The Swiss men’s team is on fire in this early part of the World Cup tour. At Beaver Creek, Colorado, in America’s only downhill, Carlo Janka and Didier Cuche went one-two on the Birds of Prey Downhill just two hundredths apart and two hundredths ahead of Aksel Lund Svindal, a three time winner at Beaver Creek.
The Amazing Bode Miller showed he is starting to round into shape after a summer devoid of training by placing fourth despite a run that was labeled “Classic Bode,” in the press corral as he regained position on course after several mistakes.
“Mistakes,” he said, “are acceptable if you are pushing it.”
Again Andrew Weibrecht skied well above his ranking moving from the 47th start to finish 11th as the second best American.
He said he got a great course report from teammate Marco Sullivan. “He said it was ripable,” Weibrecht said. “I just had a good run, tried to ski solid, tried to ski within myself, and didn’t have any major mistakes.”
The result moved Weibrecht into the top 15 of the World Cup overall standings.
The winner of two of the training runs here, Michael Walchhofer of Austria, could do no better than fifth.
It was a tough day for the Canadians with Robbie Dixon failing to finish, Louis-Pierre Helie not starting with Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Erik Guay finishing well down the finish order in 28th and 29th respectively.
The Swiss, and Janka and Cuche in particular, have had an enviable set of early season races. The two went one-three in the opener in Soelden, an Oct. 25 GS, and matched the result in the Lake Louise downhill a weekend ago. In both of those races, though, it had been Cuche in front. At Beaver Creek the younger Janka has turned the tables, winning the combined on Friday and now edging Cuche in the downhill.
Cuche scoffed at the idea he was teaching Janka, a dozen years younger, the World Cup ropes.
“I’m sure he doesn’t need to learn something from me, Cuche said. “He has such instinct. He has it in the blood. I told him in the finish I would like to go back ten year and have the same god’s gift.”
Janka said he had gotten a boost of confidence from his win in the combined on Friday. “I saw yesterday that I can be fast on the downhill,” said Janka. “I’m happy with the run and now I’m on the podium again on the top step and I’m really happy with that.”
Svindal said his run had been very clean, with just “a small mistake at the bottom but it’s a tight race so the time I lost there was too much.”
Had he been five hundredths faster he would have been first and not third.
While conditions were spot-on perfect, the mighty Birds of Prey caused some long hours in the wax rooms as skiers tried to find a set up that would work over the steep, fast track.
Miller said the Beaver Creek snow was “really dense and unusual. Not icy, but really heavy and hard and a lot of our set-ups weren’t right for it.”
He said he switched both skis and boots “every run,” and during the week of training, an indicator of the amount of work put into the race by the tech reps.
Miller said he is still working his way into shape, adding it becomes more difficult when racing is taking up most of his time. “Every season you have different feelings.different situations. Right now it’s fun and training has been great, so … “
Miller photo by Julie Shipman
Weibrecht photo by Julie Shipman
Cover photo of Janka by GEPA
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Downhill, Beaver Creek, Colo., Dec. 5, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
3 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
5 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Staudacher, Head/Head/Tyrolia
7 Heel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Poisson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
Men’s World Cup downhill, Beaver Creek, Colo., Dec. 5, 2009. … It is the sixth race of the men’s 2009-2010 World Cup schedule. … The second of the eight scheduled downhills. … It is the 38th World Cup held at Beaver Creek. … the 15th downhill at the site. … It is the second race of three at the site this season.
It is the fourth career World Cup win for Carlo Janka. … his first in downhill. … It is his second win of the season, and second in two days having won the cmb Dec. 4. … It is the fourth win of the season for Switzerland, Janka and Cuche each supplying two.
It is the 51st career World Cup podium for Didier Cuche. … his 22nd in DH. … It is his fifth World Cup podium at Beaver Creek, the first since Dec. 2007. … It is the eighth World Cup podium of the season for the Swiss, all from the men, and the fourth this season at Beaver Creek.
It is the 24th career World Cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his sixth in downhill. … It is his first podium of the season. … his fifth podium at Beaver Creek and second in a Beaver Creek DH.
It is the 86th time Bode Miller has finished fourth or better in a World Cup race. … The 24th time in DH. … the seventh time at Beaver Creek and the fourth time at Beaver Creek in DH. … It is his second scoring result of the season, both coming in DH. … It is a season best result for Andrew Weibrecht and matches the second best result of his career. … His only better result also coming in DH at Beaver Creek Nov. 30, 2007. … He was also 11th in SG at Kitzbuehel. … The result moves him into 32nd on the World Cup start list for DH and into the top 15 in the World Cup standings overall. … It is the 22nd time Marco Sullivan has scored 14th or better in a World Cup race. … 18 of those coming in downhill. … It is his third best result at Beaver Creek. … It is the sixth career World Cup scoring result for Erik Fisher and his second at Beaver Creek, both tallied on Dec, 5. … It is the 43rd career World Cup scoring result for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … the 83rd for Erik Guay.
Carlo Janka maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 360-319 over Didier Cuche. … Benjamin Raich (did not race) is third at 201. … Top American in Ted Ligety (did not race) in ninth with 125pts… Manuel Osborne-Paradis leads the Canadians in 10th with 118. … Cuche leads the downhill standings 180-160 over Janka. … Miller sits sixth with 52pts, Weibrecht ninth with 46. … John Kucera leads the Canadians in the DH rankings in 12th with 40pts.
