Grange powers to win, Miller holds on for second

Viva La France. Jean-Baptiste Grange put his incredible slalom skills on display at Levi, Finland Sunday (Nov. 16) winning the opening slalom of the 2009 World Cup season by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Bode Miller. Austrian Mario Matt collected third. American Ted Ligety, second after the first run scrambled his way down the last section of the course and dropped all the way back to the 22nd and final finish position.

It was the fifth World Cup win for Grange and the fourth in slalom in less than a year. The 24 year old has taken solid aim at the slalom title and should now be a favorite for the crown when the World Championships take place in his home country at Val d’Isere in February.

 

Viva La France. Jean-Baptiste Grange put his incredible slalom skills on display at Levi, Finland Sunday (Nov. 16) winning the opening slalom of the 2009 World Cup season by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Bode Miller. Austrian Mario Matt collected third. American Ted Ligety, second after the first run scrambled his way down the last section of the course and dropped all the way back to the 22nd and final finish position.

It was the fifth World Cup win for Grange and the fourth in slalom in less than a year. The 24 year old has taken solid aim at the slalom title and should now be a favorite for the crown when the World Championships take place in his home country at Val d’Isere in February.

The U.S. looked strong with both Miller and Ligety sitting about a quarter second behind the Frenchman after the first run. Miller, in particular, was reason for excitement. The defending overall World Cup champion holds the U.S. record for Cup victories with 31, but hadn’t made a slalom podium since December of 2004. His “did not finish” rate in slalom was abysmal. He clearly showed he can still be a force in the tight gates.

Miller appeared to slip at an area some were calling icy, but said that was just part of pushing the envelope. “I took risks,” he told reporters in the finish, “and consequently made some small errors.” Even if he had etched a perfect run, he estimated he would still have trailed Grange by two tenths or more.

“This shows my level of competitiveness. I hope to be able to keep this level of aggression all season.”

Miller’s coach, Forest Carey, downplayed any speculation on iciness. “No, Kostelic set that second run and he always sets a little funky. It was super straight, and then the terrain took out a lot of good guys. But the snow was perfect, both runs. It couldn’t have been better.”

Carey also explained Miller’s “sudden” appearance on a slalom podium. “Everyone seems to be shocked, but this has been a long time coming. It’s been building and building and building. Last season it was coming and then he skipped a couple of races with a busted hand and a bad back, but it was all coming together then.”

For Grange, who exploded on the scene last year, this race was the chance to make a statement. He told the French publication L’Equipe, “I did not come to Levi to aim at the podium, but the victory,” and said he hoped the win would set the tone for him and his teammates for the entire season.

 

While Grange’s domination, and the resurgence of Miller’s slalom prowess headline the day, it was far from business as usual. There were some huge start numbers represented in the final tally, meaning skiers who weren’t expected to do well, did. While Miller faced a rougher course than most of the favorites with the 31st start, seventh finishing Swede Mattias Hargin started 47th, Mitja Valencic of Slovenia made the top 10 (ninth) from the 59th start and Austrian Patrick Bechter was tenth from the 51st. Two skiers with start numbers in the sixties scored, Dominik Stehle of Germany was 19th from the 68th start and Jukka Leino of Finland was 18th from the 60th position.

The Italians lost both of their stars in the first minutes of the second run when both Giorgio Rocca, the 2006 slalom champ and Manfred Moelgg, the defending slalom champ, skied out.

The North Americans were poised for a big day mid-way through the second run, but Jimmy Cochran DNF’d high on the course and Canada’s Julien Cousineau quickly followed suit.

With nine men left to challenge, Matt took the lead away from second run winner Silvan Zurbriggen. Matt’s time held until Miller took to the course. He started the run .55 seconds ahead based on his first run, and stretched it to .68 at the first interval. It was the final interval where difficulties had plagued so many, and he was no exception. He got the lead, but barely, leading by .14 with the two leaders left. Ligety got off early and could not match Miller to the first clock. From there he struggled mightily down the last stretch.

That left Grange. With a quarter second lead at the start. He was .13 ahead at the split and just ripped the last section for a huge .79 margin and the win.

 

 

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The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

 

Equipment

Men’s Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 16, 2008

1 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

2 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia

3 Matt, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

4 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

5 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

6 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/

7 Hargin, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

8 Missillier, Dynastar/Lange/Look

9 Valencic, Elan/Lange/Elan

10 Bechter, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

 

 

Men’s Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 16, 2008. … It is the second of 48 races on the men’s 2009 World Cup schedule. … The first of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the eighth World Cup race at Levi, all of them slaloms. … It is the second men’s slalom at Levi, the first having been held in 2006.

It is the fifth career World Cup win for Jean-Baptiste Grange. … Fourth in slalom with one in combined. … All of his wins have come within the last calendar year, the last in slalom at Kitzbuehel Jan. 20, 2008.

It is the 65th career World Cup podium for Bode Miller. … His 12th in slalom, but first since he won at Sestriere Dec. 13, 2004.

It is the 29th career Cup podium for Mario Matt, the 27th in slalom.

It was the 26th best career Cup slalom performance for Ted Ligety of 29 scoring results.

Grange takes control of the overall standings 122-106 over Miller. … Daniel Albrecht (did not qualify for second run) holds third with 100pts from his GS win at Soelden last month. … Ligety is fifth overall with 69pts.

… Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 312-279 over Switzerland. … France holds third at 243 and the U.S. fourth at 186. … Austria also leads the overall Nations Cup standings (men and women) 576-384 over Sweden with the Swiss third at 368 and the U.S. fourth at 347.

 

Men’s Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 16, 2008

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1	6	192665	GRANGE Jean-Baptiste	1984	FRA	51.72	52.77	1:44.49	0.00
2	31	532431	MILLER Bode	1977	USA	51.98	53.30	1:45.28	4.54
3	5	50707	MATT Mario	1979	AUT	52.53	52.89	1:45.42	5.34
4	23	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	52.86	52.69	1:45.55	6.09
5	2	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	52.46	53.11	1:45.57	6.20
6	21	501017	MYHRER Andre	1983	SWE	52.48	53.11	1:45.59	6.32
7	47	501111	HARGIN Mattias	1985	SWE	52.52	53.29	1:45.81	7.58
8	30	192506	MISSILLIER Steve	1984	FRA	52.63	53.19	1:45.82	7.64
9	59	560355	VALENCIC Mitja	1978	SLO	52.88	52.95	1:45.83	7.69
10	51	50931	BECHTER Patrick	1982	AUT	52.91	53.04	1:45.95	8.38
11	20	50624	PRANGER Manfred	1978	AUT	52.79	53.37	1:46.16	9.59
11	19	560371	DRAGSIC Mitja	1979	SLO	52.98	53.18	1:46.16	9.59
13	46	50981	HOERL Wolfgang	1983	AUT	52.83	53.39	1:46.22	9.93
13	26	500656	LARSSON Markus	1979	SWE	52.72	53.50	1:46.22	9.93
15	1	191459	LIZEROUX Julien	1979	FRA	52.53	53.99	1:46.52	11.66
16	35	201422	KOGLER Stefan	1981	GER	53.12	53.43	1:46.55	11.83
17	53	150594	TREJBAL Filip	1985	CZE	53.00	53.68	1:46.68	12.58
18	60	180292	LEINO Jukka	1978	FIN	52.84	53.97	1:46.81	13.32
19	68	201896	STEHLE Dominik	1986	GER	53.03	54.42	1:47.45	17.00
20	29	500499	BROLENIUS Johan	1977	SWE	52.84	56.77	1:49.61	29.40
21	11	501101	BYGGMARK Jens	1985	SWE	52.67	57.62	1:50.29	33.30
22	14	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA	51.97	58.81	1:50.78	36.12

Did not finish 1st run: TUCEK Tomas (CZE), BJERKESTRAND Iver (NOR), KUERNER Miha (SLO), SANDELL Marcus (FIN), ROMAR Andreas (FIN), OLSSON Matts (SWE), KANTOLA Petteri (FIN), KAUKONIEMI Tuukka (FIN), SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), PAQUIN Pierre (FRA), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), ANDERSSON Magnus (SWE), JITLOFF Tim (USA), IMBODEN Urs (MDA), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), KOLL Alexander (AUT), BARRETT Scott (CAN), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), TISSOT Stephane (FRA), THALER Patrick (ITA), DEVILLE Cristian (ITA)

Did not finish 2nd run: JANYK Michael (CAN), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), SASAKI Akira (JPN), RAICH Benjamin (AUT), ROCCA Giorgio (ITA), HERBST Reinfried (AUT), MOELGG Manfred (ITA)

Disqualified 1st run: KELLEY Tim (USA)

Did not qualify 1st run: RAJALA Jukka (FIN), MINAGAWA Kentaro (JPN), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), OBERT Anthony (FRA), INNERHOFER Christof (ITA), JANSRUD Kjetil (NOR), CHENAL Joel (FRA), MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas (FRA), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), LAHDENPERAE Anton (SWE), WHITE Trevor (CAN), VOGEL Markus (SUI), ALBRECHT Kilian (BUL), VILETTA Sandro (SUI), MARSHALL Cody (USA), YUASA Naoki (JPN), BIGGS Patrick (CAN), GRANDI Thomas (CAN), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), SVINDAL Aksel Lund (NOR), ALBRECHT Daniel (SUI), SCHOENFELDER Rainer (AUT), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), GINI Marc (SUI), HIRSCHER Marcel (AUT), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER)