Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov claims Schladming Night Race

By Published On: January 27th, 2015Comments Off on Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov claims Schladming Night Race

SCHLADMING, Austria — Schladming is the Super Bowl of slalom. Held annually under the lights, the night race draws upwards of 50,000 rowdy Austrian fans who collide to deliver an electric atmosphere like no other stop on the tour.

History was made Tuesday night as Alexander Khoroshilov secured the first-ever Alpine World Cup win for Russia. (There were previously a handful of wins for the USSR including Aleksandr Zhirov, who claimed four tech races in 1981 and Valeri Tysganov who landed a downhill victory in that same year.)

Khoroshilov, who’s been racing on the World Cup since 2004, has been having the best season of his career. After finishing no worse than tenth all season he finally ascended to the top of the podium in decisive fashion with a 1.44 second margin of victory over his closest competition, Stefano Gross of Italy. Germany’s Felix Neureuther rounded out the podium 1.51 seconds off the pace set by the Ruski. His advantage came after the first run in which only Neureuther was able to ski to within a second. Despite heavy snowfall at times, the track held up quite well, according to the racers, providing prime conditions for Khoroshilov to seal the deal.

After the race, his competitors remarked at how cool a customer Khoroshilov was throughout his winning performance. He seemed unaffected by the gravity of the moment and just went about his business. But when asked about it after the race, Khoroshilov sternly said, “I have a lot of emotions, but everything is inside.”

“I was really impressed when (Khoroshilov) crossed the finish line, how he was celebrating,” said Neureuther. “If I was winning my first race, I would have totally freaked out for sure. I was really impressed to see how cool he was and I congratulate him on his achievement.”

Notably out of contention was Marcel Hirscher who was battling an illness and finished 14th. Hirscher faired OK in the first run, fourth, but a series of small errors began to compound themselves in the second run. It’s been a busy stretch for the slalom skiers: four races in three weeks, plus a combined start for Hirscher. Some rest, the overall leader said, is needed before heading to World Champs.

The Americans were represented in the second run by David Chodounsky and Will Brandenburg. Chodounsky made the flip despite a sizable hip check in his first run, which ultimately set him back to 19th on the day. He’s been on the brink of a big result all season, while Brandenburg hadn’t qualified for second run, due in part to a string of DNFs, since last March. He finished just ahead of his teammate in 18th — his third best career result.

“Going into Kitzbuehel, I really tried to back off the full-on speed and use my intensity to ski a touch rounder line,” said Brandenburg. “I came in here and just knew I needed to get something rolling. I haven’t finished a first run all season. Again, I used the same tactics, didn’t really gun it that much. I got to the bottom and I’m happy with the result.”

Brandenburg said he “got lucky” with the snowfall, which let up significantly just prior to his first run. But that’s ski racing and those are the breaks you need to capitalize on, he said.

“It’s an outdoor sport. We grew up in this. Especially being from Schweitzer and Mount Spokane, skiing in the fog all the time, I’m used to it,” said Brandenburg. “The track was great, really very good. You could still push from the back.”

Brandenburg had been considering retirement from professional ski racing, but Tuesday’s result is making him think twice.

“I kind of thought this would be my last race,” he said. “I want to be top 25 to continue ski racing. I’ve been funding myself. It didn’t look like things were going that way. I’ll have to rethink it. That feeling today was pretty sweet. I want to keep going.”

Meanwhile, Chodounsky very well could have had a top-10 race if it wasn’t for the significant first-run error. He went on to ski the fifth-fastest second run, which gives him needed confidence heading into the World Championships in his home state of Colorado.

“It’s really big. I really wanted to have a good run to finish it off and head home on a strong note,” said Chodounsky. “I was hoping obviously for a better placing, but I’ll take it, and I’m heading out of January with a good feeling before World Champs.”

