Missed gates, a lost tooth and spread eagle in Saalbach

By Published On: February 20th, 2015Comments Off on Missed gates, a lost tooth and spread eagle in Saalbach

A plethora of missed gates characterized the second and final downhill training run in Saalbach, Austria, which will host its first World Cup in over a decade on the Schneekristall track Saturday. The men most recently raced downhill in Saalbach in 1994. 

It could be shaping up to be a good weekend for the Austrians who enjoyed training on the slope prior to the moratorium that went into effect last week. Max Franz, who finished the opening training run second, again put down a strong performance finishing with the leading time of 1 minute, 49.41 seconds — and making all the gates. He was followed a half-second back by teammate Georg Streitberger, who also skied a legit run. Matthias Mayer rounded out the top three but failed to make at least one gate.

ALPINE SKIING - FIS WC SaalbachThursday’s training leader Kjetil Jansrud, vying to remain relevant in the overall chase, finished his run near the back of the pack more than six seconds out, but not without a story to share; he reportedly knocked out one of his teeth during the run. Meanwhile, Marco Sullivan had the leading result for the Americans in sixth place but was also designated as one of the 17 who missed gates.

The main characteristics of the hill are multiple jumps and an abundance of sharp, interesting terrain, as well as an Audi that has been built into the final jump. Athletes take off on what from the top seems like a regular downhill jump only to fly over the car and land some 60 meters downhill.

After testing the jump in the first training run and feeling comfortable on it, Frenchman Adrien Theaux showed some classic freestyle skills, pulling a spread eagle and thrilling the crowd. It’s not a move he is likely to pull on race day, but it certainly made for a great introduction to the weekend’s competitions.

Read more about what the U.S. coaching staff had to say about the Saalbach course here.

 

Results

 1  7  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:49.41
 2  27  50858 STREITBERGER Georg 1981 AUT  1:49.95  +0.54
 3  20  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:50.14  +0.73
 4  1  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  1:50.32  +0.91
 5  46  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:50.56  +1.15
 6  24  533131 SULLIVAN Marco 1980 USA  1:50.77  +1.36
 7  12  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA  1:50.82  +1.41
 8  4  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:50.85  +1.44
 9  2  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin 1987 CAN  1:50.86  +1.45
 10  8  510727 DEFAGO Didier 1977 SUI  1:51.01  +1.60
 11  42  53936 DUERAGER Markus 1990 AUT  1:51.11  +1.70
 12  61  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  1:51.13  +1.72
 13  37  180570 ROMAR Andreas 1989 FIN  1:51.14  +1.73
 14  50  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  1:51.16  +1.75
 15  23  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:51.19  +1.78
 16  30  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:51.23  +1.82
 17  60  511808 SCHMED Fernando 1991 SUI  1:51.26  +1.85
 18  11  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  1:51.30  +1.89
 19  48  53933 SCHWEIGER Patrick 1990 AUT  1:51.38  +1.97
 20  9  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:51.41  +2.00
 21  28  191964 POISSON David 1982 FRA  1:51.44  +2.03
 22  17  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  1:51.45  +2.04
 23  26  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  1:51.50  +2.09
 24  56  930024 MAPLE Wiley 1990 USA  1:51.63  +2.22
 25  15  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  1:51.69  +2.28
 26  10  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  1:51.71  +2.30
 27  22  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  1:51.79  +2.38
 28  16  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  1:51.81  +2.40
 29  62  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar 1987 ITA  1:51.82  +2.41
 29  52  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA  1:51.82  +2.41
 31  43  481705 GLEBOV Alexander 1983 RUS  1:51.90  +2.49
 31  6  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:51.90  +2.49
 33  59  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA  1:51.98  +2.57
 34  21  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:52.04  +2.63
 35  35  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  1:52.06  +2.65
 36  36  54075 KARELLY Mario 1992 AUT  1:52.10  +2.69
 37  49  202196 BRANDNER Klaus 1990 GER  1:52.12  +2.71
 38  29  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:52.13  +2.72
 39  25  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:52.18  +2.77
 40  31  560447 SPORN Andrej 1981 SLO  1:52.20  +2.79
 41  39  51327 PUCHNER Joachim 1987 AUT  1:52.23  +2.82
 42  3  293141 VARETTONI Silvano 1984 ITA  1:52.44  +3.03
 43  44  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:52.51  +3.10
 44  14  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:52.52  +3.11
 45  45  400281 VAN HEEK Marvin 1991 NED  1:52.72  +3.31
 46  58  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA  1:52.77  +3.36
 47  34  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:52.79  +3.38
 48  54  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  1:52.86  +3.45
 49  64  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  1:53.09  +3.68
 50  18  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:53.32  +3.91
 51  32  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI  1:53.47  +4.06
 52  57  511405 OREILLER Ami 1987 SUI  1:54.18  +4.77
 53  51  194368 RAFFORT Nicolas 1991 FRA  1:54.29  +4.88
 54  40  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO  1:54.42  +5.01
 55  53  194542 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 1992 FRA  1:54.47  +5.06
 56  41  100558 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN  1:54.66  +5.25
 57  19  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:55.59  +6.18
 58  67  6290540 DE VETTORI Matteo 1993 ITA  1:56.13  +6.72
 59  55  294904 PANGRAZZI Paolo 1988 ITA  1:57.14  +7.73
Did not start 1st run
 68  511638 TUMLER Thomas 1989 SUI
 66  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas 1984 FRA
 65  202469 RENZ Fabio 1992 GER
 33  103612 PRIDY Morgan 1990 CAN
Did not finish 1st run
 70  460071 ACHIRILOAIE Ioan Valeriu 1990 ROU
 69  194666 DELBERGHE William 1993 FRA
 63  202535 DRESSEN Thomas 1993 GER
 47  53981 KROELL Johannes 1991 AUT
 38  561067 PERKO Rok 1985 SLO
 13  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI
 5  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.