Are: Jitloff easily qualifies for men's slalom

The U.S. Ski Team’s Tim Jitloff, fresh off a top-20 finish in the giant slalom at the 2007 alpine worlds, secured a start in Saturday’s men’s slalom by easily moving through the qualification race on Thursday.
     Jitloff rebounded from a poor first run in the morning and sizzled his second time down the course with the fastest time of the afternoon to finish the race fifth overall. The top 25 finishers in the qualification race earned starting slots in Saturday’s slalom, the final individual event of the World Championships.

ARE, Sweden — The U.S. Ski Team’s Tim Jitloff, fresh off a top-20 finish in the giant slalom at the World Championships, secured a start in Saturday’s men’s slalom by easily moving through the qualification race on Thursday.
    Jitloff rebounded from a poor first run in the morning and sizzled his second time down the course with the fastest time of the afternoon to finish the race fifth overall. The top 25 finishers in the qualification race earned starting slots in Saturday’s slalom, the final individual event of the World Championships. The top 50 slalom racers currently on the World Cup Start List earned automatic berths in the race.
    Finland’s Tuukka Kaukoniemi won the qualifier with a two-run time of 1 minute, 57.14 seconds. Natko Zrncic-Dim of Croatia was second (1:58.16) and Russia’s Anton Konovalov third (1:58.56). Jitloff’s combined time was 1:59.31
    Thursday’s qualification race was deemed necessary by the FIS after it received an overwhelming number of entries for the race. A qualification race also was held for the men’s giant slalom race run on Wednesday in Are.  
    The start lineup includes the top 50 skiers in Are, according to the World Cup Start List, "and I'm ranked 51st, so I had to qualify. If I had one more good result, I'd've been in the top 40 and not had to ski in the qualifier … but it's OK," he said, leaning on his Dynastar skis.
    Jitloff, the 2005 Junior World Championships combined gold medalist and former Ski Racing magazine Junior of the Year, smiled in the finish after his 73-gate second run had him fifth overall in the first SL qualifier in worlds history; he was 19th in the 70-gate first run. "The way I look at, I had 140 chances to straddle," he laughed. "I let the anchor out [skied conservatively] in the first run, but I can ski faster and I let things go in this run. I wanted to make sure I got to ski again."
    Jitloff, who is returning this season after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament 14 months ago, arrived in Are this week after the U.S. tech skiers trained in Vandal, Sweden. "We had injected snow over there, and it was great training, but this is more grippy. It's a totally different snow surface and takes time to adjust to."
    U.S. slalom head coach Mike Morin explained, "Tim had a race plan and was ready to roll, but the guy ahead of him in the first run went screaming out of the gate and really had a fast run going, and Tim thought, 'Hmmmm, I may have to step it up' … and then the guy exploded on one of the gates and Tim cut things back, making sure he got through that first run. He was skiing pretty round [wide around the gates]."
    That play-it-safe approach wasn't visible on Jitloff's second run.

— USSA contributed to this report

World Championships men's slalom qualifier results
ARE, Sweden — Results Thursday from men's slalom qualifying at the World Championships on the Olympia course:

1. Tuukka Kaukoniemi, Finland, 1 minute, 57.14 seconds.
2. Natko Zrncic-Dim, Croatia, 1:58.16.
3. Anton Konovalov, Russia, 1:58.56.
4. Krystof Kryzl, Czech Republic, 1:58.87.
5. Tim Jitloff, United States, 1:59.31.
6. Jaroslav Babusiak, Slovakia, 1:59.41.
7. Roger Vidosa, Andorra, 1:59.70.
8. Dean Todorov, Bulgaria, 1:59.75.
9. Christian Javier Simari Birkner, Argentina, 1:59.79.
10. Guillem Capdevila, Spain, 1:59.80.
11. Bjoergvin Bjoergvinsson, Iceland, 1:59.92.
12. Demian Franzen, Australia, 2:00.13.
13. Kai Alaerts, Belgium, 2:00.44.
14. Stepan Zuev, Russia, 2:00.79.
15. Ivan Heimschild, Slovakia, 2:00.97.
16. Jeroen Van den Bogaert, Belgium, 2:01.13.
17. Zelimir Vukovic, Serbia, 2:01.15.
18. Bart Mollin, Belgium, 2:01.41.
19. Peter Lubellan, Slovakia, 2:01.84.
20. Christophe Roux, Moldova, 2:02.06.
21. Wojciech Zagorski, Poland, 2:02.26.
22. Hugh Stevens, Australia, 2:02.70.
23. Benjamin Griffin, New Zealand, 2:03.22.
24. Bryce Stevens, Australia, 2:03.30.
25. Dalibor Samsal, Croatia, 2:03.88.