Kristoffersen repeats as Schladming slalom champion

By Published On: January 24th, 2017Comments Off on Kristoffersen repeats as Schladming slalom champion

SCHLADMING, Austria — It didn’t take long for Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen to bounce back from an uncharacteristic DNF in last Sunday’s Kitzbuehel slalom. The 22-year-old phenom returned to his now customary winning ways at the night slalom in Schadming, Austria, on Tuesday, taking his fifth slalom victory of the season with a total time of 1:39.83. Hot on his heels in second was none other than Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, a razor-slim 0.09 seconds back. Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov rounded out the podium in third, 0.63 seconds back, making the podium identical to last year’s race.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day as the sun waned and the now legendary lights illuminated the Planai slope as racing action got underway in the first run. Kristoffersen set the pace early with strong, composed skiing, wearing bib three, and Hirscher sat in second, just over a half-second back with Khoroshilov a full second back in third.

The second run set was quick tempo and provided some opportunities for big risks and impressive skiing. Khoroshilov made easy work of a tricky bottom section to take the lead by nearly a full second when he crossed the line, laying down a formidable challenge for the two superstars to match. The moment Hirscher left the gate it was obvious that after an energizing win in Kitzbuehel, he was hungry for more as the Austrian built on his advantage at each interval and crossed the finish with an impressive margin and the fastest second run time. Kristoffersen, however, was not to be outdone and although lost all of his advantage by the last split, was able to charge the final few gates and cross the line for another impressive win.

After revealing that his crash in Kitzbuehel affected him more than he admitted at the time, Kristoffersen shared that he was aware of being down at the final interval — something that might rattle a lesser racer — but was able to refocus and walk away with his second consecutive and third career Schladming victory.

“I said that it (crashing in Kitzbuehel) didn’t affect me, but it affected me a little bit for sure,” he explained in the finish. “I did not find the rhythm there on the top in the second run or on the steep, I think. The course was really straight, usually I don’t like it, like I said in Wengen. I actually did not know that the finish bridge lights up green when you’re in front and red when you’re behind. My teammate Sebastian (Foss-Solevaag) told me this summer. Before the second run, I was like, ‘Don’t look at it! Don’t look at it!’ I came through the last split and was like, ‘I gotta look! No! It’s red, I gotta go!’ So I was a little stressed, but I think I charged it at the bottom there so it was pretty good.”

Hirscher admitted that he knew his bottom section was not up to par as soon as he crossed the line, but was nonetheless content to walk away with another 80 points to add to his overall standing lead.

“I knew it exactly when I crossed the finish line that the last fifteen gates were not good,” Hirscher said. “I was too shy, not enough to go one-hundred percent of risk through the last fifteen gates. It’s my personal mistake, but better eighty points in the books than zero points for today. I’m getting closer to Henrik, that is good and he deserved it anyways and skied excellent.”

Khoroshilov has now either won or been on the podium in the last three Schladming slaloms and feels that this is somewhat of a home race for him given how much time he spends in the region training in the winter.

“I really love this hill,” Khoroshilov said after the race. “It’s almost for me like a home race because we are spending a lot of time here and in Reiteralm, so I really feel like it’s at home. The crowd here gives you so much energy while you ski down, it’s awesome. Before the first World Cup, I was a little bit injured, so I started to ski pretty late before Levi — two or three days — and then I started to train a little bit with Dave (Ryding) and we started to push each other and then I could see how fast I am.”

For the Americans, Vermont’s Robby Kelley was the lone qualifier in the second run and was posting some fast skiing before getting shot out of the course within sight of the finish. As Kelley hiked to finish, upwards of 50,000 spectators roared to cheer him on.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t have wanted that to happen, but it happens,” he explained. “I was going for it. I was happy with my intensity on the bottom, I was really trying to make up some time down there. I had a good bottom split first run and then, yeah, I just couldn’t quite keep up with myself. When I was sliding, all I was thinking was, ‘Please stop, so I can hike before I cross the finish line!’ I did stop and was able to hike. I’m happy with the reaction of the crowd, they appreciated what I did, it was a nice moment.”

David Chodounsky was on an impressive pace in the first run before straddling towards the bottom. Mark Engel did not qualify and Michael Ankeny, AJ Ginnis, and Hig Roberts did not finish the first run.

The men now head to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for downhill and giant slalom races Jan. 27-29.

