KITZBUEHEL, Austria — The alpine combined capped off an extensive day of competition to open Hahnenkamm festivities in Kitzbuehel, Austria on Friday. The men raced a stand-alone super G in the morning coupled with slalom under the lights, merging the best of speed and tech in a joyous smorgasbord of alpine skiing in northeastern Tyrol.

A select group of athletes were able to execute both disciplines at a high level. The usual suspects in the combined, Alexis Pinturault, Marcel Hirscher and Ivica Kostelic finished first, second and fourth respectively. The Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank, who favors the speed side of things but competes across the board, snuck onto the podium in third.

For Pinturault, who failed to make the top 30 after the combined downhill in Wengen last week and subsequently finished 10th, it’s his first win since World Cup Finals last year, providing some much needed momentum heading into the World Champs.  He finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 1.36 seconds, nearly seven-tenths in front of Hirscher.

“In combined, my best discipline is the slalom, not the downhill or the super G, so I have to be fast and not make any mistakes (in the speed portion) or it’s over. That’s what happened in Wengen for me, so I just tried today to attack the super G. Today, it was more of a downhill than a super G. Finally on the slalom, I just tried to do my best.

“It’s really special to get a win (in Kitzbuehel) and even more for the second time,” added the Frenchman.

After the race, Hirscher called his second-place result one of his “toughest moments in alpine skiing” due to the nature of the first run set. One would assume a wide-open super G, as was the case on the Streif this morning, wouldn’t favor a tech specialist like Hirscher.

“Especially for a slalom guy, it is never easy to ski 130 kilometers per hour. In the end, if I finish into the net, everyone would say, ‘He’s a total crazy, stupid idiot,’ but today maybe I’m a small hero.”

Hirscher holds a 182-point lead in the overall over Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud.

“I want to fight against Kjetil for the overall World Cup title and today I collected 80 points,” said Hirscher. “That is the reason I am so ‘stupid’ to do downhill and super G races.”

Andrew Weibrecht and Jared Goldberg led the American squad in 18th and 19th, respectively. Weibrecht was hot off a career best World Cup result earlier in the day, fifth in the super G, while Goldberg snagged his second combined top-20 in as many weeks.

“The slalom (in Kitzbuehel) is really difficult, more so than the Wengen slalom. It was set over rolls. You’re getting air. You’re just trying to look for the finish,” said Goldberg, who’s been favoring speed and some GS this season. “I might have been just holding on after I had too many recoveries in a row.”

Goldberg said he figured out a couple things in the super G that will help in the running of Saturday’s downhill, particularly how to enter the famed Hausberg jump above the finish stadium.

“It was almost like today was another training run. It gives me a lot of confidence heading into tomorrow,” added Goldberg. “I was all over the place today. I basically fell in the super G and made the gate and was still in here. So with two clean runs I can definitely be competitive.”

See more photos from the race here.

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

1. Pinturault, Head/Head/Head
2. Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3. Bank, Nordica/Nordica/
4. Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
5. Muffat-Jeandet, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6. Janka, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7. Zampa, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8. Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9. Jansrud, Head/Head/Head
10. Caviezel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic 

Men’s World Cup combined, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 23, 2015:

• It is the 22^nd of 36 races on the men’s 2015 World Cup calendar. … The second of two combined races. … The event will determine the 75^th annual Hahnenkamm champion. … It is the 158^th World Cup race hosted by Kitzbuehel. … The 38^th World Cup combined at the site. … Alexis Pinturault is the defending combined champion.
• It is the eighth career World Cup victory for Alexis Pinturault … his third in combined and his second consecutive at Kitzbuehel. … It is his first win of the season but his fifth podium result. … He had finished 25^th in the super G. … Winning margin is .69. … Top four racers are within the same second. … Top 10 within two seconds.
• It is the 68^th career World Cup podium result for Marcel Hirscher. … his fourth in five completed combined races. … It is his tenth podium this season in 11 competed races.
• It is the second career World Cup podium for Ondrej Bank, both in combined. …The previous was also a third-place finish, scored at Beaver Creek Nov. 29, 2007.
• It is the second best career combined result for Andrew Weibrecht. … He had previously placed 14^th in combined at Beaver Creek in 2007. … It is the fourth best career World Cup result for Jared Goldberg. … His best came at Kitzbuehel, in combined last season when he finished 11^th.
• Marcel Hirscher maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 916-734 over Kjetil Jansrud (ninth in race). … Alexis Pinturault is third with 611pts. … Ted Ligety hangs on in the top 10 in ninth with 420pts.
• Carlo Janka leads the combined standings 140-126 over Pinturault. … Victor Muffat-Jeandet is third with 125pts. … Ligety is top the U.S. skier in combined in 11^th with 45pts.
• Austria leads the men’s World Cup Nations Cup 3170-2205 over France. … Italy is third with 1956pts. … The U.S. is seventh at 1242pts and Canada ninth at 413pts.

Results