Svindal sweeps Lake Louise

By Published On: November 25th, 2012Comments Off on Svindal sweeps Lake Louise

Aksel Lund Svindal is on fire, and he knows it.

Svindal became the third man, after Stephan Eberharter (2002) and Bode Miller (2006) to sweep the races at Lake Louise claiming the super G Sunday (Nov.25). His run was every bit as impressive as that  he used to take the downhill Saturday. His margin over runner-up Adrien Theaux was .86.

Joachim Puchner got third, by a scant .01 over fourth place finisher Ted Ligety who hadn’t taken a training run on the hill and had put down the early lead, starting second.

“This has been a good weekend,” understated Svindal. “When things are good you can get after it, when they are not like that going fast seems impossible. Most racers, including myself, we don’t have the chance to win World Cup’s every day. When you feell you have a chance you have to get after it.”

While both Puchner and Theaux said they had watched video of Svindal’s downhill run in preparation for the super G. Svindal said he watched last year’s super G.

He was not about to make any bold predictions about the rest of t he tour however. “Right here, now, it looks pretty good. But the next weekend is a new race. When you have it you go fast and then all of a sudden you are in the tank.”

As he had the previous day, Svindal came down taking the wins away from early runners. Ted Ligety, starting second, had held the lead through ten skiers, until Puchner edged it away from him. Theaux, running just ahead of Svindal, squeezed another half a tenth out of the course. Svindal then blew them all away.

Ligety said he had accomplished what he had wanted to, even allowing, “It was definitely better than I thought it would be. I skied really well at the top. … the bottom half I just really wasn’t looking out for those rolls and was getting thrown all over the place. If the race had ended a little higher I might have done better.”

Canadian Erik Guay just got bumped out of the top 10 and was reasonably pleased with how he had done over the weekend. “I have to keep it in perspective. If you had asked me a week ago I never would have thought I could do this well.”

John Kucera made good his return to racing in 14th and Jan Hudec survived a near crash to place 18th. Americans Andrew Weibrecht and Ryan Cochran-Siegle finished 19th and 20th respectively.

“Last year was kind of frustrating. I came down in the same place and got knocked out and I didn’t want to do that again. I’m really not that far out (1.8) especially with how much Aksel won by. I’m happy,” said Cochran-Siegle.

“It’s a sweet (team) dynamic. Andi (Evers) been incredibly helpful. He understands skiing so well and is just super simple about advice. It’s exactly what you need to hear.”

Svindal photo by Gepa

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup super G, Lake Louise, Canada, Nov. 25, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
2 Theaux, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Puchner, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
5 Heel, Head/Head/Head
6 Mayer, Head/Head/Head
7 Romar, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Franz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Marsaglia, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Kueng, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Men’s World Cup super G, Lake Louise, Canada, Nov. 25, 2012
. … It is the seventh of 74 races on the 2012-13 World Cup season. … The fourth of 36 scheduled men’s races. … The first of six scheduled men’s super G’s. … It is the second of five races set at Lake Louise, and the final men’s Cup race at the site this season. … It is the 86th Cup race hosted at Lake Louise (plus half of a combined) and the 32nd super G.

It is the 18th career World Cup win for Aksel Lund Svindal, matching Lasse Kjus for second all time on the Norwegian win list. … It is his seventh SG win (a Norwegian record). … It is his fifth career win at Lake Louise and second of the season.

It is the seventh career World Cup podium placing for Adrien Theaux. … All of them coming since December of 2010. … It is his fourth super G podium and second at Lake Louise having placed third last season.

It is the third career World Cup podium for Joachim Puchner and second in super G. … All of his podiums have come since last March.

It is the second best career super G result for Ted Ligety after a second scored at Val d’Isere Dec. 12, 2009. … It is his third score of the season in three attempts and second best finish of the season after the win in GS at Soelden. … Erik Guay matches his 59th best World Cup finish. … It is his second result of the season and matches his tenth best of 20 World Cup scores at Lake Louise. … John Kucera matches his 29th best Cup result. … It is his first Cup score since Nov. 28, 2009, also at Lake Louise. … Jan Hudec matches his 32nd best Cup placing. … It is his second score of the season having also tallied in the downhill here. … It is the first score of the season for Andrew Weibrecht. … his sixth best career SG results and his second best SG result at Lake Louise having placed 12th in 2009. … It is a career best Cup finish for Ryan Cochran-Siegle and his second career best finish of the weekend. … It is the third career Cup scoring result for Dustin Cook in three different disciplines. … It is the second career World Cup score for Thomas Biesemeyer and a career best by one placing.

