Sestriere: Cuche gets a GS win, Jitloff fifth
Fresh off a couple of medals from the World Championships, Didier Cuche grabbed his first World Cup win of the season taking the giant slalom at Sestriere, Italy, Saturday and halting a bid for a podium sweep from Austria.
Stephan Goergl, who did not make the Austrian championship team, was second, .61 behind the old Swiss Cuche, 34. Benjamin Raich kept his shot at the overall crown alive placing third and Romed Baumann was fourth.
With Bode Miller skipping the race, when Ted Ligety went out in the first run many thought the day was over for the U.S., but Tim Jitloff ripped the fastest run of the afternoon and moved up from 18th after the opening heat to place fifth, ten placings better than his previous best result.Fresh off a couple of medals from the World Championships, Didier Cuche grabbed his first World Cup win of the season taking the giant slalom at Sestriere, Italy, Saturday and halting a bid for a podium sweep from Austria.
Stephan Goergl, who did not make the Austrian championship team, was second, .61 behind the old Swiss Cuche, 34. Benjamin Raich kept his shot at the overall crown alive placing third and Romed Baumann was fourth.
With Bode Miller skipping the race, when Ted Ligety went out in the first run many thought the day was over for the U.S., but Tim Jitloff ripped the fastest run of the afternoon and moved up from 18th after the opening heat to place fifth, ten placings better than his previous best result.
Like the SG course he won his gold medal on in Val d’Isere the Kandahar Banchetta track at Sestriere was steep and icy, just as Cuche likes it. “It was perfect for me,” he told reporters, a point evidenced by his winning margin of .66.
As at Val d’Isere Cuche told Austrian reporters his skis were ideal for the conditions, saying “they were exactly what I wanted.”
For Goergl, left off the Austrian championship team, the result was a bit of vindication. “I knew that I am fast and have a giant joy that I proved it here.”
Raich has returned his gaze toward the possibility of picking up the overall World Cup trophy. He is now just 26 point behind Ivica Kostelic who is struggling with back pain and left Val d’Isere for treatment, skipping his best event.
Ligety ran into trouble late on the course, exiting at the same point newly crowned World GS champ Carlo Janka went out. “Ted was attacking hard,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “He leaned in after a little roll over,” and that was all she wrote.
The amazing showing from Jitloff was stunning to the casual viewer, but ski team personnel had been expecting the break through. Jitloff was coming directly from Europa Cup action at Monte Pora where he had finished third in rugged, rutted, icy conditions.
“Being on the podium at Europa Cup is not an easy thing to do,” Jitloff said before his World Cup race. “There hadn’t been an American man in that position in like six years since Dane Spencer did it. We don’t start in the points, so I was super motivated to go out and use it as training.”
He said the Sestriere track was long and tiring, but said he liked the hill a lot.
“It had all aspects, bank turns, some flatter sections, sidehills. … I like a mixed bag of stuff. It caters more to my style,” Jitloff said. He said he felt confident at the start of the second run and added, “My goal for today was top 15. I didn’t do anything special of anything like that. It was just putting two clean runs together. I knew I had the potential to be in there with the best guys.”
There was a second U.S. personal best recorded by Jake Zamansky finishing 15th. “Jake moved up quite a bit in the second run and had to make a big recovery in the middle,” said Rearick. “We were very pleased both guys did a great job especially given Ted went out.”
The second course was set by U.S. coach Peter Korfiatis and it was the first World Cup course he has set.
“He did a really nice job,” said Rearick, “he used the terrain and was as creative as he could be.”
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Giant Slalom, Sestriere, Italy, Feb. 21, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
2 Goergl, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
3 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Jitloff, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Jansrud, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Sandell, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
Men’s Giant Slalom, Sestriere, Italy, Feb. 21. … It is the 27th race of the men’s 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the sixth of eight giant slaloms on the schedule. … The first since Adelboden, Switzerland Jan. 10. … It is the first of two races for this stop, including a super combined Sunday. … It is the 57th World Cup at Sestriere including a knock-out slalom for each gender (2002) and a combined split with Val d’Isere in 1985. … It is the ninth Cup GS at Sestriere. … The fifth men’s GS.
