Sölden: Swiss men control opener, Ligety 3rd

The Swiss controlled the opening men's race of the 2009 World Cup season with Daniel Albrecht catching his third career win and the old man, Didier Cuche, taking second. American Ted Ligety held tough in third place as he begins the defense of his Cup GS title. The man he edged last season for that crown, Austrian Benjamin Raich, was close behind in fourth.
Bode Miller, the defending overall champion had a difficult second run but held on for a top 10 finish. American Tim Jitloff posted 20th, claiming his first career World Cup points.
With the men's start an hour later in the day than the women's had been on Saturday, shadows came into play for some of the competitors, but conditions could not have been much better, clear and sunny, with temperatures just above freezing.
The Swiss controlled the opening men's race of the 2009 World Cup season with Daniel Albrecht catching his third career win and the old man, Didier Cuche, taking second. American Ted Ligety held tough in third place as he begins the defense of his Cup GS title. The man he edged last season for that crown, Austrian Benjamin Raich, was close behind in fourth.
Bode Miller, the defending overall champion had a difficult second run but held on for a top 10 finish. American Tim Jitloff posted 20th, claiming his first career World Cup points.

With the men's start an hour later in the day than the women's had been on Saturday, shadows came into play for some of the competitors, but conditions could not have been much better, clear and sunny, with temperatures just above freezing. An estimated 15,000 fans attended.

Albrecht and Cuche, both slower than Ligety or Miller at the top end of the second course, emerged as the class of the field. Both were more than a second ahead of Ligety in third. There were 15 skiers within a second of Ligety.

The much anticipated return of Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal from last year's injury was a bit disappointing as he finished 13th.

The Austrians managed to push four skiers into the top eight. Behind Raich's fourth was Christoph Gruber in sixth, Romed Baumann in seventh and Philipp Schoerghofer eighth. Baumann started 29th and Schoerghofer 37th.

Cuche said he had been hoping to do as well as the top 10 and was "really happy," to have landed on the podium. "When I came back from my injury (2006) I was really sad about the way I skied and was wondering if I could be good in GS again."

That question was answered, and the entire field was relieved to have the first race officially out of the way.

"It's always a big mystery coming to Solden as to how the other guys are skiing," said Ligety, "So getting third is a definite boost of confidence. It's going to be hard to catch the other two [Cuche and Albrecht] because they were so fast."

U.S. Coach Sasha Rearick echoed the sentiment. "Coming into the first race you never know where you stand," he said. "You think you are skiing well, you think you are doing good stuff, but you haven't trained with anyone so you don't know. We have had the prep period we wanted."

He added, "Ted skied well. But it was not his best skiing. He was conservative in places where he could dominate the World."

Miller told coach Forest Carey his skis went "soft" in the second run and that the tails did not respond as he had expected. Still, he completed the course and scored points.

While it was a good day for the Swiss, no one was happier in the finish than Jitloff.

"I was pretty nervous for that second run," said Jitloff, a native of Truckee, Calif. "Not super nervous, but just kind of like the "out-of-body" feeling a little bit in the middle. I was like, 'What am I doing,?' but then I got it back together toward the bottom."

The bottom of the course was tricky as the sun cast long shadows over the final pitch to the finish. But Jitloff wasn't about to let any shadows keep him from his first Cup points.

"I got it out of the way, and it is a monkey off the back. … I'm feeling more and more comfortable with this stage and also my approach is getting better every time. I needed (this finish)."

He's looking forward to up coming GS's on the Cup schedule as he feels the hills will suit him better.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men's Giant Slalom, Soelden, Austria, Oct. 26, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/binding
1 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
3 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Fanara, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Gruber, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
7 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Schoerghofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia

Men's Giant Slalom, Soelden, Austria, Oct. 26, 2008. … It is the first of 38 races on the men's 2008-09 World Cup season. … It is the first of eight scheduled Giant Slaloms. … It is the 24th World Cup GS held at Soelden. … All of them are October "openers." Conditions were bright and sunny, but shadows did come into play as the men's race was held a hour later than the women's.
It is the third career World Cup win for Daniel Albrecht, his first since winning two last season at Beaver Creek (cmb and GS). … It is just the second win at Soelden for a Swiss, the last coming from Steve Locher Oct. 27, 1996. …
It is the 43rd career World Cup podium for 34 year old Didier Cuche, his eighth in GS. … Six of those eight have come before the end of December. … He has never been better than seventh at Solden previously. … The Swiss last went one-two Jan. 5, 2008 at Adelboden in GS with Marc Berthod first and Albrecht second.
It is the 13th career World Cup podium for Ted Ligety, the seventh in GS. … He was second at Soelden last season behind Aksel Svindal. … He had been fourth after the first run and was faster than either Albrecht or Cuche through the top of the course.
Bode Mille
r, fifth after the first run, struggled after the mid-point and dropped to 10th. He had not completed a race at Soelden worse than fifth previously. … Tim Jitloff collected his first World Cup points in 20th place. … Jean-Philippe Roy posted 29th for Canada. … No other North Americans made it past the first run with four failing to finish (Canadians John Kucera, Francois Bourque and Robbie Dixon and U.S. skier Jake Zamansky) and five failing to qualify (Erik Guay, Julien Cousineau and Stefan Guay for Canada, Erik Schlopy and Jimmy Cochran for the U.S.).
The Swiss grabbed the early lead in the men's Nations Cup 229-192 over Austria. The U.S. is third at 97. Combined with the women's result Austria has its customary position on top 380-274 over the Swiss with the U.S. third at 158.

Men's World Cup Giant Slalom—Solden

Did not finish 1st run: BYDLINSKI Maciej (POL), OLSSON Hans (SWE), KANTOLA Petteri (FIN), BJERKESTRAND Iver (NOR), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), DIXON Robbie (CAN), VILETTA Sandro (SUI), ZAHROBSKY Petr (CZE), MYHRER Andre (SWE), OLSSON Matts (SWE), ZAMANSKY Jake (USA), COVILI Frederic (FRA), BOURQUE Francois (CAN), DEFAGO Didier (SUI), KUCERA John (CAN), REICHELT Hannes (AUT)

Did not qualify 1st run: CAPDEVILA Guillem (SPA), BABUSIAK Jaroslav (SVK), SASAKI Akira (JPN), SKUBE Matic (SLO), ZUEV Stepan (RUS), EISATH Florian (ITA), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER), RAJALA Jukka (FIN), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), GUAY Stefan (CAN), RAINER Niklas (SWE), INNERHOFER Christof (ITA), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas (FRA), FILL Peter (ITA), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), PLONER Alexander (ITA), BURTIN Raphael (FRA), GUFLER Michael (ITA), SCHLOPY Erik (USA), LEINO Jukka (FIN), LIZEROUX Julien (FRA), BUECHEL Marco (LIE), GUAY Erik (CAN), KOSTELIC Ivica (CRO), GOERGL Stephan (AUT), MAIER Hermann (AUT)