Kostelic gets 7th Cup win of month at Chamonix

By Published On: January 30th, 2011Comments Off on Kostelic gets 7th Cup win of month at Chamonix

Ivica KostelicIvica Kostelic ended January just as he started it off, though perhaps a bit more dramatically. The Croatian World Cup leader took control of the slalom leg of the Chamonix super combined Jan. 30 to make up a 2.5 second disadvantage for his seventh win of the month.

Teammate Natko Zrncic-Dim gave the small Croatian team a sweep of the top two positions,  the first time in the team’s history it has accomplished the feat. Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, looking to get back into the race for the overall Cup title, placed third.

“After the descent (downhill) I was mad,” said Kostelic, “and I knew – and secretly hoped -that I can only succeed if I put everything at stake. And that is exactly what I did. I have not kept any two or three percent (back). I went to the end and it paid off.”

“Natko’s success made it twice as beautiful. My best friend on the podium with me. Together we sang the national anthem.”

With no racers in the top 30 after the first (downhill) leg of the Chamonix combined, the U.S. had dismal chances to score but Will Brandenburg posted a strong slalom run to move to 22nd for the day.

Ben Thomsen gave Canada two points in 29th to avoid a score sheet whiteout.

The win opened up Kostelic’s lead of the overall standings to 475 points and gave him the combined crown.

“In the past I have always missed out because I was ill or injured,” said an elated Kostelic. “This has a lot of significance for me.”

The Croates had four skiers in the points. Dalibor Samsal finished 24th and Tin Siroki 28th.

Italy also had some reason for elation with three skiers in the top 10. Dominik Paris, Paolo Pangrazzi and Christof Innerhofer placed seven-eight-nine respectively.

Kostelic photo by Gepa.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup combined, Chamonix, France, Jan. 30, 2011
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
4 Jansrud, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
6 Bank, Elan/Nordica/Elan
7 Paris, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
8 Pangrazzi, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
9 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Feuz, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Men’s World Cup super combined, Chamonix, France, Jan. 30, 2011. … It is the 26th event on the men’s 39 event 2011 World Cup schedule. … the 25th held. … It is the third of four scheduled combineds. … It is the 40th World Cup event to be held, at least in part, at Chamonix. … the tenth combined.

It is the 18th career World Cup win for Ivica Kostelic, his fifth in combined. … It is his seven win of the season all coming in the month of January. … and his fourth straight Cup combined win including all three this season and Kitzbuehel 2010. … he was second in the Olympic combined to Bode Miller who did not race at Chamonix. … Kostelic was also second to Miller in the last combined at Chamonix in 2008.

It is a career best World Cup result for Natka Zrncic-Dim but his fourth podium having placed third in three previous combineds, the last at Beaver Creek Dec. 4, 2009. … It is the first two place sweep of a World Cup race by Croatia.

It is the 35th career World Cup podium result for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his sixth in combined. … It is his sixth podium of the season and second this season in combined having placed third at Wengen. … He has placed fifth (2004) and 16th (2006) in previous combineds at Chamonix.

It is a career best result, and second of his career, for Will Brandenburg, the other a 24th place in slalom at Adelboden earlier this season (Jan. 9). … It is the third career World Cup scoring result for Ben Thomsen, all coming this season, the other two in DH.

Kostelic leads the World Cup overall standings 1178-703 over Silvan Zurbriggen (fifth in race). … Didier Cuche (did not race) is third overall with 673pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is the top American in 10th with 434pts. … Erik Guay (did not race) the top Canadian in 32nd place with 157pts. … Kostelic leads the combined standings 300-143 over Zurbriggen and with one event remaining cannot be beaten for the title. … Kjetil Jansrud (4th in race) is third in combined with 132pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 3894-2770 over Switzerland. … Italy is third with 2138pts. … The U.S. is eighth with 1000pts and Canada ninth with 887pts.

Place   Chamonix
(FRA)
  Discipline   Super Combined
Date   30.01.2011   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   0511   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Roig Vivas Lluis (SPA)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  18  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:02.47  54.65  2:57.12  0.00
 2  10  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   2:01.04  56.59  2:57.63  3.25
 3  20  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:00.05  57.60  2:57.65  3.38
 4  21  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   2:02.73  55.01  2:57.74  3.96
 5  19  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   2:01.59  56.16  2:57.75  4.02
 6  9  150398 BANK Ondrej  1980  CZE   2:01.62  56.16  2:57.78  4.21
 7  12  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   2:01.24  57.02  2:58.26  7.27
 8  2  294904 PANGRAZZI Paolo  1988  ITA   2:02.33  56.19  2:58.52  8.93
 9  17  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   2:00.85  57.84  2:58.69  10.02
 10  8  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   1:59.97  58.82  2:58.79  10.65
 11  22  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:01.21  57.87  2:59.08  12.50
 12  14  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:01.63  57.62  2:59.25  13.59
 13  33  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   2:01.44  58.03  2:59.47  14.99
 14  13  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   2:01.69  57.80  2:59.49  15.12
 15  7  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   2:01.25  58.67  2:59.92  17.86
 16  24  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp  1983  AUT   2:02.76  57.28  3:00.04  18.63
 17  23  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA   2:03.09  57.02  3:00.11  19.08
 18  6  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   2:03.08  57.24  3:00.32  20.42
 19  15  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   2:00.57  59.79  3:00.36  20.67
 20  26  53853 SIEBER Bjoern  1989  AUT   2:01.84  58.81  3:00.65  22.52
 21  39  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   2:01.73  59.37  3:01.10  25.39
 22  1  530165 BRANDENBURG Will  1987  USA   2:04.09  57.34  3:01.43  27.50
 23  34  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZE   2:04.20  57.67  3:01.87  30.30
 24  45  380290 SAMSAL Dalibor  1985  CRO   2:05.30  56.77  3:02.07  31.58
 25  36  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   2:02.11  1:00.00  3:02.11  31.84
 26  38  220656 DRAKE Ed  1986  GBR   2:03.89  58.84  3:02.73  35.79
 27  3  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   2:02.08  1:01.43  3:03.51  40.77
 28  25  380298 SIROKI Tin  1987  CRO   2:03.95  1:00.28  3:04.23  45.36
 29  42  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   2:03.01  1:01.49  3:04.50  47.08
 30  35  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   2:01.11  1:03.90  3:05.01  50.34
 31  37  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   2:02.06  1:03.38  3:05.44  53.08
 32  31  511634 SPESCHA Christian  1989  SUI   2:02.74  1:02.81  3:05.55  53.78
 33  30  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej  1988  POL   2:05.69  59.95  3:05.64  54.36
 34  28  150495 VRABLIK Martin  1982  CZE   2:06.90  59.56  3:06.46  59.59
 35  46  430472 KLUSAK Michal  1990  POL   2:06.18  1:04.63  3:10.81  87.34
 36  47  60159 VAN BUYNDER Frederik  1988  BEL   2:07.13  1:16.50  3:23.63  169.13
 37  5  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA   2:03.02  1:22.15  3:25.17  178.95
Disqualified 2nd run
   4  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA         
Did not finish 2nd run
   44  20267 ESTEVE RIGAIL Kevin  1989  AND         
   41  930024 MAPLE Wiley  1990  USA         
   32  511405 OREILLER Ami  1987  SUI         
   27  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA         
   16  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT         
   11  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA         
Did not finish 1st run
   43  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI         
   40  194190 ROGER Brice  1990  FRA         
   29  292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA     

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”