Austrians push for win in final men's DH

Mar 09, 2010

Hans GruggerWithout a men’s downhill win for the season, the Austrian men took to downhill training for the finale, the Garmisch series beginning Wednesday, with redemption in mind. Hans Grugger posted the fastested time, Mario Scheiber the second fastest and Michael Walchhofer was fourth. Slovene Andrej Sporn was third with Aksel Lund Svindal fifth, Didier Cuche sixth and Erik Guay seventh.

The only competitor the U.S. has in the field limited by World Cup Finals rule, was Ted Ligety in 26th.

At the finals scoring will be limited to the top 15 finishers and participation is limited to the top 25 skiers of the disicpline according to World Cup standings, racers with more than 500 World Cup points in the overall standings and the Olympic and World Junior champions of the season.

Both Bode Miller, who elected not to compete, and Andrew Weibrecht shoulder injury, were eligible to join Ligety for the downhill.

Cuche leads the downhill standings 496-348 over teammate Carlo Janka (15th in training) and cannot be overtaken for the title. The race could impact the race for the overall World Cup title. Benjamin Raich holds over Janka, Cuche and Svindal respectively and has yet to gain a downhill point this season while all three of his competitors are ranked in the top six of the downhill standings. Raich finished 24th among 26 participants in the training run.

The women’s training run went to Swiss Fabienne Suter, .68 ahead of a group of six skiers who finished within .57 of each other.

Julia Mancuso posted the second fastest time, Elisabeth Goergl the third, Lindsey Vonn was fourth, anja Paerson fifth, Nadia Styger sixth and Emily Brydon seventh.

As with the men the women’s downhill title has already been decided as no one can catch Vonn, but the overall is still in doubt. Vonn could use a strong downhill result to help salt her third overall championship away. She leads the standings by 245 points over Maria Riesch, who finished 12th in the training run. There are four races remaining each counting 100pts to the winner.

Hans Grugger photo by GEPA

Place   Garmisch
Partenkirchen (GER)		   Discipline   Downhill
Date   09.03.2010   Category   Training
Race codex   1902   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   NO   TD Name   Stocker Rudolf (AUT)
       
  
OFFICIAL RESULTS – FIRST TRAINING
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time
 1  20  50833 GRUGGER Hans  1981  AUT   1:59.78
 2  18  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   2:00.02
 3  19  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   2:00.15
 4  16  50041 WALCHHOFER Michael  1975  AUT   2:00.19
 5  15  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:00.27
 6  14  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   2:00.51
 7  23  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   2:00.90
 8  13  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:00.92
 8  9  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   2:00.92
 10  5  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   2:00.94
 11  11  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   2:01.13
 12  8  350032 BUECHEL Marco  1971  LIE   2:01.45
 13  17  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   2:01.49
 14  22  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   2:01.52
 15  12  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:01.66
 16  7  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:01.78
 17  10  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   2:01.85
 18  25  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:02.24
 19  1  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   2:02.37
 20  2  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   2:02.57
 21  26  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA   2:03.09
 22  6  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   2:03.14
 23  3  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   2:03.96
 24  4  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   2:04.20
 25  21  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   2:05.44
 26  24  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   2:05.53

About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”

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