Carlo Janka pulled off the three-peat, sweeping the trio of races at Beaver Creek, Colo., in three different disciplines by winning the Giant Slalom Sunday by a hefty .47 of a second margin over Benjamin Raich. The last time a skier grabbed three straight World Cup wins it was Aksel Lund Svindal in the 2007 World Cup finals at Lenzerheide. Today he placed third.

The win gave the 23-year old Janka five victories for his career, puts a target on his back for the rest of this season and has many wondering if taking a huge amount of time off over the summer might not have some major benefits.

American Ted Ligety held his fourth place position from the first run as the conditions improved and the heavy snowfall from the first run broke and bits of blue sky could be seen over the valley.

“I was skiing fast, I was on a good run,” said Ligety, easily the class of the U.S. field. “I just went a touch too straight over that final knoll, and I was off balance a little bit, too. And I kind of dished some speed. … Fourth place isn’t so bad I guess.”

He said the course doesn’t really suit his strength, which is generating speed in turns, as both of the courses here, he said, were set fast and favored Janka as he has an ability to carry speed.

“Janka’s skiing has been pretty incredible,” said Ligety. “It’s crazy to see how he did here… He’s a strong kid … and doesn’t make mistakes.”

Janka previously won both the downhill and super combined, both over teammates.

“I can’t believe I won three here,” said Janka. “The most important thing is for me to be able to carry this success to the European circuit.”

while the day was cold and snowy, particularly on the first run, Janka said he hardly cared. “When things come together,” he said, “it doesn’t matter when that it is snowy and cold.”

Raich, a two-time winner at Beaver Creek, said he was impressed by the young Swiss. “He is really strong, he’s in perfect shape and has a lot of self-confidence,” said Raich. “The first run was a make or break, if I did make the mistakes in the first run, those are the things that made me miss it today. It was good day for me, I like this hill happy to be on the podium.”

Svindal, too, was happy to have finished the three race set at Beaver Creek strong, having badly bruised his leg in the pre-season.

“Beaver Creek, for me, went as well as I could possibly hope for,” said Svindal. “If I continue to step it up it’s going to be a good season. I think the most important thing is to feel ready for the challenges that are ahead in the season.”

He agreed with Raich that Janka is the hottest thing on the circuit right now.

“He is a couple of heads ahead of me at least,” said Svindal. “It’s good that he is making a name for himself, you need guys like that in the sport.”

He said watching Janka ski is deceptive. “When you look at him ski he doesn’t look extreme. He is very efficient, he does exactly what he needs to do to be fast.”

U.S. coach Sasha Rearick said he was generally pleased with the weekend, and he had no fault to find with Ligety’s effort.

“Ted did what he could,” Rearick said. “He gave tremendous effort in the second run and was taking risks to try to make up some time. He got caught in some chop and that got his line low there… but he gave a great effort, I’m very well pleased with the effort he gave.”

The coach said both Tim Jitloff and Bode Miller had some goggle issues in the morning run as they froze inside the lenses. “They couldn’t see anything,” he said.”That was a bummer to have that happen in this big event.”

Jake Zamansky just made the cut for a second run, and held on to post 25th place and get some World Cup points.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit with the NorAms, and training has been kind of a roller coaster,” Zamansky said. “I pushed it as hard as I could. My technician did an awesome job. … which is me.”

A race highlight was a spectacular crash from Thomas Fanara, who took out a panel, loaded up his ski and launched an estimated 12 feet into the air completely upside down, landing on his helmet and shoulder and sliding into the fencing. He disengaged himself from the netting and appear relatively unscathed.

Carlo Janka image by Julie Shipman
Front page image by GEPA

Equipment
Men’s GS, Beaver Creek, Colo., Dec. 6, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Jansrud, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
8 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
9 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Schoerghofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s Giant Slalom, Beaver Creek, Dec. 6, 2009. … It is the seventh race of 35 on the men’s 2009-2010 World Cup schedule. … The second of seven men’s GS’s. … It is the 39th Cup race held at Beaver Creek. … the sixth GS, all of them men’s. … It is the third and final Cup race at Beaver Creek this season and the last Cup race in the U.S. this season.

It is the fifth win of Carlo Janka’s World Cup career. … His second in GS. … It is his third consecutive win all coming at Beaver Creek in three days. … The last skier to win three straight was Aksel Lund Svindal (3rd in race) at Lenzerheide at the end of the 2007 season. … Hermann Maier won three straight at Beaver Creek in 1999.

It is the 83rd career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … His 31st in GS. … His third in GS at Beaver Creek having won Dec. 7, 2008 and been third in 2004. … He also won a slalom at Beaver Creek in 2004. … It is his second podium of the season having placed 2nd in super G at Lake Louise.

It is the 25th career World Cup podium for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his eighth in GS. … and his third in GS at Beaver Creek. …. It is his second podium of the season and the weekend having also placed third in the DH Dec. 5.

It is the 25th time Ted Ligety has been fourth or better in a World Cup. … The 16th time in GS. … He has been fourth or better at Beaver Creek five times, four of them in GS. … It is the 11th best of 29 World Cup results for Jean-Philippe Roy. … seventh best of 22 GS scoring results. … It is his best of two scores at Beaver Creek. … It is the second best of three career scoring results for Jeffrey Frisch. … The third best of four results for Jake Zamansky.

Carlo Janka extends his lead of the World Cup overall standings to 460-355 over Didier Cuche (seventh in race). … Benjamin Raich sits third at 281. … Ted Ligety is the top American in sixth at 175. … Top Canadian is Manuel Osborne-Paradis in 12th with 118pts. … Janka leads the GS standings 160-136 over Cuche with Ligety third at 130.