Janka gets his groove back at Wengen combined

By Published On: January 16th, 2015Comments Off on Janka gets his groove back at Wengen combined

WENGEN, Switzerland – It’s been a long road to recovery for Carlo Janka, who underwent surgery in 2011 due to heart arrhythmias. Over the last four years, the Swiss racer also struggled with equipment issues and couldn’t seem to find his groove. Janka has slowly reascended back into the upper echelon of World Cup racers, and Friday put a decisive end to his winless streak much to the delight of the Swiss fans of Wengen.

The victory comes in dominant fashion in the event formerly known as super combined but renamed alpine combined this year. Janka was essentially the only racer who was able to piece together two very legitimate runs of ski racing, executing both the downhill and slalom legs at a high level to win by 1.31 seconds over his closest rival. He beat out 25-year-old Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France, a newcomer to World Cup combined, and Ivica Kostelic of Croatia who finished second and third, respectively.

“To be back on the podium, to be on the top of the podium after a long time, it means a lot to me,” said Janka. “When everything is working well, anything is possible. That happened today, so I’m looking forward to Sunday’s downhill because my confidence is good now.”

“(The last four years) was a little bit up and down,” added Janka. “Sometimes it was good and other times I was really down. It was not so easy. It was difficult, but I also learned much, but now I can look forward to the next race.”

On making the switch to Rossignol from Atomic last spring, Janka said it was the right move at the right time. “It was time for something new. I feel really good with the new team. It’s worked well with the setup. I have a lot more confidence now. I hope it works as well in the next few races,” he said.

Finishing in third, it was also a special day for Kostelic who has struggled in the first half of the season. His best results have been a pair of 18th-place finishes. Coming into this race, Kostelic declared in several interviews he did not expect to do well based on training runs and prior performances this season. But there’s something special about Wengen, he said, a venue where he has finished on the podium now 13 times.

“I was not one of the favorites for the podium,” said Kostelic, “so it is truly like a victory for me. I’m thankful that I also had some good luck in this race because Matthias (Mayer) was only five-hundredths behind. But he has time in front of him. He has many more podiums to come — and this was important for me. Fortune was on my side.”

As always, there was controversy over the merits and legitimacy of running the combined, especially with the lowered downhill start at the venue. Per usual, Kostelic, an advocate of the discipline, had some words of wisdom on the subject.

“For me, the combined is the most valuable discipline because, if we look back in skiing, there was only combined,” said the Croatian. “Slalom was skiing through the forest, and downhill was skiing straight. When you were skiing down the mountain here, you would ski half of the mountain without any ‘gates’ and then you ski the second half through the forest — that’s the combined. Through time, this combined became lost in value, but not because it is less valuable.”

Skiing to his best career World Cup result, France’s Muffat-Jeandet, a technical specialist, surprised even himself in Wengen on Friday. It was a relatively strong downhill performance, 28th, that snuck him in there for a chance to contend.

“Today was a bit of a surprise for me,” he said. “I felt the pressure of making it into the top 30 in the downhill, being considered a ‘slalom’ guy. I made a mistake in the last section and was worried it might turn out to be expensive for me, especially as I knew there were a few strong slalom guys who were coming after me. … Caviezel and Vincent Kriechmayr are guys I know from Europa Cup how strong they can be.”

For the Americans, there was a solid showing by Ted Ligety and Jared Goldberg, who skied to fifth and 14th, respectively. Ligety was in the running for a podium through a good chunk of the second run, but ultimately was bumped by Mayer and Kostelic. He said after the race, it was the downhill run that thwarted his chances.

Goldberg on the other hand was pleased with the result.

“This is my first slalom in a real race situation this year. I’m definitely stoked on it. I was just trying to attack and come out of the gate with a lot of intensity because I haven’t skied much slalom, trained about three days. I just wanted to go out and get a good rhythm going and take risks the whole time.”

The men’s World Cup next contests a slalom at Wengen on Saturday morning starting at 10 a.m. CET.

 

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

  1. Janka, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  2. Muffat-Jeandet, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  3. Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  4. Mayer, Head/Head/Head
  5. Ligety, Head/Head/Head
  6. Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  7. Caviezel, Head/Head/Head
  8. Bank, Elan/Nordica/Elan
  9. Mermillod Blondin, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  10. Pinturault, Head/Head/Head

Men’s World Cup alpine combined, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2015:

  • It is the first event of the 85th Annual Lauberhorn, Switzerland’s most prestigious race series and the oldest on the World Cup calendar. … It is the first of two combined events set this season. … The 18th of 35 scheduled men’s competitions. … It is the first of three competitions set for Wengen this season. … Ted Ligety is the defending combined champion.
  • It is the tenth career World Cup victory for Carlo Janka. … The third in combined. … He also won at Wengen in 2009, and at Beaver Creek the following season. … He has also been second in the Lauberhorn combined twice and third once. … The winning margin is 1.31seconds. … The top seven skiers were within two seconds.
  • It is a career best World Cup result for Victor Muffat-Jeandet. … His previous best had been fifth in GS at Soelden and at Beaver Creek at the beginning of this season.
  • It is the 60th World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic … his 15th in combined. … It is his 13th podium scored at Wengen, the fourth in combined.
  • It is the 66th career World Cup top five for Ted Ligety. … It is the fourth time he has finished fifth at Wengen, three of those in combined and once in slalom. … It is the seventh career World Cup score for Jared Goldberg … his third at Wengen and his third in combined. … It is the first career World Cup score for both Tyler Werry and Broderick Thompson.
  • Marcel Hirscher (did not race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 836-624 over Kjetill Jansrud (2nd run DNF). … Fritz Dopfer (did not race) is third with 506pts. … Ted Ligety sits eighth with 371pts.
  • Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 2553-1778 over France. … Italy is third at 1640pts. … The U.S. is seventh at 1101pts and Canada ninth at 397pts.

 

Results

 1  13  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:36.42  52.89  2:29.31  0.00
 2  35  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  1:39.20  51.42  2:30.62  +1.31  10.09
 3  22  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica 1979 CRO  1:38.53  52.16  2:30.69  +1.38  10.63
 4  14  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:36.53  54.21  2:30.74  +1.43  11.01
 5  19  534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA  1:39.11  51.84  2:30.95  +1.64  12.63
 6  21  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO  1:38.88  52.12  2:31.00  +1.69  13.02
 7  8  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:37.62  53.68  2:31.30  +1.99  15.33
 8  10  150398 BANK Ondrej 1980 CZE  1:37.81  53.58  2:31.39  +2.08  16.02
 9  17  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas 1984 FRA  1:38.75  52.69  2:31.44  +2.13  16.41
 10  18  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  1:39.71  52.03  2:31.74  +2.43  18.72
 11  4  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:38.08  54.01  2:32.09  +2.78  21.41
 12  1  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:37.34  54.87  2:32.21  +2.90  22.34
 13  28  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 1981 SUI  1:39.47  52.87  2:32.34  +3.03  23.34
 14  15  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:38.71  53.94  2:32.65  +3.34  25.73
 15  12  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK  1:39.68  53.01  2:32.69  +3.38  26.03
 16  27  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:37.93  54.91  2:32.84  +3.53  27.19
 17  29  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:37.57  55.39  2:32.96  +3.65  28.11
 17  26  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  1:38.27  54.69  2:32.96  +3.65  28.11
 19  16  293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA  1:38.99  54.03  2:33.02  +3.71  28.57
 20  20  511352 VILETTA Sandro 1986 SUI  1:38.58  54.47  2:33.05  +3.74  28.81
 21  34  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA  1:38.92  54.34  2:33.26  +3.95  30.42
 22  6  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:38.70  54.91  2:33.61  +4.30  33.12
 22  2  501076 OLSSON Hans 1984 SWE  1:38.05  55.56  2:33.61  +4.30  33.12
 24  33  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  1:39.08  55.34  2:34.42  +5.11  39.36
 25  7  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:39.02  55.71  2:34.73  +5.42  41.75
 26  37  103762 WERRY Tyler 1991 CAN  1:39.87  55.01  2:34.88  +5.57  42.90
 27  40  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej 1988 POL  1:39.93  55.44  2:35.37  +6.06  46.67
 28  42  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE  1:40.72  54.66  2:35.38  +6.07  46.75
 29  36  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel 1992 RUS  1:40.05  55.35  2:35.40  +6.09  46.91
 30  38  104096 THOMPSON Broderick 1994 CAN  1:39.80  55.73  2:35.53  +6.22  47.91
 31  23  150495 VRABLIK Martin 1982 CZE  1:41.86  54.93  2:36.79  +7.48  57.61
 32  39  561322 HADALIN Stefan 1995 SLO  1:40.32  57.17  2:37.49  +8.18  63.00
Disqualified 2nd run
 5  51332 SCHEIBER Florian 1987 AUT
 3  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO
Did not start 2nd run
 47  400281 VAN HEEK Marvin 1991 NED
 45  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA
 25  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT
Did not finish 2nd run
 46  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI
 44  930024 MAPLE Wiley 1990 USA
 43  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT
 41  150743 BERNDT Ondrej 1988 CZE
 32  511529 GISIN Marc 1988 SUI
 30  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA
 24  534959 JITLOFF Tim 1985 USA
 11  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR
 9  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA
Did not finish 1st run
 31  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.