Ivica Kostelic was near perfection in the first run of the Adelboden World Cup slalom Sunday (Jan. 9) and Marcel Hirscher was near perfection in the second run.
The first racer on the course Kostelic attacked putting up a first run time that no one came close to then watched as the Chuenisbaergli track claimed 25 racers, including Julien Lizeroux, Benni Raich, Manfred Moelgg, Julien Cousineau, Giuliano Razzoli and Americans Ted Ligety and Bode Miller.
With a first run cushion bigger than the living room couch (.78), Kostelic skied a safe and well calculated second run to secure his 13th career World Cup win and his fourth consecutive top five finish and jump into the lead for the World Cup’s overall title.
Hirscher took second and both men were a second ahead of the rest of the field.
“On this hill,” Kostelic told Reuters, “you have to find the right doses of speed and tactics.”
Austrians excelled, getting Hirscher’s second, third place from Reinfried Herbst and fourth from Mario Matt who recorded the fastest second run.
“I risked everything,” said Hirscher, still recovering from a bout of flu, “I wanted to win and thought it was possible if Kostelic makes a small mistake.” Still, he said that after the “bankruptcies,” of the first leg of the season, second place looked pretty good.
Canadian Michael Janyk posted fifth, his seventh trip to the top five and first score of the season. He was joined by teammates Brad Spence in 17th and Trevor White in 20th for a three pronged Cowboy tally.
“The second run was a total battle,” said Janyk, “nothing came easy.”
Spence said the result helped to soothe the frustration the slalom group had felt after getting shut out in Zagreb. “I think it was really important for us to come in here and throw down the hammer like we knew we could,” he said. “Hopefully things are looking up now.”
The U.S. had Will Brandenburg with a careful second run to preserve a 24th place result, and his first World Cup points. David Chodounsky joined Miller and Ligety on the first run DNF list.
“Snow conditions were very difficult first run on a course that was pretty tough,” said Brandenburg. “I just tried to ski fast up top and then get down that pitch and see where I stood. … Adelboden is not an easy place to earn your first World Cup points.”
Or your 9,491st point as Bode Miller learned with an unfortunate straddle.
“They were very challenging conditions, especially for slalom,” said U.S. coach Mike Day. “This hill in perfect conditions is an incredibly challenging slalom and it just became even more difficult with the warm temperatures.”
He said the team showed good interval times on the top of the course, which pleased him, but succumbed to the steep pitch above the finish.
“Ted (Ligety) straddled; unfortunate. Bode straddled; unfortunate,” said Day. “Nolan (Kasper) gave it a really great shot from the back but got his pole caught between his legs. It was a typical slalom day with a high DNF rate. But two slaloms in a row having first World Cup points score is a step in the right direction for us.”
Kostelic photo by Gepa.
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s World Cup slalom, Adelboden, Switzerland, Jan. 9, 2011
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
4 Matt, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
5 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Neureuther, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Missillier, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Byggmark, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
Men’s World Cup slalom, Adelboden, Switzerland, Jan. 9, 2011. … It is the 17th of 39 races on the men’s schedule with one cancelation and one race postponed to March. … It is the 15th men’s race held this season. … It is the fourth of ten scheduled slaloms and the second of five to be held in the month of January. … It is the 49th Cup race hosted at Adelboden and the ninth slalom. … Adelboden hosted a GS in the inaugural World Cup season (1967) but the first Cup slalom at the site was Feb. 20, 2000. … Winning margin was .26 of a second. … top two men were within the same second.
It is the 13th career World Cup win for Ivica Kostelic. … the ninth in slalom (plus a knock out slalom in 2002 and the Munich parallel slalom Jan. 2). … He has hit for the podium cycle in slaloms at Adelboden having finished 2nd in 2002 and 3rd in 2010. … It is his second win and fourth podium of the season.
It is the 12th career Cup podium for Marcel Hirscher. … his sixth in slalom. … and his second in slalom at Adelboden having also placed second last season. … It is his third podium of the season after a win in slalom at Val d’Isere and a third in GS at Beaver Creek.
It is the 15th career World Cup podium for Reinfried Herbst, all in slalom. … nine of his 15 podiums are wins. … It is his second podium at Adelboden having won in 2009. … It is his first podium of the season.
