Jansrud uses momentum to win Val d’Isere downhill

By Published On: December 3rd, 2016Comments Off on Jansrud uses momentum to win Val d’Isere downhill

For the World Cup men, it was a slow start to the speed season with Lake Louise and Beaver Creek canceled due to lack of snow. Lucky for them with December came rescheduled speed races in Val d’Isere, France, to replace the Colorado World Cup. The best male speed skiers in the world kicked out of the start gate for the season-opening downhill on Saturday.

Kjetil Jansrud did not let the scheduling shake up rattle him despite calling Beaver Creek one of his strongest hills. The Norwegian took his confidence and momentum from Friday’s super-G victory into Saturday, claiming the first downhill victory of the 2016-17 season with a time of 1:59.51 and winning his second race in as many days.

“The downhill is a good hill,” the Norwegian said. “I used to watch it on TV when I was a young kid. It looks fairly easy, but it’s not easy at all. You know we have the top section, but from one-third and down it’s very stressful, a lot of jumps, a lot of terrain, so it’s actually a difficult downhill.”

Jansrud surprised himself with his success and credits his offseason training.

“I think two victories, you got to stay humble,” he continued. “I’ve been skiing solid both days… I’m a little surprised that I’m sitting here with two victories, but that is probably a testimonial to my shape. I think I’m in good shape.”

Jansrud is now tied with Austrian Marcel Hirscher in the lead for the men’s overall title with 200 points.

VAL D'ISERE, FRANCE - DECEMBER 03: Peter Fill of Italy takes 2nd place, Kjetil Jansrud of Norway takes 1st place, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Downhill on December 3, 2016 in Val d'Isere, France (Photo by Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom)

Agence Zoom

On the podium, he was accompanied by last year’s downhill globe winner, Peter Fill, and fellow Attacking Viking Aksel Lund Svindal, who ended the day in second and third, respectively. The Italian was 0.26 seconds off of the winning pace, and Svindal was just 0.07 seconds behind Fill. They were the only athletes of the day to ski the course in under two minutes.

“Last year was really hard to ski when you have every time in the head, ‘You need to win the globe,'” Fill said. “Now, I have it and of course, I have the confidence to have a win, and I’m really free now to go fast and I will go fast now in every race.”

In addition to being Svindal’s second podium result in as many days, Saturday marked Svindal’s first downhill start since his dramatic crash in the Hahnenkamm last year, which forced him to miss the second half of the season due to a knee injury. Despite the months off of snow and the challenging hill, the World Cup veteran seems to be picking up right where he left off.

“The downhill was tougher than I expected,” Svindal reflected. “I think especially today the speeds were up. It was more difficult than expected.”

The Norwegian is already looking towards the next speed races, mentioning how quickly he was able to get back into race mode.

“One day you just want to try to make it down the hill, but then when you see that there’s a chance of doing good, it’s racing,” Svindal said. “So, of course for Val Gardena, I want to keep the same program and be fast enough that I can possibly be on the podium.”

The top American for the day was Steven Nyman in 15th place. He was ahead of Jansrud at the first and third splits on the long course, but was unable to maintain his lead in the second half. Travis Ganong also cracked the top 30, finishing in 22nd for the day. Andrew Weibrecht, Bryce Bennett and Jared Goldberg skied to 37th, 48th and 56th respectively.

“Everybody is still working out the kinks,” Weibrecht said. “It’s the first race series, so we’ll do it better next time.”

Erik Guay was the top Canadian in sixth place. His teammate Manuel Osborne-Paradis finished in 25th place, and Jeffrey Frisch skied to 53rd.

The men’s World Cup action continues on Sunday with the giant slalom in Val d’Isere.

Fans can stay up to date on World Cup news by downloading the new U.S. Ski Team – Ski Racing app for iOS and Android.