 

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

  1. Khoroshilov, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  2. Gross, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
  3. Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  4. Dopfer, Nordica/Nordica/
  5. Strasser, Nordica/Nordica/
  6. Razzoli, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  7. Kristoffersen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  8. Hargin, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  9. Larsson, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  10. Yule, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Men’s World Cup slalom, Schladming, Austria, Jan. 27,2015:

  • The Night Race has been a staple of the World Cup tour since the 1990s. … The race ends in a large stadium right on the street in town. … It is the 24th of 38 men’s races on the World Cup calendar … the ninth of 11 slaloms on the schedule. … It is the final World Cup race before the World Championships. … Henrik Kristoffersen is the defending champion, having collected his first career win at Schladming last season.
  • It is the first career World Cup win for Alexander Khoroshilov. … It is the first Russian World Cup win since Warwara Zelenskaja won back-to-back downhills at Nagano in 1997. … The win by a male Russian was back when the nation was the Soviet Union and Alexander Zhirov claimed the Laax giant slalom on March 28, 1981. The winning margin is 1.44 seconds. … Top five are within two seconds.
  • It is the sixth career World Cup podium placing for Stefano Gross. … He was also second at Schladming Jan. 24, 2012. … It is his third podium of the season including the Adelboden slalom win on Jan. 11.
  • It is the 36th career World Cup podium for Felix Neureuther … his sixth of the season. … It is his third Schladming podium.
  • It is the third best career World Cup result for Will Brandenburg … and his first score of the season. … It is the 13th best World Cup result for David Chodounsky. … His fourth best of the season.
  • Marcel Hirscher (14th in race) maintsins the lead of the World Cup overll standings 1014-834 over Kjetil Jansrud (did not race). … Neureuther is third with 662pts. … Ted Ligety is the top American in 12th place and 420pts. … Manuel Osborne-Paradis leads Canada overall in 38th place with 153pts.
  • Neureuther leads the slalom standings 540-474 over Hirscher. … Fritz Dopfer (fourth in race) is third in slalom with 399pts. … Chodounsky leads the Americans in 24th place with 51pts. … Julien Cousineau  is top Canadian in 42nd place with 14pts.
  • Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 3482-2453 over France. … Italy is third with 2376pts. … The U.S. is seventh with 1323pts and Canada ninth wih 427pts.

 

