World Cup Finals start Wednesday with downhills
In near perfect conditions the Austrians swept the podium of the men’s training run at World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Maria Hoefl-Riesch, Tina Weirather and Anna Fenninger went one-two-three in the women’s training. Slovene Tina Maze, the star of the season, was the fourth fastest.
Weirather, and the fastest man, Hannes Reichelt both reportedly missed gates.
The downhills will kick off the Finals Wednesday (March 13) The reduced fields (the top 25 skiers in discipline plus those with over 500 points overall and the junior world champion in discipline) will allow both the men’s and women’s races to be held the same day.
Travis Ganong had a strong training run recording the seventh fastest time among the men. Having wrapped up the GS title, Ted Ligety plans to race all of the events at Finals and placed 15th on the day. Steven Nyman and Marco Sullivan were well down the order. The Canadians were led by Manuel Osborne-Paradis in 14th.
The American women’s group was led by Leanne Smith in eighth. Julia Mancuso was 12th and Stacey Cook 15th. Laurenne Ross did not start after a crash in the women’s first training run yesterday.
Mancuso, third in the overall standings, has set a goal to win one of the last two speed races. “My goal for this season is still to win a race and I feel like I if I can do that, then I’ll put myself in a good position to challenge for the super G globe. I’m going to fight hard and see what I can do. On this hill you have to be on line and you have to go for it. It’s steep and it doesn’t let off. You have to be completely committed.”
The men’s downhill is the one discipline where the title outcome is far from decided. Four men could win the crown including tour leader Aksel Lund Svindal, Klaus Kroell, Dominik Paris and Christof Innerhofer. None of them was in the top three of training.
Hannes Reichelt led the way (missing a gate), by .71 ahead of the rest of the field. Matthias Mayer was second and Max Franz was third.
Innerhofer posted the fourth fastest time, Svindal was sixth, Paris tenth and Kroell 18th.
Lenzerheide (SUI)
Training
Men’s Downhill
March 12, 2013
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 18 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | 1:30.74 | |
2 | 3 | 53902 | MAYER Matthias | 1990 | AUT | 1:31.45 | |
3 | 11 | 53817 | FRANZ Max | 1989 | AUT | 1:31.70 | |
4 | 14 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:31.80 | |
5 | 7 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | 1:31.88 | |
6 | 12 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:32.16 | |
7 | 4 | 530874 | GANONG Travis | 1988 | USA | 1:32.27 | |
8 | 2 | 51332 | SCHEIBER Florian | 1987 | AUT | 1:32.61 | |
9 | 15 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 1:32.74 | |
10 | 16 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:32.87 | |
11 | 13 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:33.09 | |
11 | 6 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:33.09 | |
13 | 21 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:33.14 | |
14 | 9 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 1:33.20 | |
15 | 24 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:33.22 | |
16 | 5 | 51327 | PUCHNER Joachim | 1987 | AUT | 1:33.26 | |
17 | 1 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 1:33.45 | |
18 | 22 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:33.65 | |
19 | 20 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:33.67 | |
20 | 10 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:33.84 | |
21 | 25 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:34.05 | |
22 | 17 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | 1:34.14 | |
23 | 19 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 1:34.77 | |
24 | 23 | 102271 | HUDEC Jan | 1981 | CAN | 1:35.44 | |
25 | 8 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 1:42.44 |
Lenzerheide (SUI)
Training
Ladies’ Downhill
March 12, 2013
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 14 | 206001 | HOEFL-RIESCH Maria | 1984 | GER | 1:34.20 | |
2 | 15 | 355050 | WEIRATHER Tina | 1989 | LIE | 1:34.38 | |
3 | 12 | 55947 | FENNINGER Anna | 1989 | AUT | 1:34.48 | |
4 | 16 | 565243 | MAZE Tina | 1983 | SLO | 1:34.51 | |
5 | 13 | 195983 | ROLLAND Marion | 1982 | FRA | 1:34.54 | |
6 | 11 | 516138 | GUT Lara | 1991 | SUI | 1:34.80 | |
7 | 21 | 55576 | GOERGL Elisabeth | 1981 | AUT | 1:34.87 | |
8 | 8 | 538305 | SMITH Leanne | 1987 | USA | 1:35.30 | |
9 | 4 | 55766 | STERZ Regina | 1985 | AUT | 1:35.35 | |
10 | 2 | 515782 | KAUFMANN-ABDERHALDEN Marianne | 1986 | SUI | 1:35.64 | |
11 | 17 | 296008 | MERIGHETTI Daniela | 1981 | ITA | 1:35.73 | |
12 | 9 | 537545 | MANCUSO Julia | 1984 | USA | 1:35.99 | |
13 | 22 | 515747 | GISIN Dominique | 1985 | SUI | 1:36.28 | |
14 | 24 | 515766 | SUTER Fabienne | 1985 | SUI | 1:36.33 | |
15 | 10 | 537582 | COOK Stacey | 1984 | USA | 1:36.65 | |
16 | 23 | 565360 | STUHEC Ilka | 1990 | SLO | 1:36.92 | |
17 | 20 | 515573 | AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi | 1981 | SUI | 1:37.30 | |
17 | 19 | 296472 | FANCHINI Elena | 1985 | ITA | 1:37.30 | |
17 | 18 | 205218 | REBENSBURG Viktoria | 1989 | GER | 1:37.30 | |
20 | 3 | 55913 | MOSER Stefanie | 1988 | AUT | 1:38.09 | |
21 | 1 | 197295 | PIOT Jennifer | 1992 | FRA | 1:38.86 | |
Did not start 1st run | |||||||
7 | 538573 | ROSS Laurenne | 1988 | USA | |||
6 | 495318 | RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina | 1981 | SPA | |||
Did not finish 1st run | |||||||
5 | 196460 | MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie | 1985 | FRA |