Top 10
1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
2. Peter Fill (ITA) – Peter Fill (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
3. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
4. Bostjan Kline (SLO) – Stoeckli / Head / Tyrolia
5. Adrien Theaux (FRA) – Head / Head / Head
6. Erik Guay (CAN) – Head / Head / Head
7. Patrick Kueng (SUI) – Salomon / Salomon / Salomon
7. Dominik Paris (ITA) – Head / Head / Head
9. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
10. Valentin Giraud Moine (FRA) – Salomon / Salomon / Salomon


Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  3  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:59.51  0.00
 2  7  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:59.77  +0.26  2.72
 3  5  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR  1:59.84  +0.33  3.45
 4  8  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  2:00.15  +0.64  6.69
 5  1  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  2:00.32  +0.81  8.47
 6  2  102263 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN  2:00.48  +0.97  10.15
 7  18  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  2:00.56  +1.05  10.98
 7  9  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  2:00.56  +1.05  10.98
 9  6  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  2:00.68  +1.17  12.24
 10  22  194542 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 1992 FRA  2:00.70  +1.19  12.45
 10  17  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  2:00.70  +1.19  12.45
 12  10  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  2:00.80  +1.29  13.49
 13  11  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  2:00.83  +1.32  13.81
 14  15  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA  2:00.85  +1.34  14.02
 15  13  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  2:00.91  +1.40  14.64
 16  14  293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA  2:00.95  +1.44  15.06
 17  16  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  2:00.96  +1.45  15.17
 18  12  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  2:01.03  +1.52  15.90
 19  32  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  2:01.29  +1.78  18.62
 20  4  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  2:01.42  +1.91  19.98
 21  25  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  2:01.51  +2.00  20.92
 22  33  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  2:01.55  +2.04  21.34
 22  20  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  2:01.55  +2.04  21.34
 24  19  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  2:01.56  +2.05  21.44
 25  23  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  2:01.75  +2.24  23.43
 26  24  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT  2:01.76  +2.25  23.53
 27  29  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  2:01.84  +2.33  24.37
 28  48  422310 SEJERSTED Adrian Smiseth 1994 NOR  2:01.93  +2.42  25.31
 29  26  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  2:02.01  +2.50  26.15
 30  34  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  2:02.04  +2.53  26.46
 31  21  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  2:02.05  +2.54  26.57
 32  52  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  2:02.07  +2.56  26.78
 33  45  512124 HINTERMANN Niels 1995 SUI  2:02.09  +2.58  26.99
 34  46  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA  2:02.13  +2.62  27.40
 35  30  511529 GISIN Marc 1988 SUI  2:02.15  +2.64  27.61
 36  31  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA  2:02.21  +2.70  28.24
 37  28  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  2:02.28  +2.77  28.97
 38  54  202535 DRESSEN Thomas 1993 GER  2:02.35  +2.84  29.70
 39  27  191964 POISSON David 1982 FRA  2:02.58  +3.07  32.11
 40  50  54157 DANKLMAIER Daniel 1993 AUT  2:02.73  +3.22  33.68
 41  38  54009 WALDER Christian 1991 AUT  2:02.77  +3.26  34.10
 42  37  194368 RAFFORT Nicolas 1991 FRA  2:02.93  +3.42  35.77
 43  36  53933 SCHWEIGER Patrick 1990 AUT  2:03.09  +3.58  37.44
 44  41  201811 STECHERT Tobias 1985 GER  2:03.26  +3.75  39.22
 45  35  53968 BERTHOLD Frederic 1991 AUT  2:03.34  +3.83  40.06
 46  44  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  2:03.40  +3.89  40.69
 47  60  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  2:03.71  +4.20  43.93
 48  57  6530104 BENNETT Bryce 1992 USA  2:03.72  +4.21  44.03
 49  40  202196 BRANDNER Klaus 1990 GER  2:03.92  +4.41  46.13
 50  47  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA  2:03.93  +4.42  46.23
 51  42  560447 SPORN Andrej 1981 SLO  2:04.03  +4.52  47.28
 52  55  511808 SCHMED Fernando 1991 SUI  2:04.08  +4.57  47.80
 53  39  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey 1984 CAN  2:04.20  +4.69  49.05
 54  62  6291029 BATTILANI Henri 1994 ITA  2:04.42  +4.91  51.36
 55  49  294904 PANGRAZZI Paolo 1988 ITA  2:04.50  +4.99  52.19
 56  56  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  2:04.57  +5.06  52.92
 57  59  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI  2:05.34  +5.83  60.98
 58  63  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK  2:05.98  +6.47  67.67
 59  64  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG  2:08.96  +9.45  98.84
 60  65  460071 ACHIRILOAIE Ioan Valeriu 1990 ROU  2:09.44  +9.93  103.86
Did not start 1st run
 61  202345 SCHWAIGER Dominik 1991 GER
 51  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas 1989 USA
Did not finish 1st run
 58  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI
 53  102271 HUDEC Jan 1981 CZE
 43  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI

 

Share This Article

About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com