Are: DH crown to Walchhofer as Svindal takes control

Michael Walchhofer won the 2009 World Cup downhill title on his back. Askel Lund Svindal took command.

Alpine Norway’s favorite son Aksel Lund Svindal collected the final downhill win of the season on Scandinavia’s most storied, but shortened, downhill track, at Are, Sweden Wednesday, and took over control of the World Cup overall standings for the first time since Jan. 6.

Walchhofer, one of two men who did not finish the race, still got the World Cup downhill title in the final downhill of the season at World Cup Finals when his teammate Klaus Kroell did not win. Kroell finished ninth.

Svindal, though, has bigger fish to fry as the win bumped him into the lead for the overall World Cup title. There are still three races remaining to be contested at Are.Michael Walchhofer won the 2009 World Cup downhill title on his back. Askel Lund Svindal took command.

Alpine Norway’s favorite son Svindal collected the final downhill win of the season on Scandinavia’s most storied, but shortened downhill track, at Are, Sweden Wednesday, and took over control of the World Cup overall standings for the first time since Jan. 6.

Walchhofer, one of two men who did not finish the race, still got the World Cup downhill title in the final downhill of the season at World Cup Finals when his teammate Klaus Kroell did not win. Kroell finished ninth.

Svindal, though, has bigger fish to fry as the win bumped him into the lead for the overall World Cup title. There are still three races remaining to be contested at Are.

Benjamin Raich finished 13th in the race, his second best downhill result of the season (he was 12th at Kitzbuehel) helping keep some of the pressure on both Svindal and the rest of the field.

While he concede that Svindal is now the odds-on favorite to win the overall, Raich said he was happy to have gotten downhill points and said he fully expects to “fight to the conclusion.”

Ivica Kostelic had been co-leader for the overall with Raich coming into finals, and had far and away his best downhill result of the season, but finished 17th. With a reduced field at World Cup Finals, points are only awarded down to 15th instead of the usual 30.

Second place finisher Didier Cuche also made an impact on the race for the overall crown moving past Kostelic into third place.

With a reputation for shying away from taking risks on course, Svindal said at this stage of the season there was nothing to do but go for it in the few remaining opportunities. “I have to score as many points as possible in the speed events, so this start to the finals is very important for me,” he told Eurosport. “I’ll not be taking many points in the slalom.”

With a super G, giant slalom and slalom left on the schedule and the field behind him littered with GS and slalom winners, he’s right in his assessment. But he has also been in the top 10 in four super G’s and seven giannt slaloms this season, so he certainly is in position to reclaim the overall title he held in 2007 and lost a chance at last season to injury.

Walchhofer shrugged off having straddled a gate and skiing out of the course. “I knew in the start that the ball (the trophy) was fixed because my serviceman was already wearing the red leotard so I risked everything. … perhaps too much.”

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The SCOOP

Equipment
Men’s Downhill, Are, Sweden, March 11, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
3 Olsson, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Heel, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Theaux, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Kucera, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Hoffmann, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
9 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

Men’s Downhill, Are, Sweden, March 11, 2009. … It is the 33rd race of the men’s World Cup season. … The ninth of nine downhills. … It is the 71st Cup race held at Are and the 16th downhill. … It is the first men’s race of World Cup Finals.

It is the 12th career World Cup win for Aksel Lund Svindal. … His fourth in downhill. … And his second Cup DH win at Are having won March 15, 2006. … It is his third Cup win of the season (he also won a gold medal in combined at World Championships) and second in downhill having won at Beaver Creek Dec. 5.

It is the 47th career World Cup podium for Didier Cuche. … His fifth of the season (he also gained two medals at Worlds). … and first in downhill. … Though he got the silver medal in DH at Worlds this next best Cup result in DH was fourth at Kitzbuehel Jan. 24.

It is the second career World Cup podium for Hans Olsson of Sweden. … He was also third in the Lake Louise DH Nov. 28. … He is the only Swedish male to score a World Cup podium in downhill.

It is the 17th career World Cup top five for Erik Guay. … His third of the season. … It is the tenth top five of the season for a Canadian skier. … It is the 14th career top seven for John Kucera. … He has finished 7-8-7 in the three downhills since winning the gold medal in the discipline at Worlds Feb. 7. … It is the fifth best score of the season for Manuel Osborne-Paradis with three of those top scores coming in March. … Canadian Robbie Dixon in 16th and American Marco Sullivan in 21st finished out of the points.

With three races remaining, Svindal has taken over control of the World Cup overall standings 929-857 for Benjamin Raich (13th in race). … Didier Cuche moves to third at 843 while former co-leader Ivica Kostelic finishes 17th and receives no points (score to 15 at Finals) dropping to fourth in the standings at 837.

Michael Walchhofer, a DNF in the race, wins the World Cup downhill title 470-424 over Klaus Kroell (9th in race). … Didier Defago (10th in race) finishes third in the standings with 363 and Svindal finishes fourth at 356. … It is the third World Cup DH title for Walchhofer having also won in 2005 and 2006.

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	17	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	1:22.26	0.00
2	13	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:22.46	3.21
3	6	501076	OLSSON Hans	1984	SWE	1:22.62	5.78
4	10	292514	HEEL Werner	1982	ITA	1:22.64	6.10
5	22	102263	GUAY Erik	1981	CAN	1:22.82	8.99
6	27	192746	THEAUX Adrien	1984	FRA	1:22.83	9.15
7	2	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN	1:22.85	9.47
8	14	510767	HOFFMANN Ambrosi	1977	SUI	1:23.01	12.04
9	16	50753	KROELL Klaus	1980	AUT	1:23.10	13.48
10	18	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:23.16	14.44
11	19	102899	OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel	1984	CAN	1:23.21	15.24
12	21	292455	FILL Peter	1982	ITA	1:23.27	16.21
13	23	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:23.28	16.37
14	8	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	1:23.41	18.45
15	4	50423	MAIER Hermann	1972	AUT	1:23.47	19.42
16	1	102961	DIXON Robbie	1985	CAN	1:23.51	20.06
17	26	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	1:23.52	20.22
18	5	191964	POISSON David	1982	FRA	1:23.57	21.02
19	9	560332	JERMAN Andrej	1978	SLO	1:23.59	21.34
20	11	350032	BUECHEL Marco	1971	LIE	1:23.76	24.07
21	15	533131	SULLIVAN Marco	1980	USA	1:23.87	25.84
21	12	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	1:23.87	25.84
23	25	51215	BAUMANN Romed	1986	AUT	1:23.99	27.76
24	3	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	1:24.40	34.34
25	7	291034	PLANK Andy	1989	ITA	1:25.77	56.32
Did not finish 1st run
	24	50858	STREITBERGER Georg	1981	AUT
	20	50041	WALCHHOFER Michael	1975	AUT