Svindal takes the lead of the World Cup overall standings 200-170 over Ted Ligety. … Marcel Hirscher (did not race) is third at 140. … Guay is top Canadian in tenth with 64pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 732-410 over Italy with France in third at 323pts. … The US is fifth with 289pts and Canada seventh with 144pts.

Lake Louise (CAN)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Super G
Nov. 25, 2012

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  17  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:34.96  0.00
 2  16  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:35.81  9.40
 3  12  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   1:35.86  9.95
 4  2  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:35.87  10.06
 5  7  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:36.06  12.16
 6  13  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   1:36.15  13.16
 7  8  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   1:36.18  13.49
 8  14  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   1:36.19  13.60
 9  9  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   1:36.25  14.26
 10  4  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:36.27  14.49
 11  10  102263 GUAY Erik&nbsp
;
1981  CAN   1:36.31  14.93
 12  25  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   1:36.32  15.04
 13  24  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:36.34  15.26
 14  3  102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   1:36.36  15.48
 15  22  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:36.37  15.59
 16  29  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:36.41  16.03
 17  19  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:36.48  16.81
 18  18  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:36.65  18.69
 19  23  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   1:36.69  19.13
 20  37  6530319 COCHRAN-SIEGLE Ryan  1992  USA   1:36.76  19.90
 20  6  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:36.76  19.90
 22  20  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:36.78  20.12
 23  28  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:36.79  20.23
 24  15  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:36.80  20.35
 25  11  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI   1:36.95  22.00
 26  31  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:37.00  22.56
 27  5  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:37.16  24.33
 28  40  100558 COOK Dustin  1989  CAN   1:37.25  25.32
 29  38  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA   1:37.26  25.43
 30  56  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   1:37.27  25.54
 31  34  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey  1984  CAN   1:37.49  27.97
 32  50  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:37.51  28.20
 33  33  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA   1:37.61  29.30
 34  42  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   1:37.63  29.52
 34  30  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:37.63  29.52
 36  54  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:37.67  29.97
 36  32  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:37.67  29.97
 38  44  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:37.69  30.19
 39  58  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:37.74  30.74
 40  27  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:37.84  31.84
 41  1  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:37.85  31.96
 42  21  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:37.94  32.95
 43  36  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   1:37.99  33.50
 44  26  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:38.00  33.61
 45  39  202059 FERSTL Josef  1988  GER   1:38.04  34.06
 46  43  421650 BJERKESTRAND Iver  1987  NOR   1:38.07  34.39
 47  61  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   1:38.16  35.38
 48  59  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   1:38.37  37.71
 49  53  191778 PICHOT Sebastien  1981  FRA   1:38.47  38.81
 50  46  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   1:38.48  38.92
 51  49  481705 GLEBOV Alexander  1983  RUS   1:38.53  39.47
 52  51  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   1:38.55  39.70
 53  48  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:38.57  39.92
 54  41  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA   1:38.60  40.25
 55  57  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:38.61  40.36
 56  55  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   1:38.67  41.02
 57  35  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar  1991  AUT   1:38.88  43.34
 58  47  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   1:38.89  43.46
 59  52  561217 KOSI Klemen  1991  SLO   1:39.44  49.54
 60  45  934643 GOLDBERG Jared  1991  USA   1:39.76  53.07
 61  60  491151 DE LA CUESTA Paul  1988  SPA   1:39.83  53.85
 62  63  400281 VAN HEEK Marvin  1991  NED   1:39.95  55.18
 63  65  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   1:40.16  57.50
Did not finish 1st run
   67  20324 OLIVERAS Marc  1991  AND     
   66  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE     
   64  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej  1988  POL     
   62  220874 BALDWIN TJ  1990  GBR   

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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.”