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| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 11 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:43.49 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 21 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 1:43.51 | 0.26 |
| 3 | 16 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:43.53 | 0.51 |
| 4 | 8 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 1:43.94 | 5.74 |
| 5 | 17 | 50041 | WALCHHOFER Michael | 1975 | AUT | 1:43.95 | 5.87 |
| 6 | 39 | 290998 | STAUDACHER Patrick | 1980 | ITA | 1:44.18 | 8.80 |
| 7 | 22 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:44.20 | 9.06 |
| 8 | 7 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | 1:44.33 | 10.71 |
| 9 | 20 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:44.51 | 13.01 |
| 10 | 35 | 51005 | SCHEIBER Mario | 1983 | AUT | 1:44.53 | 13.27 |
| 11 | 47 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:44.60 | 14.16 |
| 12 | 13 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | 1:44.82 | 16.96 |
| 12 | 12 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:44.82 | 16.96 |
| 14 | 27 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 1:44.83 | 17.09 |
| 15 | 18 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:44.93 | 18.37 |
| 16 | 25 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 1:44.95 | 18.62 |
| 17 | 1 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 1:44.96 | 18.75 |
| 18 | 24 | 560332 | JERMAN Andrej | 1978 | SLO | 1:45.00 | 19.26 |
| 19 | 26 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:45.02 | 19.51 |
| 20 | 5 | 292291 | THANEI Stefan | 1981 | ITA | 1:45.17 | 21.43 |
| 21 | 3 | 510747 | GRUENENFELDER Tobias | 1977 | SUI | 1:45.20 | 21.81 |
| 22 | 38 | 511139 | KUENG Patrick | 1984 | SUI | 1:45.23 | 22.19 |
| 23 | 56 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:45.25 | 22.45 |
| 24 | 34 | 50833 | GRUGGER Hans | 1981 | AUT | 1:45.30 | 23.09 |
| 25 | 44 | 511039 | KREUZER Ralf | 1983 | SUI | 1:45.33 | 23.47 |
| 25 | 23 | 534939 | FISHER Erik | 1985 | USA | 1:45.33 | 23.47 |
| 27 | 10 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:45.39 | 24.23 |
| 28 | 19 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 1:45.41 | 24.49 |
| 29 | 15 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 1:45.52 | 25.89 |
| 30 | 2 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 1:45.58 | 26.66 |
| 31 | 28 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 1:45.71 | 28.32 |
| 32 | 14 | 350032 | BUECHEL Marco | 1971 | LIE | 1:45.73 | 28.57 |
| 33 | 42 | 192932 | FAYED Guillermo | 1985 | FRA | 1:45.81 | 29.59 |
| 34 | 37 | 191591 | BERTRAND Yannick | 1980 | FRA | 1:45.84 | 29.97 |
| 35 | 40 | 201811 | STECHERT Tobias | 1985 | GER | 1:46.06 | 32.78 |
| 36 | 43 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:46.16 | 34.06 |
| 37 | 55 | 561085 | KRIZAJ Andrej | 1986 | SLO | 1:46.20 | 34.57 |
| 37 | 29 | 50451 | GRUBER Christoph | 1976 | AUT | 1:46.20 | 34.57 |
| 39 | 46 | 51327 | PUCHNER Joachim | 1987 | AUT | 1:46.54 | 38.90 |
| 40 | 51 | 201987 | STRODL Andreas | 1987 | GER | 1:46.57 | 39.28 |
| 41 | 48 | 533762 | TRANSUE Jeremy | 1983 | USA | 1:46.65 | 40.31 |
| 42 | 4 | 500150 | JAERBYN Patrik | 1969 | SWE | 1:46.73 | 41.33 |
| 43 | 36 | 201606 | KEPPLER Stephan | 1983 | GER | 1:47.09 | 45.92 |
| 44 | 32 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:47.24 | 47.83 |
| 45 | 41 | 201542 | STRODL Peter | 1982 | GER | 1:48.17 | 59.69 |
| 46 | 60 | 430472 | KLUSAK Michal | 1990 | POL | 1:51.45 | 101.53 |
| 47 | 61 | 90047 | GEORGIEV Stefan | 1977 | BUL | 1:52.24 | 111.60 |
| Disqualified 1st run | |||||||
| 6 | 50695 | BUDER Andreas | 1979 | AUT | |||
| Did not start 1st run | |||||||
| 59 | 380291 | RATKIC Ivan | 1986 | CRO | |||
| 58 | 501230 | ERICSSON Daniel | 1987 | SWE | |||
| 53 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | |||
| 49 | 103090 | HELIE Louis-Pierre | 1986 | CAN | |||
| 45 | 193212 | DURAND Jeremie | 1986 | FRA | |||
| Did not finish 1st run | |||||||
| 57 | 220695 | CRAWFORD Douglas | 1987 | GBR | |||
| 54 | 40171 | BRANCH Craig | 1977 | AUS | |||
| 52 | 511383 | FEUZ Beat | 1987 | SUI | |||
| 50 | 201900 | WAGNER Hannes | 1986 | GER | |||
| 33 | 532490 | MACARTNEY Scott | 1978 | USA | |||
| 31 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | |||
| 30 | 102961 | DIXON Robbie | 1985 | CAN | |||
| 9 | 510767 | HOFFMANN Ambrosi | 1977 | SUI | |||
About the Author: Hank McKee
