Reiteralm: Magic Gini: Swiss skier nabs 1st victory

Nov 11, 2007

There is some global balance on the World Cup men’s tour. At least in slalom.
    Swiss skier Marc Gini nailed down victory No. 1 Sunday in the opening men’s World Cup slalom of the season at Reiteralm, Austria, besting Finland’s Kalle Palander and Italy’s Manfred Moelgg. The top six finishers were from six different nations, and while juggernaut Austria landed five racers in the top 12, the Austrian men failed to podium for the second straight race.
    American Jimmy Cochran, fifth after the first run, slipped to 14th, while Bode Miller placed 26th as he tries to restore his slalom point profile.


REITERALM, Austria — There is some global balance on the World Cup men’s tour. At least in slalom.
    Swiss skier Marc Gini nailed down victory No. 1 Sunday in the opening men’s World Cup slalom of the season at Reiteralm, Austria, besting Finland’s Kalle Palander and Italy’s Manfred Moelgg. The top six finishers were from six different nations, and while juggernaut Austria landed five racers in the top 12, the Austrian men failed to podium for the second straight race.
    American Jimmy Cochran, fifth after the first run, slipped to 14th, while Bode Miller placed 26th as he tries to restore his slalom point profile. Miller, who was hit by a gate on his chin but not seriously injured in the first run, came to a virtual standstill as he almost missed a gate in his final run.
    The leader after the opening run, Gini finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 53.49 seconds on the Gasselhoehe course. In snow and gusty conditions just like Saturday for the women’s race, Palander was second, .28 back, and Moelgg third, .50 back.
    “This is fantastic, an unbelievable result,” Gini said. “I made some bets with my teammates, but that was just for fun. I never thought I could really win here.”
    Gini had finished in the top 10 of a World Cup event four times, but never in the top three.
    Jean-Baptiste Grange of France was fourth, Mario Matt of Austria fifth and Swede Markus Larsson sixth. Austrians Manfred Pranger and Benni Raich, second and third, respectively, in the first run, slipped off the pace in run two. Defending slalom champ Raich finished seventh and Pranger 10th.
    Earlier in the day, USA racer Cody Marshall just failed to qualify for the second run, finishing 31st, while Ted Ligety struggled to 35th after taking second in the opening GS at Sölden. Tim Kelley was a DNF.
    Ligety failed to qualify when he went out on a turn. He returned to finish the run but couldn't regain his speed after the full stop. "Ted was absolutely smashing it up top — the first or second split time — and down at the bottom, but he shot out in the middle and that was really it," said U.S. men's head tech coach Sasha Rearick.
    A Völkl racer, Gini, who just turned 23, had never finished better than ninth in a World Cup race.
    “This is a great, new experience for me,” Gini said after the first run. “I am in front of all the big stars, that’s quite incredible.
    “The circumstances are great. The course is fantastic and I felt really well. But it was only after finishing when I realized that I’d gone that fast.”
    Shortly after crossing the finish line Sunday, Gini realized he had won the slalom and celebrated with some unusual tribal dancing to demonstrate his happiness at capturing a first World Cup victory.
    “We made a deal in our Swiss team that whoever wins has to do a funny dance,” Gini said. “I am totally surprised I had to show my dancing skills here today.”
    Palander is thriving thanks partly due to a pain-free start to the season.
    “My second podium finish in the second race. This truly is a great start to the season. It’s the first time in seven years that I am skiing without pain in my knees,” said Palander, who finished third in the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria, two weeks ago.
    “My training on the slalom went better and better, so I am glad that paid off in the race today.”
    Palander said the conditions were in his favor.
    “I don’t prefer such a flat slope, but I loved the difficult circumstances,” Palander said.
    Moelgg said his great start in the second run led to him finishing third.
    “I hope to stay among the best this season,” Moelgg said. “I couldn’t ask for a better start anyway.”
    Cochran, too, was seeking his first World Cup podium after starting 35th, but he couldn’t negotiate the second run in top form. His career best is seventh in a 2005 Kranjska Gora giant slalom. Slalom is his best discipline, but his top finish on the World Cup to date is 13th (December 2006, Alta Badia).
    U.S. men's head coach Phil McNichol was upbeat over his racers' performances, battling what he termed "an epic blizzard" this week in Reiteralm. 
    "Ted's definitely one of the fastest, if not the fastest slalom skier in the world now," McNichol said. "And for Jimmy to come from outside the first 30 starters with a top-five run is outstanding." He also pointed to defending NorAm slalom champion Marshall, who started 57th in the storm and motored to 31st place, just missing a second run.
    Palander started well, lost speed halfway, but had a very fast finish in the first run, saying, “The course was difficult, but I did really well and will be extremely happy when I am still in second place after the final run,” Palander said.
    WCSN.com will broadcast same-today video streaming at noon ET today.
    The World Cup now makes its annual North American swing. The speed skiers kick off their 2007-08 campaign with a Nov. 24 downhill and Nov. 25 super G at Lake Louise, Alberta, in the scintillating Canadian Rockies. Then it’s four races at Beaver Creek before returning to Europe in early December.
    The women’s tour will call Panorama, B.C., Lake Louise and then Aspen home for the next stretch.