It is the seventh career top five World Cup result for Michael Janyk, all in slalom. … His best previous Adelboden result had been ninth in 2007. … It is his first score of the season. … It is the eighth career World Cup score for Brad Spence, all in slalom. … and his second score of the season having placed 16th at Levi. … It is the seventh career World Cup scoring result for Trevor White, all in slalom. … And his third score of the season. … It is the first career World Cup scoring finish for Will Brandenburg.
Kostelic gains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 504-435 over Aksel Lund Svindal (DNS). … Silvan Zurbriggen (10th in race) is third overall with 421pts. … Ted Ligety (DNF 1st) is the top American overall in fifth place with 379pts. … Manuel Osborne-Paradis (did not race) is the top Canadian in 32nd place with 116pts. … Kostelic leads the slalom standings 253-204 over Andre Myhrer (16th in race). … Hirscher is third in slalom standings with 196pts. … Julien Cousineau (DNF 1st) is the top North American on the slalom list in 13th place with 77pts. … Ligety is the top American in slalom in 20th place with 53pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 2532-1596 over Switzerland with France in third with 1300pts. … The U.S. is seven with 682pts and the Canadians 8th with 604pts.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 1 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 55.24 | 55.66 | 1:50.90 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 9 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 56.02 | 55.14 | 1:51.16 | 1.43 |
| 3 | 5 | 50605 | HERBST Reinfried | 1978 | AUT | 57.68 | 54.51 | 1:52.19 | 7.10 |
| 4 | 43 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 58.07 | 54.38 | 1:52.45 | 8.53 |
| 5 | 13 | 102435 | JANYK Michael | 1982 | CAN | 56.74 | 55.76 | 1:52.50 | 8.80 |
| 6 | 12 | 201702 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 57.09 | 55.56 | 1:52.65 | 9.63 |
| 7 | 26 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 57.09 | 55.63 | 1:52.72 | 10.01 |
| 8 | 17 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 57.36 | 55.48 | 1:52.84 | 10.67 |
| 9 | 27 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 58.02 | 54.86 | 1:52.88 | 10.89 |
| 10 | 4 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 57.26 | 55.64 | 1:52.90 | 11.00 |
| 11 | 24 | 910000 | IMBODEN Urs | 1975 | MDA | 58.60 | 54.56 | 1:53.16 | 12.43 |
| 12 | 38 | 561148 | SKUBE Matic | 1988 | SLO | 58.82 | 54.45 | 1:53.27 | 13.04 |
| 13 | 11 | 501111 | HARGIN Mattias | 1985 | SWE | 56.81 | 56.51 | 1:53.32 | 13.31 |
| 14 | 8 | 50624 | PRANGER Manfred | 1978 | AUT | 56.58 | 56.86 | 1:53.44 | 13.97 |
| 15 | 22 | 501223 | BAECK Axel | 1987 | SWE | 58.08 | 55.46 | 1:53.54 | 14.52 |
| 16 | 7 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 56.71 | 56.84 | 1:53.55 | 14.58 |
| 17 | 29 | 102912 | SPENCE Brad | 1984 | CAN | 58.78 | 55.08 | 1:53.86 | 16.28 |
| 18 | 30 | 301709 | YUASA Naoki | 1983 | JPN | 58.97 | 55.00 | 1:53.97 | 16.89 |
| 19 | 46 | 150594 | TREJBAL Filip | 1985 | CZE | 58.86 | 55.40 | 1:54.26 | 18.48 |
| 20 | 44 | 102922 | WHITE Trevor | 1984 | CAN | 59.00 | 55.34 | 1:54.34 | 18.92 |
| 21 | 40 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | 58.55 | 55.89 | 1:54.44 | 19.47 |
| 22 | 45 | 511896 | MURISIER Justin | 1992 | SUI | 58.95 | 55.67 | 1:54.62 | 20.46 |
| 23 | 71 | 480736 | KHOROSHILOV Alexander | 1984 | RUS | 59.02 | 55.94 | 1:54.96 | 22.33 |
| 24 | 37 | 530165 | BRANDENBURG Will | 1987 | USA | 58.85 | 56.24 | 1:55.09 | 23.05 |
