Austrians one-two in first training run at Lake Louise

By Published On: November 21st, 2012Comments Off on Austrians one-two in first training run at Lake Louise

Any speculation that defending Cup downhill champ Klaus Kroell would struggle to return from a post-season motocross mishap was laid to rest with the first training run of the World Cup season today (Nov. 21) at Lake Louise when the veteran coasted home .37 of a second off the pace of run leader Max Franz, giving Austria a one-two finish. Frenchman Adrien Theaux was third .87 off the pace and home standing Erik Guay captured fourth more than a second back.

While it is dangerous to base any theories of thought on a training run, there was some decent news for the American group. With just one starter among the top 30 (Travis Ganong started 30th) Marco Sullivan placed 25th from the 42nd start and Thomas Biesemeyer got 27th from the 64th start. Ryan Cochran-Siegle was 34th from the 45th start and Ganong was 36th fastest.

“The course got bumpy and it got dark,” said head US coach Sasha Rearick, “It has snowed quite a bit the last couple of days and they had the cats on the hill pushing it in. (Ryan) Cochran-Siegle did a good job for a first training run and Marco Sullivan did a good job. But (as a team) we didn’t ski very well. We’ve got some work to do over the next couple of days.”

The Canadians, behind Guay, included Ben Thomsen in 15th (right where he started) and Jan Hudec 19th. Guay said the knee he had repaired held up well, but that he was “behind in volume” and needed all the training runs he could get. Thomsen said getting a bit flustered probably helped him.

“I was a little bit rushed in the start gate. I was a little bit flustered but that’s somewhat better for me – just point ’em and go,” said Thomsen. “I’m not a very fast trainer so to be kind of in the mix somewhat – in the top 15 – it’s good. It shows that I’ve worked hard and training is coming around.”

The top 10 included some of the usual suspects with Norwegians Kjetil Jansrud and Aksel Lund Svindal in the six and seven spots. Austrians Florian Scheiber was fifth from the 43rd start and Georg Streitberger eighth from the 25th start. Croate Ivica Kostelic was a surprise in the final top 10 slot.

Soft conditions from an overnight snowfall kept speeds down (Didier Cuche’s winning time last season was about three and a half seconds faster than Franz’s 1:50.65) but forecasts indicate the course should get a chance to compact before Saturday’s race.  “I am happy with my run,” said Franz. “It’s soft and it felt slow but I seem to have found a good line down. It’s only the first training and there is awhile to go before we race.”

Gepa photo of Kroell at start.

Lake Louise (CAN)
Training
Men’s Downhill
Nov. 21, 2012

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  3  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   1:50.65  
 2  8  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:51.02  
 3  11  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:51.52  
 4  12  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:51.81  
 5  43  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:52.04  
 6  19  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:52.08  
 7  17  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:52.14  
 8  25  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:52.23  
 9  9  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:52.29  
 10  31  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:52.32  
 11  6  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:52.33  
 12  10  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:52.34  
 13  7  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   1:52.43  
 14  37  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   1:52.64  
 15  15  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   1:52.79  
 16  2  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:52.81  
 17  1  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:52.82  
 18  28  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:52.86  
 19  16  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:53.13  
 20  35  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   1:53.16  
 21  14  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:53.17  
 22  58  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:53.26  
 23  27  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   1:53.31  
 24  24  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:53.40  
 25  42  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:53.50  
 26  26  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:53.54  
 27  64  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA   1:53.55  
 28  18  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:53.59  
 29  68  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:53.60  
 29  38  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   1:53.60  
 31  32  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   1:53.65  
 31  13  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:53.65  
 33  34  53981 KROELL Johannes  1991  AUT   1:53.71  
 34  45  6530319 COCHRAN-SIEGLE Ryan  1992  USA   1:53.75  
 35  29  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   1:53.76  
 36  30  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   1:53.77  
 36  5  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:53.77  
 38  53  194190 ROGER Brice  1990  FRA   1:53.82  
 39  36  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   1:53.92  
 40  22  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   1:54.02  
 41  49  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   1:54.23  
 42  21  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:54.28  
 43  20  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:54.37  
 44  51  150398 BANK Ondrej  1980  CZE   1:54.40  
 45  73  421650 BJERKESTRAND Iver  1987  NOR   1:54.45  
 46  59  501439 HEDIN Douglas  1990  SWE   1:54.65  
 47  41  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   1:54.72  
 48  33  102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   1:54.75  
 49  66  481705 GLEBOV Alexander  1983  RUS   1:54.79  
 50  47  53968 BERTHOLD Frederic  1991  AUT   1:54.93  
 50  4  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:54.93  
 52  54  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA   1:55.09  
 53  61  400281 VAN HEEK Marvin  1991  NED   1:55.10  
 54  44  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel  1984  CAN   1:55.13  
 55  39  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA   1:55.27  
 56  23  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   1:55.31  
 57  40  202059 FERSTL Josef  1988  GER   1:55.35  
 58  70  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   1:55.42  
 59  46  533866 NYMAN Steven  1982  USA   1:55.58  
 60  50  511634 SPESCHA Christian  1989  SUI   1:55.78  
 61  60  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:55.81  
 62  48  103385 PRIDY Conrad  1988  CAN   1:55.97  
 63  65  103612 PRIDY Morgan  1990  CAN   1:56.03  
 64  56  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   1:56.08  
 65  72  220874 BALDWIN TJ  1990  GBR   1:56.13  
 66  74  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA   1:56.15  
 67  62  491129 TERRA Ferran  1987  SPA   1:56.22  
 68  71  491151 DE LA CUESTA Paul  1988  SPA   1:56.25  
 69  79  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey  1984  CAN   1:56.54  
 70  67  510993 ALBRECHT Daniel  1983  SUI   1:56.58  
 71  78  934643 GOLDBERG Jared  1991  USA   1:56.66  
 72  80  481054 MURAVYEV Ivan  1989  RUS   1:56.79  
 73  83  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE   1:56.84  
 74  63  561217 KOSI Klemen  1991  SLO   1:56.91  
 75  69  20267 ESTEVE Kevin  1989  AND   1:56.93  
 76  82  430429 BYDLINSKI Maciej  1988  POL   1:57.07  
 77  81  20324 OLIVERAS Marc  1991  AND   1:59.23  
Did not start 1st run
   75  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI     
   57  100558 COOK Dustin  1989  CAN     
Did not finish 1st run
   77  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI     
   76  220695 CRAWFORD Douglas  1987  GBR     
   55  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar  1991  AUT     
   52  194167 MUZATON Maxence  1990  FRA   

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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.”

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