Reiteralm World Cup men's slalom

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  19  511127 GINI Marc  1984  SUI   58.96  54.53  1:53.49  0.00
 2  13  180251 PALANDER Kalle  1977  FIN   59.23  54.54  1:53.77  1.50
 3  3  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   59.78  54.21  1:53.99  2.69
 4  4  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  1984  FRA   59.58  54.54  1:54.12  3.39
 5  2  50707 MATT Mario  1979  AUT   59.67  54.47  1:54.14  3.49
 6  7  500656 LARSSON Markus  1979  SWE   59.87  54.46  1:54.33  4.51
 7  5  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   59.47  54.88  1:54.35  4.62
 8  23  191459 LIZEROUX Julien  1979  FRA   59.82  54.71  1:54.53  5.59
 9  25  50547 SCHOENFELDER Rainer  1977  AUT   59.92  54.72  1:54.64  6.18
 10  8  50624 PRANGER Manfred  1978  AUT   59.25  55.66  1:54.91  7.63
 11  9  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER   59.79  55.23  1:55.02  8.22
 12  34  50900 KOLL Alexander  1982  AUT   1:00.75  54.35  1:55.10  8.65
 13  16  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:00.15  55.17  1:55.32  9.84
&n
bsp;14		  35  534040 COCHRAN Jimmy  1981  USA   59.48  55.85  1:55.33  9.89
 15  29  560425 VAJDIC Bernard  1980  SLO   1:00.77  54.63  1:55.40  10.27
 16  14  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:00.29  55.21  1:55.50  10.80
 17  47  50997 OMMINGER Andreas  1983  AUT   1:00.40  55.13  1:55.53  10.96
 18  18  291145 DEVILLE Cristian  1981  ITA   59.95  55.68  1:55.63  11.50
 19  43  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI   1:00.40  55.25  1:55.65  11.61
 20  15  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:00.12  55.55  1:55.67  11.72
 21  30  420148 KARLSEN Truls Ove  1975  NOR   1:00.24  55.47  1:55.71  11.93
 22  24  301312 SASAKI Akira  1981  JPN   1:00.40  55.37  1:55.77  12.25
 23  62  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:00.53  55.28  1:55.81  12.47
 24  64  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   1:00.94  54.95  1:55.89  12.90
 25  21  50605 HERBST Reinfried  1978  AUT   1:00.00  56.02  1:56.02  13.60
 26  31  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   1:00.26  56.06  1:56.32  15.21
 27  17  510993 ALBRECHT Daniel  1983  SUI   1:00.81  55.77  1:56.58  16.61
 28  45  102727 STUTZ Paul  1983  CAN   1:00.80  56.17  1:56.97  18.70

Did not finish 1st run:
ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), HOROSHILOV Alexandr (RUS), SANDELL Marcus (FIN), BAXTER Alain (GBR), SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), CHENAL Joel (FRA), BAXTER Noel (GBR), IKUTA Yasuhiro (JPN), PICHOT Sebastien (FRA), STEHLE Dominik (GER), MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas (FRA), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), SEMPLE Ryan (CAN), IMBODEN Urs (MDA), JANKA Carlo (SUI), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), HARGIN Mattias (SWE), THALER Patrick (ITA), KELLEY Tim (USA), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), VOGL Alois (GER), LAHDENPERAE Anton (SWE), HANSSON Martin (SWE), MINAGAWA Kentaro (JPN), ROCCA Giorgio (ITA), MYHRER Andre (SWE), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE)

Did not finish 2nd run:
ALBRECHT Kilian (BUL), BROLENIUS Johan (SWE)

Did not qualify 1st run:
SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), YUASA Naoki (JPN), TISSOT Maxime (FRA), SKUBE Matic (SLO), MARSHALL Cody (USA), FANARA Thomas (FRA), NORDH Fredrik (SWE), DREIER Christoph (AUT), ENGL Kurt (AUT), DRAGSIC Mitja (SLO), BRAUER Jono (AUS), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), TREJBAL Filip (CZE), BANK Ondrej (CZE), FILL Peter (ITA), LIGETY Ted (USA)

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Men’s slalom, Reiteralm, Austria, Nov. 11, 2007

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1. Gini, Völkl/Tecnica/Marker
2. Palander, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3. Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4. Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5. Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
6. Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7. Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8. Lizeroux, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
9. Schoenfelder, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10. Pranger, Völkl/Lange/Marker

Men’s slalom, Reiteralm, Austria, Nov. 11, 2007. … The race is rescheduled from Levi, Finland, due to a lack of snow. … It is the second of 41 races of the men’s World Cup 2007-08 schedule. … The first of 11 scheduled slaloms. … It is the fifth World Cup held at Reiteralm, all since December 2006 and all of them replacement races. … Marc Gini of Switzerland won the first run. … 31 of the 77 starters (40 percent) failed to complete the first run. … Conditions: snowing, minus-1 Celsius at top, 0 at bottom.
    It is the first career victory for Marc Gini. … His previous-best finish is ninth in slalom at Kranjska Gora on March 4, 2007. … He has also been 10th three times. … Gini started 19th and won the first run. … The last Swiss slalom win was from Marc Berthod at Adelboden last season, and before that it goes back to 2002. … The last Swiss to win a slalom in Austria was Vreni Schneider in 1994.
    It is the 29th career podium for Kalle Palander. … His 17th in slalom. … He has been on the podium in both races conducted this season.
    It is the fifth career Cup podium for Manfred Moelgg, all in slalom and fourth in this calendar year. … It is the third Italian podium of the season. … The Austrian men have not scored a podium finish this season.
    Fourteenth matches Jimmy Cochran’s third-best career World Cup score. … His best is seventh in GS at Kranjska Gora, Dec. 21, 2005. … He started 35th and was fifth after the first run. … It is the third Cup slalom scored in by Bode Miller in a year, all of them results in the 20s. … It is the second career scoring finish for Paul Stutz of Canada, the other a 20th in slalom at Beaver Creek last December. … Cody Marshall finished 31st in the first run, missing the cut by one placing.
    Back-of-the pack performances were largely Austrian… Alexander Koll 34th to 12; Andreas Omminger 47th to 17th… Romed Baumann 62nd to 23rd.
    Kalle Palander takes over the World Cup overall lead 140 to 120 over Aksel Svindal. … Manfred Moelgg and Gini are tied for third with 100 points. … Ted Ligety is top American in sixth at 80. … Austria leads the Nations Cup 682-438 over Italy with the U.S. men in third at 314.

Overall standings
(After two races)
1. Kalle Palander, Finland, 140 points.
2. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 120.
3. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 100.
(tie) Marc Gini, Switzerland, 100.
5. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 86.
6. Ted Ligety, United States, 80.
7. Mario Matt, Austria, 59.
8. Bode Miller, United States, 50.
(tie) Jean-Baptiste Grange, France, 50.
10. Markus Larsson, Sweden, 47.

Slalom standings
(After one race)
1. Marc Gini, Switzerland, 100 points.
2. Kalle Palander, Finland, 80.
3. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 60.
4. Jean-Baptiste Grange, France, 50.
5. Mario Matt, Austria, 45.
6. Markus Larsson, Sweden, 40.
7. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 36.
8. Julien Lizeroux, France, 32.
9. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 29.
10. Manfred Pranger, Austria, 26.

 

About the Author: Pete Rugh

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