It is the ninth career World Cup win for Didier Cuche. … His second in GS and his first in GS since Jan. 5, 2002 at Adelboden. … It is his second win of the season, the other bringing a gold medal in SG at the World Championships in Val d’Isere. … It is the 11th World Cup win of the season for Switzerland and fourth in GS (fifth counting Worlds).
It is the fifth career World Cup podium for Stephan Goergl and third in GS. … It is his first podium of the season, the last previous coming Jan. 7, 2006 at Adelboden.
It is the 79th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … His 29th in GS. … It is his first World Cup podium at Sestriere. … He did win both the Olympic slalom and GS at Sestriere in 2006. … It is his sixth podium of the season including a silver medal in GS from World Championships.
It is the first career World Cup top 10 for Tim Jitloff. … His previous best had been 15th in slalom at Alta Badia in December. … He has just four scoring result in World Cup, all from this season. … It was also a career best result for Jake Zamansky of three career scores all from this season. … It is the ninth best career result for Jean-Philippe Roy and his best this season. … All five of his scoring results this season have come in GS. … It is the ninth career World Cup GS score for John Kucera. … It is his first placing in GS this season.
Ivica Kostelic (11th in race) maintains his hold on the World Cup overall standings 766-740 over Benjamin Raich. … Jean-Baptiste Grange (13th in race) is third at 726. … Top American on the overall chart is Bode Miller (did not race) in eighth with 517pts. … Raich holds the lead in the GS standings 346-334 over Cuche. … Ted Ligety (DNF 1st) is third at 241.
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 7 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 1:22.76 | 1:26.81 | 2:49.57 | 0.00 |
2 | 25 | 50600 | GOERGL Stephan | 1978 | AUT | 1:24.04 | 1:26.19 | 2:50.23 | 3.43 |
3 | 3 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:23.73 | 1:26.73 | 2:50.46 | 4.62 |
4 | 23 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:23.27 | 1:27.35 | 2:50.62 | 5.45 |
5 | 34 | 534959 | JITLOFF Tim | 1985 | USA | 1:25.10 | 1:25.58 | 2:50.68 | 5.76 |
6 | 13 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 1:24.17 | 1:26.53 | 2:50.70 | 5.86 |
7 | 31 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:25.22 | 1:25.77 | 2:50.99 | 7.37 |
8 | 5 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:23.75 | 1:27.25 | 2:51.00 | 7.42 |
9 | 10 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:24.42 | 1:26.61 | 2:51.03 | 7.58 |
10 | 26 | 180534 | SANDELL Marcus | 1987 | FIN | 1:25.31 | 1:25.74 | 2:51.05 | 7.68 |
11 | 15 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:24.36 | 1:26.72 | 2:51.08 | 7.84 |
12 | 11 | 191423 | RICHARD Cyprien | 1979 | FRA | 1:25.23 | 1:25.91 | 2:51.14 | 8.15 |
13 | 14 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 1:24.61 | 1:26.59 | 2:51.20 | 8.46 |
14 | 19 | 191750 | FANARA Thomas | 1981 | FRA | 1:24.60 | 1:26.63 | 2:51.23 | 8.61 |
15 | 43 | 533397 | ZAMANSKY Jake | 1981 | USA | 1:25.24 | 1:26.09 | 2:51.33 | 9.13 |
16 | 4 | 292000 | BLARDONE Massimiliano | 1979 | ITA | 1:23.74 | 1:27.65 | 2:51.39 | 9.45 |
17 | 49 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 1:25.22 | 1:26.32 | 2:51.54 | 10.22 |
