Hirscher stellar in first-of-its-kind night GS, Ligety 2nd

Marcel Hirscher blowing away the competition under the lights in Are, Sweden. GEPA

Giant slalom under the lights — it’s essentially the only way to get it done this time of year in places as far north as Are, Sweden. But for the first time in World Cup history, a men’s GS took place in the dark of night. It was just hours after the women’s race. Both events had to be relocated last week due to lack of snow in France, the men’s from Val d’Isere.

For the racers, many of whom had been training and racing in North America for the better part of a month, an adjustment seemed to be required in transitioning back to the hard, manmade snow of Europe, as compared to the dry, aggressive snow of Colorado.

Marcel Hirscher, who has won the GS in Val d’Isere the last two years, was less than enthusiastic about the race being moved to Are, a hill he thought would suit him less. With a lengthy winning time of 2 minutes, 30.18 seconds, a full 1.22 seconds faster than his nearest competitor, Ted Ligety, both the hill and the transition to harder snow proved more than manageable for the Austrian.

“You guys know that I ski always pretty good in Val d’Isere, and I have a good relationship with this ski resort and to this slope,” Hirscher said in Beaver Creek after receiving news of the move. “It is a decision, and there Mother Nature is not giving us enough snow in France. So, let’s head up to Sweden.”

Skiing a tighter line compared to the rest of the field, Hirscher was able to take a .57-second lead over Germany’s Fritz Dopfer and .87-second advantage over Ligety after the first run. In his second run, Ligety skied a relatively sloppy top section from the upper pitch through to the second split, rapidly losing time on then-leader Stefan Luitz. But the American put the hammer down on the second half of the run to secure a leading result.

Hirscher then skied an aggressive upper section and a more conservative lower half, winning both runs and easily cruising to victory. For Ligety, a third-fastest first run and a fifth-fastest second run was enough to land second place, while the German, Luitz, hung on to the third spot on the podium.

It was a milestone 25th win of Hirscher’s career. He expanded his lead in the GS standings with 260 points over Ligety’s 206. Alexis Pinturault sits in third with 180. Hirscher regained some ground on Kjetil Jansrud, who did not finish the race, in the overall standings. The Norwegian leads 412-340.

“It was really good, especially on the ice,” said Hirscher. “I feel really comfortable, and there is a lot of potential in my skiing, so I think today was perfect conditions. I was really impressed because Ted likes it if it’s more turny and wide, but today the second run was wide and straight. But if you’re feeling good and you have the confidence, it doesn’t matter which course they set.”

Indeed, Ligety should have liked the course — the second run was set by U.S. Ski Team Coach Ian Garner.

“I think I lost over a second and a half on the top split between the two runs,” said Ligety. “So, I definitely need to clean up the steeper parts of my skiing. But I think overall I’m happy with my skiing. I’m happy to be second place here. … It’s definitely a really good course. It has a little bit of everything. It has some gliding sections; there’s almost kind of a halfpipe in it, some steeps and sidehills, so it has a huge variety of different types of skiing.”

Ligety said he’s always wanted to ski a night GS and hopes the FIS will consider scheduling more in the future.

“Marcel skied unbelievable,” added Ligety. “It was really impressive how he was able to put those runs together. It looked like he was taking a lot of risk and skiing super clean, so that was impressive to watch. … He blew us all away in that top section.”

For Luitz, the result is the third podium of his carer. Remarkably, the other two have also come during this same week of competition, but at the intended venue of Val d’Isere.

“I don’t know what happens on this day,” said Luitz. “It’s always the second December weekend that I ski this well, the third podium. Like Val d’Isere, it’s amazing. … I had good shape in training. The first two races were really difficult for me. Two silly mistakes in two races, so I’m happy to be able to bring the training performance into the race.”

Tim Jitloff was the only other American to qualify for second run. He got into trouble and wound up on his tails going through the lower double, but managed to  hang on to finish the race 22nd and secure World Cup points. Coming off a tremendous 17th-place result in Beaver Creek — skiing from bib 66 — David Chodounsky did not finish the first run. Likewise, Brennan Rubie, Mark Engel and Nolan Kasper also failed to qualify. Phil Brown was the lone Canadian to pick up points, his second scoring result of the season, by finishing 26th.

Alexis Pinturault made some impressive recoveries to stay in the race but finished off the GS podium for the first time this season — he was fifth. Felix Neureuther continued to struggle in his comeback from early-season injury — he seemed to get later and later in his first run until ultimately skiing out. And Elia Zurbriggen of Switzerland was the bibbo of the day, skiing from 52nd to finish 13th.

The men are scheduled to race next in a daytime slalom on Sunday.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

1 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

2 Ligety, Head/Head/Head

3 Luitz, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

4 Dopfer, Nordica/Nordica/

5 Fanara, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

6 Pinturault, Head/Head/Head

7 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

8 Haugen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

9 Muffat-Jeandet, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

9 Kristoffersen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Are, Sweden, Dec. 12, 2014:

• It is a race rescheduled from Val d’Isere, France, due to a lack of snow and warm weather at the original site. … It is the first night men’s GS in World Cup history.  … It is the eighth of 36 races on the men’s 36 race World Cup calendar … the third of eighth scheduled GS’s. … It is the 91^st World Cup race hosted by Are and the 31^st GS. … It is the second of six races set for Are this season, four of them rescheduled from France.
• It is the 25^th career World Cup win for Marcel Hirscher. … Winning margin is 1.22 seconds. … Seventh place is more than three seconds off the winning pace. … It is the 11^th career GS win for Hirscher … his second of the season.
• It is the 48^th career World Cup podium for Ted Ligety and his second of the season. … It is just the second time Ligety has finished second to Hirscher in a World Cup race versus seven reverse finishes.
• It is the third career World Cup podium for Stefan Luitz, all of them coming in December.
• It is the fourth score of the season for Tim Jitloff. … It is the third career scoring result for Phil Brown and his second this season. … Former NCAA racer Leif Kristian Haugen matches his second-best career finish.
• Kjetil Jansrud (1^st run DNF) leads the World Cup overall standings 412-340 over Hirscher. … Ligety is third with 246pts overall. … Manuel Osborne-Paradis leads all Canadians in 13^th place with 127pts.
• Hirscher leads the GS standings 260-206 over Ligety. … Alexis Pinturault (sixth in race) sits third in GS with 180pts. … Brown is the top Canadian with 10pts.
• Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 1239-796 for France. … Italy is third at 744pts. … The U.S. sits sixth at 580pt and Canada eighth with 313pts.

RESULTS