| 25 | 48 | 193347 | TISSOT Maxime | 1986 | FRA | 58.82 | 58.08 | 1:56.90 | 33.00 |
| 26 | 25 | 301312 | SASAKI Akira | 1981 | JPN | 58.30 | 59.77 | 1:58.07 | 39.44 |
| 27 | 18 | 560355 | VALENCIC Mitja | 1978 | SLO | 58.58 | 1:02.74 | 2:01.32 | 57.31 |
| 28 | 52 | 293797 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | 58.35 | 1:11.09 | 2:09.44 | 101.98 |
| Disqualified 2nd run | |||||||||
| 20 | 511127 | GINI Marc | 1984 | SUI | |||||
| Disqualified 1st run | |||||||||
| 39 | 102727 | STUTZ Paul | 1983 | CAN | |||||
| 3 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | |||||
| Did not start 1st run | |||||||||
| 33 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | |||||
| 31 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | |||||
| Did not qualify 1st run | |||||||||
| 77 | 103646 | ZAITSOFF Sasha | 1990 | CAN | |||||
| 75 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | |||||
| 72 | 201896 | STEHLE Dominik | 1986 | GER | |||||
| 69 | 990048 | BORSOTTI Giovanni | 1990 | ITA | |||||
| 68 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | |||||
| 67 | 511908 | SCHMIDIGER Reto | 1992 | SUI | |||||
| 66 | 380290 | SAMSAL Dalibor | 1985 | CRO | |||||
| 64 | 560425 | VAJDIC Bernard | 1980 | SLO | |||||
| 60 | 202462 | DOPFER Fritz | 1987 | GER | |||||
| 59 | 194364 | PINTURAULT Alexis | 1991 | FRA | |||||
| 58 | 192504 | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1984 | FRA | |||||
| 57 | 421669 | HAUGEN Leif Kristian | 1987 | NOR | |||||
| 56 | 532138 | KASPER Nolan | 1989 | USA | |||||
| 53 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | |||||
| 51 | 50981 | HOERL Wolfgang | 1983 | AUT | |||||
| 47 | 511174 | VOGEL Markus | 1984 | SUI | |||||
| 41 | 290732 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | |||||
| 35 | 50547 | SCHOENFELDER Rainer | 1977 | AUT | |||||
| 28 | 501116 | LAHDENPERAE Anton | 1985 | SWE | |||||
| Did not finish 2nd run | |||||||||
| 42 | 180251 | PALANDER Kalle | 1977 | FIN | |||||
| Did not finish 1st run | |||||||||
| 78 | 92562 | PRISADOV Stefan | 1990 | BUL | |||||
| 76 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | |||||
| 74 | 180534 | SANDELL Marcus | 1987 | FIN | |||||
| 73 | 501557 | PIETILAE HOLMNER Johan | 1991 | SWE | |||||
| 70 | 220083 | BAXTER Noel | 1981 | GBR | |||||
| 65 | 193986 | PLACE Francois | 1989 | FRA | |||||
| 63 | 150495 | VRABLIK Martin | 1982 | CZE | |||||
| 62 | 500909 | ANDERSSON Oscar | 1982 | SWE | |||||
| 61 | 193967 | MUFFAT JEANDET Victor | 1989 | FRA | |||||
| 55 | 250127 | BJORGVINSSON Bjorgvin | 1980 | ISL | |||||
| 54 | 501255 | OEHAGEN Johan | 1987 | SWE | |||||
| 50 | 50931 | BECHTER Patrick | 1982 | AUT | |||||
| 49 | 102456 | BIGGS Patrick | 1982 | CAN | |||||
| 36 | 50824 | DREIER Christoph | 1981 | AUT | |||||
| 34 | 534508 | CHODOUNSKY David | 1984 | USA | |||||
| 32 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | |||||
| 23 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | |||||
| 21 | 421400 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | |||||
| 19 | 291145 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | |||||
| 16 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | |||||
| 15 | 293098 | RAZZOLI Giuliano | 1984 | ITA | |||||
| 14 | 102239 | COUSINEAU Julien | 1981 | CAN | |||||
| 10 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | |||||
| 6 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | |||||
| 2 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | |||||
About the Author: Hank McKee