Results

 1  6  480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS  53.67  52.72  1:46.39  0.00
 2  3  293797 GROSS Stefano 1986 ITA  55.30  52.53  1:47.83  +1.44  9.75
 3  4  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER  54.46  53.44  1:47.90  +1.51  10.22
 4  5  202462 DOPFER Fritz 1987 GER  54.75  53.34  1:48.09  +1.70  11.50
 5  29  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER  55.35  52.97  1:48.32  +1.93  13.06
 6  16  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano 1984 ITA  55.12  53.30  1:48.42  +2.03  13.74
 7  1  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik 1994 NOR  55.09  53.37  1:48.46  +2.07  14.01
 8  7  501111 HARGIN Mattias 1985 SWE  55.69  53.01  1:48.70  +2.31  15.63
 9  12  500656 LARSSON Markus 1979 SWE  55.60  53.29  1:48.89  +2.50  16.92
 10  19  511996 YULE Daniel 1993 SUI  55.12  53.83  1:48.95  +2.56  17.32
 11  30  501458 LINDH Calle 1990 SWE  56.50  52.46  1:48.96  +2.57  17.39
 12  20  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  56.50  52.49  1:48.99  +2.60  17.60
 13  13  290732 THALER Patrick 1978 ITA  55.73  53.27  1:49.00  +2.61  17.66
 14  2  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  55.01  54.03  1:49.04  +2.65  17.93
 15  9  501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE  55.42  53.64  1:49.06  +2.67  18.07
 16  28  301709 YUASA Naoki 1983 JPN  56.60  52.53  1:49.13  +2.74  18.54
 17  15  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  56.60  52.64  1:49.24  +2.85  19.29
 18  33  530165 BRANDENBURG Will 1987 USA  56.23  53.37  1:49.60  +3.21  21.72
 19  25  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA  57.01  52.64  1:49.65  +3.26  22.06
 19  8  50707 MATT Mario 1979 AUT  56.00  53.65  1:49.65  +3.26  22.06
 21  17  191459 LIZEROUX Julien 1979 FRA  56.32  53.35  1:49.67  +3.28  22.20
 22  57  201896 STEHLE Dominik 1986 GER  56.93  52.96  1:49.89  +3.50  23.69
 23  18  292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA  56.14  53.95  1:50.09  +3.70  25.04
 24  27  192506 MISSILLIER Steve 1984 FRA  56.75  53.49  1:50.24  +3.85  26.06
 25  21  50625 RAICH Benjamin 1978 AUT  56.20  54.12  1:50.32  +3.93  26.60
 26  10  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA  56.35  54.00  1:50.35  +3.96  26.80
 27  32  421860 NORDBOTTEN Jonathan 1989 NOR  56.55  54.59  1:51.14  +4.75  32.15
 28  36  220689 RYDING Dave 1986 GBR  57.05  54.19  1:51.24  +4.85  32.82
 29  43  561148 SKUBE Matic 1988 SLO  57.12  54.72  1:51.84  +5.45  36.88
Disqualified 1st run
 41  201891 SCHMID Philipp 1986 GER
 22  50605 HERBST Reinfried 1978 AUT
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 74  30388 BIRKNER DE MIGUEL Tomas 1997 ARG
 71  290095 BALLERIN Andrea 1989 ITA
 66  150594 TREJBAL Filip 1985 CZE
 65  180718 HENTTINEN Jens 1993 FIN
 64  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO
 63  54170 MATT Michael 1993 AUT
 62  511174 VOGEL Markus 1984 SUI
 61  180567 RASANEN Joonas 1989 FIN
 60  512014 NIEDERBERGER Bernhard 1993 SUI
 59  532138 KASPER Nolan 1989 USA
 58  511127 GINI Marc 1984 SUI
 55  193986 PLACE Francois 1989 FRA
 54  511896 MURISIER Justin 1992 SUI
 53  380335 ZUBCIC Filip 1993 CRO
 52  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR
 51  511908 SCHMIDIGER Reto 1992 SUI
 48  54320 SCHWARZ Marco 1995 AUT
 47  103676 BROWN Phil 1991 CAN
 46  291145 DEVILLE Cristian 1981 ITA
 44  291318 TONETTI Riccardo 1989 ITA
 39  934502 ANKENY Michael 1991 USA
 37  511902 ZENHAEUSERN Ramon 1992 SUI
 35  530837 KELLEY Tim 1986 USA
 34  320266 JUNG Dong-hyun 1988 KOR
 31  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
 26  511983 AERNI Luca 1993 SUI
 24  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica 1979 CRO
 14  422082 FOSS-SOLEVAAG Sebastian 1991 NOR
 11  501101 BYGGMARK Jens 1985 SWE
Did not finish 2nd run
 23  501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton 1985 SWE
Did not finish 1st run
 77  680053 GELASHVILI Jaba 1993 GEO
 76  30266 GASTALDI Sebastiano 1991 ARG
 75  40349 RISHWORTH Mike 1987 AUS
 73  430633 JASICZEK Michal 1994 POL
 72  60160 ALAERTS Kai 1989 BEL
 70  53889 HIRSCHBUEHL Christian 1990 AUT
 69  550054 ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps 1992 LAT
 68  6531063 GINNIS AJ 1994 USA
 67  92562 PRISADOV Stefan 1990 BUL
 56  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
 50  380290 SAMSAL Dalibor 1985 HUN
 49  421849 JOHANSEN Truls 1989 NOR
 45  194262 BUFFET Robin 1991 FRA
 42  561117 KUERNER Miha 1987 SLO
 40  421954 LYSDAHL Espen 1990 NOR
 38  102239 COUSINEAU Julien 1981 CAN

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.