18 | 30 | 511352 | VILETTA Sandro | 1986 | SUI | 1:25.94 | 1:25.61 | 2:51.55 | 10.28 |
19 | 36 | 101895 | ROY Jean-Philippe | 1979 | CAN | 1:25.60 | 1:26.15 | 2:51.75 | 11.31 |
20 | 20 | 51007 | SCHOERGHOFER Philipp | 1983 | AUT | 1:25.60 | 1:26.16 | 2:51.76 | 11.37 |
21 | 1 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 1:23.76 | 1:28.04 | 2:51.80 | 11.57 |
22 | 18 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:24.88 | 1:26.98 | 2:51.86 | 11.88 |
23 | 9 | 292120 | SIMONCELLI Davide | 1979 | ITA | 1:24.91 | 1:27.03 | 2:51.94 | 12.30 |
24 | 32 | 51159 | NOESIG Christoph | 1985 | AUT | 1:25.49 | 1:26.52 | 2:52.01 | 12.66 |
25 | 33 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 1:25.47 | 1:26.69 | 2:52.16 | 13.44 |
26 | 17 | 102873 | KUCERA John | 1984 | CAN | 1:25.00 | 1:27.23 | 2:52.23 | 13.80 |
27 | 29 | 420148 | KARLSEN Truls Ove | 1975 | NOR | 1:24.81 | 1:27.58 | 2:52.39 | 14.63 |
28 | 22 | 191746 | DE TESSIERES Gauthier | 1981 | FRA | 1:25.75 | 1:26.71 | 2:52.46 | 15.00 |
29 | 27 | 290693 | PLONER Alexander | 1978 | ITA | 1:25.53 | 1:27.02 | 2:52.55 | 15.46 |
Disqualified 1st run | |||||||||
24 | 190677 | CHENAL Joel | 1973 | FRA | |||||
Did not qualify 1st run | |||||||||
67 | 370022 | JENOT Olivier | 1988 | MON | |||||
66 | 410198 | HOWDEN Angus | 1981 | NZE | |||||
65 | 102435 | JANYK Michael | 1982 | CAN | |||||
63 | 380298 | SIROKI Tin | 1987 | CRO | |||||
62 | 294911 | PATSCHEIDER Hagen | 1988 | ITA | |||||
60 | 561032 | JAZBEC Janez | 1984 | SLO | |||||
59 | 510747 | GRUENENFELDER Tobias | 1977 | SUI | |||||
58 | 100115 | GRANDI Thomas | 1972 | CAN | |||||
56 | 421859 | NILSEN Markus | 1989 | NOR | |||||
54 | 501026 | RAINER Niklas | 1983 | SWE | |||||
53 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | |||||
52 | 201702 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | |||||
51 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | |||||
48 | 192653 | FREY Thomas | 1984 | FRA | |||||
47 | 511127 | GINI Marc | 1984 | SUI | |||||
46 | 290896 | HELL Wolfgang | 1980 | ITA | |||||
45 | 191778 | PICHOT Sebastien | 1981 | FRA | |||||
42 | 534040 | COCHRAN Jimmy | 1981 | USA | |||||
41 | 501324 | OLSSON Matts | 1988 | SWE | |||||
39 | 192504 | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1984 | FRA | |||||
38 | 560425 | VAJDIC Bernard | 1980 | SLO | |||||
37 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | |||||
35 | 180292 | LEINO Jukka | 1978 | FIN | |||||
21 | 50451 | GRUBER Christoph | 1976 | AUT | |||||
12 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | |||||
Did not finish 2nd run | |||||||||
16 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | |||||
Did not finish 1st run | |||||||||
64 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | |||||
61 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | |||||
57 | 193986 | PLACE Francois | 1989 | FRA | |||||
55 | 150421 | ZAHROBSKY Petr | 1980 | CZE | |||||
50 | 290910 | LONGHI Omar | 1980 | ITA | |||||
44 | 51332 | SCHEIBER Florian | 1987 | AUT | |||||
40 | 102239 | COUSINEAU Julien | 1981 | CAN | |||||
28 | 560406 | GORZA Ales | 1980 | SLO | |||||
8 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | |||||
6 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | |||||
2 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI |