There were 70,000 euros on the line for the top skiers in the Hahnenkamm slalom in Kitzbuehel and some guys seemed to feel pressure from each one of them. The French… not so much.

Julien Lizeroux got his first World Cup win – and podium – during a wild turn of events in front of the traditional huge Kitzbuehel crowd. Lizeroux had been seventh after the first run. And he wasn’t the only one who advanced by leaps and bounds in the second run.

His French compatriot, Jean-Baptiste Grange, was one of few who handled the pressure decently in both runs.  Second after the first run he hung on for second even as others flailed, but if the race had been longer the placing would have been in question as he continued to fall back at every second run intermediate timer. It was the first one-two finish for France since 1982.There were 70,000 euros on the line for the top skiers in the Hahnenkamm slalom in Kitzbuehel and some guys seemed to feel pressure from each one of them. The French.. … not so much.

Julien Lizeroux got his first World Cup win – and podium – during a wild turn of events in front of the traditional huge Kitzbuehel crowd. Lizeroux had been seventh after the first run. And he wasn’t the only one who advanced by leaps and bounds in the second run.

His French compatriot, Jean-Baptiste Grange, was one of few who handled the pressure decently in both runs.  Second after the first run he hung on for second even as others flailed, but if the race had been longer the placing would have been in question as he continued to fall back at every second run intermediate timer. It was the first one-two finish for France since 1982.

 In third was Italian Patrick Thaler, scoring his first career podium placing as he ripped in from 14th after the first heat.

Three of the top five first run finishers, all of them Austrians, failed to finish the second run. Reinfried Herbst, the first run leader and the slalom winner at Adelboden earlier this month went out. Manfred Pranger who won at Wengen and was fourth after the first run went out and Mario Matt, fifth after the first run, went out.

A pair of first run mistakes left Lizeroux feeling he had nothing to lose, so he punched his second run as hard as he could. “I risked everything in my second run. … And it worked.” he said.

The result also means Frenchman have won the last two slaloms at Kitzbuehel. “Last year it was Jean-Baptiste,” Lizeroux told AP. “Now, it is me. That’s incredible.”

North America was highlighted by Trevor White. He was making his seventh career World Cup start and climbed from the 37th start to eighth at the finish. White placed 22nd last week at Wengen but was not awarded points. This time, he’ll get them.

“It’s awesome,” the 25 year-old said. “I am super-pumped. I was really nervous in the second run and I just kept telling myself not to let up.”  Teammate Michael Janyk finished 10th.

Silvan Zurbriggen collected the win of the old school combined totaling the times from yesterday’s downhill and today’s slalom. Despite a pay out of 40,000 euros the combined numbered just 11 finishers. Ivica Kostelic got second and his Croatian teammate Natko Zrncic-Dim was third.

Zurbriggen called it  “an amazing day, the best of my career,” as he registered his first World Cup win. The day wasn’t all that bad for second finishing Kostelic, either. He wound up leading the overall standings at the end of the day.

“I was thinking about taking the lead so I tried to avoid ricks,” he said. “I have never led the World Cup before. This feels great.”

He agreed, however, it was far too early to be celebrating.

There was nothing to call home about for the U.S. skiers. Bode Miller and Jimmy Cochran both lasted six gates or less on the first run. Ted Ligety got to the second run of slalom before cashing it and pleasing the crowd with a spread eagle as he exited.

He said he lost interest after finding himself well off the pace after the first run. The combined, he said, “is a consolation prize anyway.”

The SCOOP

Equipment

Men’s Slalom, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 25, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
2 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Thaler, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
4 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Vajdic, Elan//Atomic   
6 Brolenius, Elan/Nordica/Elan
7 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 White, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
9 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/
10 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s Combined, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 24-25, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
2 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Kucera, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Gorza, Fischer/Lange/
8 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Horoshilov, Salomon/
10 Thanei, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Men’s slalom, and combined, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 25, 2009. … It is a traditional combined, with the winner generated from results of Saturday’s downhill and today’s slalom. … These are the 23rd and 24th races of the men’s 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … the 131st and 132nd Cup races held at least in part at Kitzbuehel. … These are the final two races of the 69th annual Hahnenkamm. … It is the 42nd Cup slalom at Kitzbuehel and the 29th combined at least in part at Kitzbuehel.

Slalom –
It is the first career World Cup win, and first career World Cup podium for Julien Lizeroux. … His previous best had been fourth in slalom at Kitzbuehel last season. … It is his eighth result of the season, six in slalom and two in combined.

It is the 11th career World Cup podium for Jean-Baptiste Grange. … and his fifth of the season. … He has never finished third in a World Cup, so all of those are first or second placings. … It is the first time the French have recorded the top two finishers in a Cup race since Caroline Attia and Claudine Emonet placed respectively in downhill at Sansicario, Italy, Dec. 15, 1982.

It is the first career World Cup podium for Patrick Thaler. … His previous best had been fourth in slalom at Bad Kleinkirchheim Dec. 9, 2007. … It is his fourth scoring result of the season, all in slalom, with his previous best sixth at Alta Badia.

It is the first career scoring result for Trevor White, his first top 10 and second finish in the top 30, having placed 21st in a non-counting result at the Wengen slalom last week. … The result matches the best for Canada in slalom this season. … Eighth was also accomplished by Michael Janyk last week in Wengen. … It is the 14th career World Cup top 10 result for Janyk. … It is his second best result at Kitzbuehel having placed ninth in slalom in 2007. … It is the second straight slalom in which Canada has had two skiers in the top 10.

Combined-
It is the first career World Cup victory for Silvan Zurbriggen. … He owns five Cup podiums, four of them in combined. … It is his second podium of the season, both in combined, having placed third at Wengen.

It is the 27th career World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic. … His fifth in combined. … He was third in combined at Kitzbuehel last season. … It is his fifth podium of the season, but first in combined.

It is the second career World Cup podium for Natko Zrncic-Dim. … The other also in combined, at Val d’Isere in 2008. … That Val d;Isere event was the only other time two Croatians have shared the same World Cup podium.

There were no North American finishers in the combined.

Standings-
Kostelic takes over the lead of the World Cup overall standings 675-660 over Benjamin Raich, a slalom DNF. … Grange moves to third at 656. … Aksel Svindal (5th in combined race, did not qualify for 2nd run of slalom) is fourth overall at 655. … Bode Miller (DNF SL) is the top North American on the overall list in ninth with 445pts.
 
Grange extends his lead in the slalom standings to 429-34over Ivica Kostelic (seventh in race). … Manfred Pranger (2nd run DNF) is third at 219. … Reinfried Herbst (2nd run DNF) is fourth at 216 and Lizeroux closes to fifth at 203. … Bode Miller is the top North American on the slalom list in 15th with 95pts. … Michael Janyk is 16th at 85pts.

Zurbriggen leads the combined standings 205-182 over Carlo Janka … Raich is third at 136. … Top North American is John Kucera in ninth with 74pts.

Slalom results

Did not finish 1st run: TREJBAL Filip (CZE), SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), STUTZ Paul (CAN), OHKOSHI Ryuunosuke (JPN), TISSOT Stephane (FRA), WEIBRECHT Andrew (USA), GROSS Stefano (ITA), YUASA Naoki (JPN), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), VAN DEN BOGAERT Jeroen (BEL), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), RAINER Niklas (SWE), RAICH Benjamin (AUT), DEFAGO Didier (SUI), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), BIGGS Patrick (CAN), BECHTER Patrick (AUT), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), DEVILLE Cristian (ITA), DRAGSIC Mitja (SLO), GRANDI Thomas (CAN), PRANGER Manfred (AUT), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER), KOGLER Stefan (GER), MILLER Bode (USA), MATT Mario (AUT), LIGETY Ted (USA), HERBST Reinfried (AUT), HARGIN Mattias (SWE), ANDERSSON Magnus (SWE)

Disqualified 1st run: SASAKI Akira (JPN), FILL Peter (ITA), INNERHOFER Christof (ITA)
Did not finish 2nd run: Mario Matt, Reinfried Herbst, Manfred Pranger, AUT; Felix Neureuther, GER; Cristian Deville, Giuliano Razzoli, ITA; Ted Ligerty, USA, Mitja Dragsic, SLO, Alexandre Anselmet, FRA.

Combined result