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. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) – Rossignol / Rossignol / Rossignol
  2. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Alexander Khoroshilov (RUS) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  4. Julien Lizeroux (FRA) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  5. Stefano Gross (ITA) –  Voelkl / Tecnica / Dalbello
  6. Manuel Feller (AUT) –  Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  7. Naoki Yuasa (JPN) – Hart/ Nordica / Marker
  8. Alexis Pinturault (FRA) – Head / Head / Head
  9. Mattias Hargin (SWE) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  10. Dave Ryding (GBR) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  3  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik 1994 NOR  50.84  48.99  1:39.83  0.00  100.00
 2  4  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  51.36  48.56  1:39.92  +0.09  0.65  80.00
 3  5  480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS  51.90  48.56  1:40.46  +0.63  4.54  60.00
 4  8  191459 LIZEROUX Julien 1979 FRA  52.05  49.31  1:41.36  +1.53  11.03  50.00
 5  10  293797 GROSS Stefano 1986 ITA  52.02  49.35  1:41.37  +1.54  11.11  45.00
 6  19  54063 FELLER Manuel 1992 AUT  52.40  49.29  1:41.69  +1.86  13.41  40.00
 7  23  301709 YUASA Naoki 1983 JPN  52.26  49.55  1:41.81  +1.98  14.28  36.00
 8  14  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  52.86  49.00  1:41.86  +2.03  14.64  32.00
 9  13  501111 HARGIN Mattias 1985 SWE  52.07  49.82  1:41.89  +2.06  14.86  29.00
 10  1  220689 RYDING Dave 1986 GBR  52.02  50.06  1:42.08  +2.25  16.23  26.00
 11  26  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR  53.01  49.27  1:42.28  +2.45  17.67  24.00
 12  2  292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA  52.46  49.90  1:42.36  +2.53  18.25  22.00
 13  42  511908 SCHMIDIGER Reto 1992 SUI  53.94  48.75  1:42.69  +2.86  20.63  20.00
 14  40  202437 LUITZ Stefan 1992 GER  53.85  48.87  1:42.72  +2.89  20.84  18.00
 15  6  511996 YULE Daniel 1993 SUI  52.66  50.12  1:42.78  +2.95  21.28  16.00
 16  29  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER  53.84  48.97  1:42.81  +2.98  21.49  15.00
 17  18  422082 FOSS-SOLEVAAG Sebastian 1991 NOR  52.91  49.91  1:42.82  +2.99  21.56  14.00
 18  15  54320 SCHWARZ Marco 1995 AUT  53.47  49.52  1:42.99  +3.16  22.79  13.00
 19  12  54170 MATT Michael 1993 AUT  54.13  48.94  1:43.07  +3.24  23.37  12.00
 20  38  6291574 SALA Tommaso 1995 ITA  53.58  49.50  1:43.08  +3.25  23.44  11.00
 21  17  421860 NORDBOTTEN Jonathan 1989 NOR  52.31  50.87  1:43.18  +3.35  24.16  10.00
 22  22  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano 1984 ITA  54.02  49.35  1:43.37  +3.54  25.53  9.00
 23  21  511983 AERNI Luca 1993 SUI  53.90  49.71  1:43.61  +3.78  27.26  8.00
 24  28  53889 HIRSCHBUEHL Christian 1990 AUT  53.50  50.32  1:43.82  +3.99  28.78  7.00
 25  24  511902 ZENHAEUSERN Ramon 1992 SUI  54.06  50.49  1:44.55  +4.72  34.04  6.00
 26  31  201896 STEHLE Dominik 1986 GER  53.78  1:26.90  2:20.68  +40.85  294.62  0.00
 27  36  930160 KELLEY Robby 1990 USA  53.93  1:36.66  2:30.59  +50.76  366.09  0.00
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 69  481103 ANDRIENKO Aleksander 1990 RUS
 67  380290 SAMSAL Dalibor 1985 HUN
 64  512063 BONVIN Anthony 1994 SUI
 57  54233 LEITGEB Richard 1994 AUT
 56  202520 HOLZMANN Sebastian 1993 GER
 54  6290183 RONCI Giordano 1992 ITA
 53  201891 SCHMID Philipp 1986 GER
 51  103676 BROWN Phil 1991 CAN
 49  561117 KUERNER Miha 1987 SLO
 46  501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton 1985 SWE
 45  512138 SIMONET Sandro 1995 SUI
 44  54245 HETTEGGER Thomas 1994 AUT
 43  934523 ENGEL Mark 1991 USA
 41  291318 TONETTI Riccardo 1989 ITA
 39  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN
 34  512182 MEILLARD Loic 1996 SUI
 33  380334 VIDOVIC Matej 1993 CRO
 25  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA
Did not finish 2nd run
 47  511899 ROCHAT Marc 1992 SUI
 32  511127 GINI Marc 1984 SUI
 11  290732 THALER Patrick 1978 ITA
 7  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER
Did not finish 1st run
 75  54106 BREITFUSS KAMMERLANDER Simon 1992 BOL
 74  540026 DICKSON SOMMERS Rodolfo Roberto 1997 MEX
 73  170151 DYRBYE NAESTED Casper 1996 DEN
 72  221190 NORRIS Kieran 1995 IRL
 71  430633 JASICZEK Michal 1994 POL
 70  60160 ALAERTS Kai 1989 BEL
 68  501351 JOHANSSON Emil 1988 SWE
 66  304242 NARITA Hideyuki 1993 JPN
 65  180567 RASANEN Joonas 1989 FIN
 63  501873 LUNDBAECK Gustav 1993 SWE
 62  194207 THEOLIER Steven 1990 NED
 61  934566 ROBERTS Hig 1991 USA
 60  6531063 GINNIS AJ 1994 USA
 59  491879 SALARICH Joaquim 1994 ESP
 58  502015 JAKOBSEN Kristoffer 1994 SWE
 55  934502 ANKENY Michael 1991 USA
 52  202485 KETTERER David 1993 GER
 50  6291631 LIBERATORE Federico 1995 ITA
 48  561322 HADALIN Stefan 1995 SLO
 37  320266 JUNG Dong-hyun 1988 KOR
 35  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
 30  194262 BUFFET Robin 1991 FRA
 27  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN
 20  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA
 16  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA
 9  51395 DIGRUBER Marc 1988 AUT

 

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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.