Swedes dazzle under Zagreb Cup lights; Ligety sixth

Make no mistake; Andre Myhrer won the VIP Snow Queen men’s night slalom at Zagreb, but the star of the night was awarded to Mattias Hargin.

Hargin, the last qualifier and so first racer of the second heat, took full advantage of a fresh course and put up a time barely challenged until Ted Ligety raced 14 skiers later. The list of slalom stars strung out after Ligety was impressive: Manfred Pranger, Felix Neureuther, Marcel Hirscher, Reinfried Herbst, Manfred Moelgg and Julien Lizeroux among them.

It wasn’t until the start house was down to four competitors that Hargin was unseated by fellow Swede Andre Myhrer. The crowd at Croatia’s lone men’s stop hit a feverish pitch for Ivica Kostelic, the first run’s runner-up. He fell short by a tenth of a second.

Giuliano Razzoli, the first run winner, and the defending men’s Snow Queen champ, charged but had a slight hiccup near the end of his run and dipped to fourth. Andre Myhrer had his second career win, the first coming at Beaver Creek in the early stretches of the 2007 season. Croatia had Kostelic in second.  And Swede got it’s first two-man World Cup podium in 18 years as Hargin’s early round heroics held up for third.

Ligety posted sixth on the evening, his best slalom mark since 2008. David Chodounsky was the only other North American finisher in 20th place, finally collecting his first World Cup points.

“It is great to have won,” said Myhrer, crediting the exceptional run of Hargin with providing the inspiration he needed. “I saw then that it was possible,” he told Reuters.

The day was fulfilling for the U.S. squad. Ligety’s sixth was the best men’s result ever on the hill by a long shot. In fact, Chodounsky was only one place off the previous best U.S. men’s mark.

Ligety said he wasn’t surprised, but he was definitely pleased. “I’ve been trying to get my slalom going for a long time now. First run felt pretty medicore and then second run the snow softened up a little bit and I think that kind of helped me to feel comfortable enough
to push it.”

“Hargin must have absolutely crushed it,” he said, “because he was stupid fast.” Ligety said he would try to build on this piece of slalom success though he said he was more concerned with trying to get to the next races at Adelboden in time.

Chodnounsky said gaining points in the race was “a huge relief,” and said the confidence gained would help him to charge is future slaloms. “Hopefully I can finish in the top 30 in the world by the end of the year.”

Gate coach Mike Day said Chodounsky’s finish will bring the U.S. another slalom starter. “It was a huge breakthrough for David,” Day said. “He had a couple of mistakes but plowed through them. He did a great job. We’re getting another spot back for the nation and that is important because our guys are extremely fast, they just haven’t had the opportunity to show it to the World Cup yet.”

The Croatian stop for the night slalom in Zagreb was conceived as a women’s event, to highlight the success of Janica Kostelic, the Croate star and sister of Ivica. Hence the “Snow Queen” moniker of the hugely successful race on the outskirts of the nations largest city.

The success of the event attracted the men’s tour and now, for the fourth straight year, both genders have made the motorcade ride through the streets of the city to the Crveni Spust (Red Downhill) race hill.

Myhrer photo by Gepa.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Men’s World Cup slalom, Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 6, 2011
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/
2 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Hargin, Nordica/Nordica/
4 Razzoli, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
5 Deville, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
7 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
8 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
9 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s World Cup slalom (night) Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 6, 2011. … It is the 15th race of the men’s 38 race 2011 World Cup schedule (plus a city event). … The 13th held. … It is the third of ten cheduled slaloms. … It is the 11th World Cup at Zagreb (all slaloms) and the fourth men’s race. Winning margin is .10 of a second. … top seven skiers are within the same second.

It is the second career World Cup victory for Andre Myhrer, the first a slalom at Beaver Creek Dec. 3, 2006. … The race marked the first time he has completed a Cup race at Zagreb. … It is his second podium placing of the season having finished second at Levi, Nov. 14.

It is the 36th career World Cup podium result for Ivica Kostelic. … His 27th in slalom and the third time he has finished second at Zagreb. … It is his third podium of the season including the win of the Munich parallel Jan. 2. … He was also third at Levi.

It is the first career World Cup podium for Mattias Hargin. … His previous best was fourth at Levi Nov. 15, 2009. … It is the first time the Swede’s have had two men on a World Cup podium since Johan Wallner was second and Fredrik Nyberg third in GS at Oppdal March 23, 1993. … It was Hargin’s second score of the season, the other an 11th at Levi Nov. 14

It is the 41st top six placing for Ted Liget. … his 11th in slalom. … It is his best Cup slalom finish since Jan. 22, 2008 when he was fourth at Schladming. … It is his fifth top 10 of the season including a ninth place finish in the parallel at Munich and three GS wins. … It is the first career scoring result for David Chodounsky. … He is the 17th American to score this season.

Michael Walchhofer (did not race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 409-395 over Silvan Zurbriggen (30th in race). … Ted Ligety holds third at 376. … Top Canadian overall is Manuel Osborne-Paradis (did not race) in 29th with 116pts. … Myhrer takes over control of the slalom standings 189-153 over Kostelic. … Jean-Baptiste Grange (12th in race) is third at 122pts. … Julien Cousineau is the top North American on the slalom list in 11th with 77pts. … Ligety the top U.S. skier in 17th with 55pts. … Austrian leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 2191-1469 over Switzerland. … France is third at 1047. … Italy fourth at 1000. … The U.S. sits fifth with 663 and Canada is eighth with 534pts.