schladming 1/27/04. … It is his first win in North America. … It is the 12th career World Cup podium for Giorgio Rocca. … all of them in slalom or knock-out slalom. … He is the third Italian to place second this season the others being Massimiliano Blardone (GS Solden) and Manuela Moelgg (SL Aspen). … Rocca’s last podium result was a win at Chamonix 1/11/04. … It is the 14th career podium result for Rainer Schoenfelder, all in slalom. … His last podium was a 2nd at Sestriere 3/14/04.

Swede Andre Myhrer came from the 56th start to finish fifth for his best career result among three scoring results. … He was the best of six skiers placing from starts of 50 or above.

It was just the second scoring result for Ted Ligety, the other a 23rd place result in slalom at Kranjska Gora 2/29/04. … He was the lone U.S. skier to take a second run. … Paul McDonald (from the 70th start) finished 31st in the first run, a half a hundredth away from a second run … Ryan Semple, the lone Canadian to take a second run, got his first World Cup scoring finish.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh