Bormio: Innerhofer notches first win

Dec 28, 2008

Christof Innerhofer, the first man on the downhill course at Bormio this morning had enough speed to hold off all comers and the Italian got his first World Cup win ahead of two Austrians and one of the last men on the course, Bode Miller who fought his way to fourth.

Klaus Kroell was second and Val Gardena winner Michael Walchhofer third.

Miller skipped the public bib draw Saturday evening, drew a fine and was assigned the 46th starting position. There were reports his tardiness was on purpose, sensing an advantage in running late when clouds were suppose to clear. Although few other late starters managed to excel, Miller turned it into an early lead before slipping back to fourth.
Christof Innerhofer, the first man on the downhill course at Bormio this morning had enough speed to hold off all comers and the Italian got his first World Cup win ahead of two Austrians and one of the last men on the course, Bode Miller who fought his way to fourth.

Klaus Kroell was second and Val Gardena winner Michael Walchhofer third.

Miller skipped the public bib draw Saturday evening, drew a fine and was assigned the 46th starting position. There were reports his tardiness was on purpose, sensing an advantage in running late when clouds were suppose to clear.  Although few other late starters managed to excel, Miller turned it into an early lead before slipping back to fourth.

Canadian Erik Guay finished sixth, Marco Sullivan was 11th, Manuel Osborne-Paradis 13th, Scott Macartney 21st and John Kucera 29th. American Bryon Friedman slid onto his hip on the lower reaches of the course but was uninjured, skiing down under his own power.

As the first skier out of the start-house, Innerhofer had to stand at the bottom and watch as the elite of the World Cup circuit took aim at his time. With Miller running 46th out of 51 starters, that meant he had a mighty long wait.

“I was very nervous waiting for Bode Miller,” Innerhofer said, adding, “he had an incredible run.”

Miller has a history of incredible runs on the Stelvio course, having won two gold medals in the 2005 World Championships and also making the highlight videos with a one-ski trip the length of the course.

Miller told the AP’s Andrew Dampf he did not skip the bib draw on purpose, but that he wasn’t that concerned about missing it either.

“It was more my wrist is busted up and I needed to get it fixed,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about the repercussions.”

Still, if he hadn’t hit hard into a gate on the upper portions of the course he might have been able to overtake the Italian. As it was he skied his way to fourth.

“It just knocked the wind out of me a little bit, and distracted me,” Miller told Dampf. “It got me pretty good. I got a little too tight in on it and just went straight through the middle of it.”

He also said he paid the price lower on the course for having expended so much energy in recovering from hitting the gate.

For Innerhofer, watching Bode’s run from the bottom, the errors didn’t ease his fears.

“If anyone could do it, he could,” Innerhofer told AP. “but today was my day. In the end there wasn’t much difference.”

There were a couple of additional U.S. results worth noting. Although TJ Lanning skipped the event after a training crash Friday and Steven Nyman elected to sit the race out to rest a sore back, Marco Sullivan just missed the top 10 and Scott Macartney registered his second best finish of the season.

“Sully skied this thing like a champ,” said head coach Sasha Rearick. “The course was totally gnarly, especially the middle and he skied that section like a stud. He’s fired up on the way he skied because he didn’t train this well. This was a good finish for him on a hill that doesn’t favor his style.”
 
The coach also had praise for Macartney: “Mac did incredibly well considering the mistake he made up top. We knew that was it for him in terms of a really good finish, but he put it back together and hammered. He’s never skied well here, so this was a great finish.”

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Downhill, Bormio, Italy, Dec. 28, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Kroell, Salomon/Nordica/Salomon
3 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
5 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
6 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Heel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Gruber, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s Downhill, Bormio, Italy, Dec. 28, 2008. … It is the 14th race of the men’s 38 race 2008-09 World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth of nine scheduled downhills. … It is the 49th World Cup at Bormio. … The 20th downhill and the 18th men’s downhill. … It is the site of races for the 1985 and 2005 World Championships. …

It is the first career win, and first career podium for Christof Innerhofer. … He was the first skier on course today. … His previous best had been fourth in super G at Beaver Creek earlier this season. … His best previous result in downhill had been sixth at Lake Louise earlier this season.

It is the fourth career World Cup podium for Klaus Kroell. … His third second place DH finish for his career. … He has never won a World Cup race. … He had been fourth at Bormio in downhill three times previously.

It is the 37th career World Cup podium for Michael Walchhofer. … His 28th in downhill. … He won twice (in DH) on the course in back-to-back races in December 2006. … He was also the bronze medal winner on the course at the 2005 World Championships. … It is his third podium of the season, and second of the season in downhill (won Val Gardena DH, 3rd Beaver Creek SG).

It is the 83rd top four Cup result for Bode Miller. … His third of the season. … He has been second twice this season (Levi SL Nov. 16 and Val Gardena DH Dec. 20) but has not added to his U.S. record 31 wins. … It is the sixth time he has recorded a top four result at Bormio, including a Cup DH win Dec. 29, 2007 and two gold medals at the 2005 Worlds. … Erik Guay matched his career best result at Bormio in sixth. … It is his sixth top 10 result this season and his third best in DH this season. … It is the fourth best result of the season for Marco Sullivan and his second best in DH behind a fourth at Val Gardena Dec. 20. … It is a career best result at the site for Sullivan, though he was 12th in both 2006 and 2007. … It is also a career best at Bormio for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … The result matches his second best of the season behind a third place result at Val Gardena in DH. … Scott Macartney matches his second best result of the season. … It is the sixth scoring result of the season for John Kucera.

Aksel Lund Svindal (17th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 444-393 over Benjamin Raich (did not race). … Didier Cuche (fifth in race) is third at 379. … Bode Miller, in tenth with 290pts, is the top American on the overall list. … Walchhofer holds the lead of the downhill standings 225-215 over Kroell. … Guay is third at 171. … Miller is sixth at 145.

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  1  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   2:03.55  0.00
 2  17  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   2:03.87  3.42
 3  20  50041 WALCHHOFER Michael  1975  AUT   2:04.50  10.15
 4  15  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   2:04.70  12.29
 5  16  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   2:04.88  14.21
 6  22  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   2:04.93  14.74
 7  10  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   2:05.01  15.60
 8  23  510993 ALBRECHT Daniel  1983  SUI   2:05.14  16.99
 9  2  50451 GRUBER Christoph  1976  AUT   2:05.18  17.41
 10  29  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:05.20  17.63
 11  11  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   2:05.32  18.91
 12  14  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:05.41  19.87
 13  18  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   2:05.46  20.41
 14  5  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   2:05.48  20.62
 15  9  350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE   2:05.51  20.94
 16  8  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   2:05.56  21.47
 17  21  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:05.60  21.90
 18  28  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   2:05.73  23.29
 19  19  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:05.94  25.53
 20  12  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   2:05.99  26.07
 21  6  532490 MACARTNEY Scott  1978  USA   2:06.12  27.46
 22  34  292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA   2:06.24  28.74
 23  26  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   2:06.30  29.38
 24  24  191116 DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel  1977  FRA   2:06.39  30.34
 25  38  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   2:06.71  33.76
 26  25  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   2:06.73  33.97
 27  13  50423 MAIER Hermann  1972  AUT   2:06.82  34.94
 28  35  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   2:06.93  36.11
 29  30  102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   2:06.99  36.75
 30  43  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   2:07.02  37.07
 31  3  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   2:07.10  37.93
 32  4  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   2:07.16  38.57
 33  33  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   2:07.22  39.21
 34  45  201987 STRODL Andreas  1987  GER   2:07.25  39.53
 34  27  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   2:07.25  39.53
 36  31  50761 ALSTER Christoph  1980  AUT   2:07.73  44.66
 37  32  50919 STRUGER Peter  1982  AUT   2:08.33  51.07
 38  39  293236 HOFER Elmar  1985  ITA   2:08.40  51.82
 39  7  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:08.45  52.35
 40  44  201542 STRODL Peter  1982  GER   2:08.52  53.10
 41  46  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA   2:10.10  69.98
 42  48  380298 SIROKI Tin  1987  CRO   2:11.04  80.02
 43  49  193560 PASQUIER Alexandre  1987  FRA   2:12.36  94.13
 44  51  60159 VAN BUYNDER Frederik  1988  BEL   2:13.81  109.62

Did not start 1st run: SANDER Andreas (GER), PERKO Rok (SLO)

Did not finish 1st run: KRIZAJ Andrej (SLO), FRIEDMAN Bryon (USA), BRANCH Craig (AUS), MARSAGLIA Matteo (ITA), GRAGGABER Thomas (AUT)


About the Author: Pete Rugh

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