Hirscher enters the record books with Alta Badia win

By Published On: December 18th, 2016Comments Off on Hirscher enters the record books with Alta Badia win

In typical Alta Badia fashion, the infamous Gran Risa slope was as dark and challenging as ever for the men’s giant slalom on Sunday. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher skied as solid as ever and took advantage of rivals’ missteps en route to his fourth consecutive Alta Badia win with a combined time of 2:32.89 seconds. France’s Mathieu Faivre finished in second, 0.71 seconds behind and Italy’s Florian Eisath wowed the home crowd for his first career World Cup podium in third, 1.10 second off the pace.

The morning’s run was set extremely tight and turny, and many racers found it difficult to adjust to the dark and challenging course. Nevertheless, Hirscher set the early pace with Faivre and Eisath hot on his heels with the Austrian’s primary rival for the GS globe, France’s Alexis Pinturault, sitting in an uncharacteristic seventh, 1.12 seconds back.

Second run action saw the standings shake up with several racers throwing down impressive runs to make big jumps in the standings. However, Eisath, Faivre, and Hirscher managed to come down with the lead one after the other to close out the race, creating an electric atmosphere in the finish. With Pinturault failing to finish his second run, Hirscher has now opened up an 80-point lead over the Frenchman in the giant slalom standings.

Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom

Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom

Hirscher’s four career wins in Alta Badia match Italian legend Alberto Tomba’s record of four victories. One more win on the Gran Risa and Hirscher will stand alone as the best GS skier Alta Badia has ever seen.  Sunday was also Hirscher’s 41st career World Cup win, surpassing Switzerland’s Pirmin Zurbriggen’s mark of 40 for fourth of all time.

“You always have to ski smart and you need a little bit of a routine,” Hirscher said of his win. “It’s physically one of the toughest races of the year. First victory this season in a GS race, I’m super happy with this. It is inspiring, but I am not thinking about these kinds of records. I don’t know how long I want to ski, but if I’m done with skiing, I will look underneath my name and be happy.”

After Faivre’s strong showing in the first run, he did not want to lose focus and did everything he could to concentrate on his performance and his performance only, trying to block out any distractions until the moment he pushed out of the start.

“It was of course a big fight and I’m pretty satisfied, of course,” Faivre said. “I think I am pretty proud of my first run, I was able to really fully charge. In the second run, as usual, I tried to remain focused and concentrate. I was listening to my music until the last moment. Second run, Hirscher really put on the high level.”

Sunday’s race was the 32-year-old Eisath’s 100th World Cup start and his first podium. It was an emotional day as the Italian grew up mere kilometers from Alta Badia and had family and friends on hand to witness his accomplishment.

“It’s an incredible day for me,” he explained. “Twelve years ago in 2004, I had my first World Cup race here and from there, it was a really long journey to come to this podium. There was a lot of ups and downs and a lot of fighting. Today is my one hundredth World Cup race, and I am finally on the podium. I did two really good runs. For me, on the performance side, that was really important.”

The Americans had a day of ups and downs as disappointments from veterans Ted Ligety and Tim Jitloff were balanced by strong performances by Tommy Ford in 13th despite costly mistakes on both runs and Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 20th.

“I’ve just got to continue the work I’ve been doing, skiing well, getting in good positions,” Ford said of his performance. “I skied better first run, kind of had an unlucky mistake in the middle there. Second run was pretty good skiing but I have some more work to do. That mistake on the bottom, my bad!”

Ligety fell victim early on to the first run set while Jitloff and David Chodounsky failed to qualify for the second run. Brennan Rubie also did not finish his first run. Ligety has been experiencing nerve pain in his leg recently, which could be to blame for his uncharacteristic DNFs in Val d’Isere and Alta Badia. Although he is seeking treatment, the American star has had to sacrifice training time in order to feel healthy enough to compete.

“I just have stabbing pain all the way down my leg, nerve pain, so I haven’t been able to ski much,” he explained. “I’ve been getting injections and trying to get it sorted out, but it hasn’t really turned the corner yet.”

Next, the men race a parallel GS on Monday in Alta Badia.

Fans can stay up to date on World Cup by  downloading the U.S. Ski Team – Ski Racing app for iOS and Android.


Top 10

  1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  2. Mathieu Faivre (FRA) – Head/Head/Head
  3. Florian Eisath (ITA) – Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
  4. Zan Kranjec (SLO) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
  5. Manuel Feller (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  6. Felix Neureuther (GER) – Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  7. Luca De Aliprandini (ITA) – Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  8. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
  9. Stefan Luitz (GER) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
  10. Justin Murisier (SUI) – Voelkl/Dalbello/Marker

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  5  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  1:16.81  1:16.08  2:32.89  0.00
 2  3  194495 FAIVRE Mathieu 1992 FRA  1:17.02  1:16.58  2:33.60  +0.71  4.55
 3  8  292967 EISATH Florian 1984 ITA  1:17.62  1:16.37  2:33.99  +1.10  7.05
 4  21  561244 KRANJEC Zan 1992 SLO  1:18.25  1:16.54  2:34.79  +1.90  12.18
 5  10  54063 FELLER Manuel 1992 AUT  1:17.99  1:16.81  2:34.80  +1.91  12.24
 6  4  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER  1:17.88  1:17.14  2:35.02  +2.13  13.65
 7  19  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca 1990 ITA  1:18.51  1:16.53  2:35.04  +2.15  13.78
 8  6  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik 1994 NOR  1:17.74  1:17.40  2:35.14  +2.25  14.42
 9  15  202437 LUITZ Stefan 1992 GER  1:17.92  1:17.90  2:35.82  +2.93  18.78
 10  9  511896 MURISIER Justin 1992 SUI  1:18.51  1:17.43  2:35.94  +3.05  19.55
 11  11  501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE  1:18.37  1:17.60  2:35.97  +3.08  19.74
 12  27  192506 MISSILLIER Steve 1984 FRA  1:19.61  1:16.41  2:36.02  +3.13  20.06
 13  30  531799 FORD Tommy 1989 USA  1:18.41  1:17.88  2:36.29  +3.40  21.79
 14  29  51159 NOESIG Christoph 1985 AUT  1:19.02  1:17.31  2:36.33  +3.44  22.05
 15  20  54031 LEITINGER Roland 1991 AUT  1:18.42  1:17.96  2:36.38  +3.49  22.37
 16  24  380335 ZUBCIC Filip 1993 CRO  1:19.00  1:17.44  2:36.44  +3.55  22.75
 17  22  292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA  1:19.18  1:17.40  2:36.58  +3.69  23.65
 18  18  294890 NANI Roberto 1988 ITA  1:18.60  1:18.23  2:36.83  +3.94  25.25
 19  13  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR  1:18.60  1:18.25  2:36.85  +3.96  25.38
 20  50  6530319 COCHRAN-SIEGLE Ryan 1992 USA  1:19.14  1:17.90  2:37.04  +4.15  26.60
 21  1  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  1:19.69  1:17.41  2:37.10  +4.21  26.99
 22  25  501324 OLSSON Matts 1988 SWE  1:19.56  1:17.58  2:37.14  +4.25  27.24
 23  46  512269 ODERMATT Marco 1997 SUI  1:19.37  1:17.87  2:37.24  +4.35  27.88
 24  23  511852 CAVIEZEL Gino 1992 SUI  1:19.36  1:18.29  2:37.65  +4.76  30.51
 25  44  422073 NETELAND Bjoernar 1991 NOR  1:19.40  1:18.95  2:38.35  +5.46  35.00
 26  48  511718 PLEISCH Manuel 1990 SUI  1:19.78  1:19.95  2:39.73  +6.84  43.84
 27  34  194873 SARRAZIN Cyprien 1994 FRA  1:18.47  1:21.37  2:39.84  +6.95  44.55
Disqualified 2nd run
 41  700879 ZAMPA Andreas 1993 SVK
Did not start 2nd run
 32  512182 MEILLARD Loic 1996 SUI
Did not start 1st run
 36  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 71  800013 TOLA Erjon 1986 ALB
 70  54106 BREITFUSS KAMMERLANDER Simon 1992 BOL
 69  380374 VUKELIC William 1998 CRO
 68  6300464 KOYAMA Yohei 1998 JPN
 65  304242 NARITA Hideyuki 1993 JPN
 64  194457 GALEOTTI Greg 1992 FRA
 63  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER
 62  502015 JAKOBSEN Kristoffer 1994 SWE
 61  6290440 ZINGERLE Alex 1992 ITA
 59  6291725 ZINGERLE Hannes 1995 ITA
 58  290095 BALLERIN Andrea 1989 ITA
 55  6190074 GATEAU Elie 1995 FRA
 54  54144 MEIER Daniel 1993 AUT
 53  54320 SCHWARZ Marco 1995 AUT
 52  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN
 51  103762 WERRY Tyler 1991 CAN
 49  481103 ANDRIENKO Aleksander 1990 RUS
 47  511857 JENAL Sandro 1992 SUI
 45  53889 HIRSCHBUEHL Christian 1990 AUT
 43  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA
 42  6291430 MAURBERGER Simon 1995 ITA
 38  53985 MATHIS Marcel 1991 AUT
 37  202345 SCHWAIGER Dominik 1991 GER
 33  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
 31  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR
 26  534959 JITLOFF Tim 1985 USA
 14  291318 TONETTI Riccardo 1989 ITA
Did not finish 2nd run
 7  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA
Did not finish 1st run
 67  60253 MARCHANT Armand 1997 BEL
 66  561322 HADALIN Stefan 1995 SLO
 60  6190329 GUILLOT Victor 1996 FRA
 57  511638 TUMLER Thomas 1989 SUI
 56  180666 TORSTI Samu 1991 FIN
 40  422278 WINDINGSTAD Rasmus 1993 NOR
 39  180705 PIRINEN Eemeli 1993 FIN
 35  934568 RUBIE Brennan 1991 USA
 28  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN
 17  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR
 16  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI
 12  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp 1983 AUT
 2  534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA

Share This Article

About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.