Whistler: Gruber claims super-G win

Austrian Christoph Gruber got his fifth career World Cup win — and first in more than a year — as the test events for the 2010 Olympics got under way with a sun-baked super G.
    With an error-free run Gruber edged teammate Hannes Reichelt for his first win of the season by a scant 0.03 of a second while Slovene Ales Gorza, benefiting from an early start number when the course still rested in shadow, got third, just .11 back.
    Canadian Erik Guay tied for fourth with Italian Patrick Staudacher, still less than three-tenths from Gruber's time of 1:26.60. Guay teammates packed in tightly a bit down the finish order as Francois Bourque, Robbie Dixon and John Kucera finished in 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.It was an horrendous day for the U.S. Ski Team and Team America. U.S. skiers included four of the ten DNF (did not finish) on the day and Jimmy Cochran was the slowest man on the hill.
    "I wish I knew [what happened]," said U.S. head coach Phil McNichol. "That's the hundred-thousand dollar question. The track was in good shape, it wasn't that difficult of a course. … I don't really have an answer, I was quite surprised. I definitely didn't anticipate falling on our faces as hard as we did today."
    The only American to get points was Steven Nyman in 25th place. About the course, he said: "It's really demanding, you have to be so precise with all of your movements over all of the terrain in and out of the light. … It's not super super easy, sometimes with the Olympics they make hills that way since a lot of people are coming out. It's going to be a good show [in 2010]."

 

 

Austrian Christoph Gruber got his fifth career World Cup win – and first in more than a year – as the test events for the 2010 Olympics got underway with a sun-baked super G.
    With an error-free run Gruber edged teammate Hannes Reichelt for his first win of the season by a scant 0.03 of a second while Slovene Ales Gorza, benefiting from an early start number when the course still rested in shadow, got third, just .11 back.
    Canadian Erik Guay tied for fourth with Italian Patrick Staudacher, still less than three-tenths from Gruber's time of 1:26.60. Guay teammates packed in tightly a bit down the finish order as Francois Bourque, Robbie Dixon and John Kucera finished in 13th, 14th and 15th respectively.It was an horrendous day for the U.S. Ski Team and Team America. U.S. skiers included four of the ten DNF (did not finish) on the day and Jimmy Cochran was the slowest man on the hill.
    "I wish I knew [what happened]," said U.S. head coach Phil McNichol. "That's the hundred-thousand dollar question. The track was in good shape, it wasn't that difficult of a course. … I don't really have an answer, I was quite surprised. I definitely didn't anticipate falling on our faces as hard as we did today."
    The only American to get points was Steven Nyman in 25th place. About the course, he said: "It's really demanding, you have to be so precise with all of your movements over all of the terrain in and out of the light. … It's not super super easy, sometimes with the Olympics they make hills that way since a lot of people are coming out. It's going to be a good show [in 2010]. Even though I made a ton of mistakes [today], I had a great time all the way down."
    Nyman said his back, which he was nursing from a mid-season injury, felt fine. "My back is feeling good," he said, "that was a really good test … it was hard snow and it got compressed quite a bit."
  McNichol said he doesn't think the bad luck from today will carry over to men's GS on Saturday. Only three racers from today's event will race Saturday — Ted Ligety, Andrew Weibrecht and Cochran — and they are skiing fast, McNichol said.
    "It's a mostly different set of guys, so today's performance shouldn't affect what we're doing," he said.
    The only worry is that the men's World Cup team hasn't competed in a GS since Adelboden, which was on Jan. 5. "There is a question mark in that regard," McNichol said. "It's been so long since they raced. Jimmy has been good in training and Ted has been skiing extremely fast so I'm very encouraged for Saturday's giant slalom."

Gruber was relaxed 
A gifted skier having already excelled in downhill, super G and giant slalom in previous year, Gruber has still not achieved his potential so far in his career. This winter he only managed to reach once the podium in super G, at Beaver Creek, yet he is known to be an expert on challenging courses. A three-time winner on the treacherous “Kandahar-Kreuzeck” run at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in recent seasons, Gruber immediately felt very comfortable this morning on the course planned to be used at the 2010 Olympics.
    “The nice weather and the technically difficult run reminded me the tough course we normally ski in February at Garmisch-Partenkirchen,” he explained afterward. “I told myself to be relaxed and act as if I would be racing in Bavaria,” Gruber added. “It was the right tactic, I had no problem finding my best rhythm and charge the way I use to in Germany.”
    “It’s amazing, I feel so good about this win because it’s getting each year harder to reach the podium,” added Gruber, who moved up at the 11th place in the overall standings. “I’m also delighted to share this success with my girfriend Julia who traveled here with me. I can’t wait to come back here in two years for the Olympics in case I qualify for the team. It’s for sure a beautiful course, perfectly prepared today and really nice to ski on.”
    Gruber is now only 55 points away from Cuche in the super G standings and able to create a major surprise in capturing the crystal globe with two other strong runs at Kvitfjell, Norway, next week and then at the Finals at Bormio.
    For Gruber, who turns 33 next month, the win may be enough to keep him on the World Cup circuit until the next Olympics. If he can ski the course again as he did Thursday he will be hard to beat. Most of the competitors had difficulties somewhere along the Dave Murray track. As the sun rose and covered more of the course it got rougher and trickier. Gruber said he was able to gain speed on the lower portions of the course and said that made the difference.
    Nyman gave Gruber kudos for his run. "There wasn't a lot of luck involved today for Gruber. He just executed really, really well."
    Nyman said the course set "egged you into going real direct, so you really had to know where you were going. There wasn't a lot of experience involved. Most hadn't skied the hill. It was a Today Thing. Inspection and ski. The old guys haven't skied it year after year."
    About the only ones who do have experience on the course are the Canadians, and while they had four skiers in the top 15, they had hoped for more. Fourth place, Guay said, "sucks."
    "I’ve been there before and the last couple times I haven’t been too affected by it but I’m getting a little tired of finishing fourth," said Guay.
    "On this par
ticular race I know exactly where I lost it. I was a little too round in the middle, I could feel it. I was able to make the correction and get back on line and ski aggressively towards the bottom but it was already too late by then," said Guay. "To win a World Cup you’ve got to be perfect from start to finish," he added.

Great day for Gorza
It was also a grea result for Slovenia’s Gorza, who has been fighting hard for this podium finish in past winters. A former giant slalom specialist, the 27-year-old made the best out of his low start-number to score the first super G podium for Slovenia since it became an independent country.
    Jure Franko, racing for former Republic of Yugoslavia, finished 3rd twice in super G during the 1983-84 season yet it was before the country fell apart.
    Andrej Jerman was 4th earlier this winter at Lake Louise just behind the podium and his success in downhill certainly inspired his teammates this season.
    “I have been waiting for a long time for this result, it’s awesome,” said Gorza, 5th at Val d’Isère in the last super combined of the season. “The course was just perfect and I had a dream run,” he added. “I was often close to that podium and it’s wonderful to finally get it here on this Olympic run. It’s for sure a crucial result for our team which is doing fine this winter despite difficult times.”

— The Associated Press, Patrick Lang and Alpine Canada contributed
 

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The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's Super G, Whistler, BC, Feb. 21, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Gruber, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Reichelt, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Gorza, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Staudacher, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
7 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
8 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Buechel, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
 
Men's super G, Whistler, BC, Feb. 21, 2008. … It is the 31st race of the men's 41 race 2008 World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of seven scheduled super G's. … It is the 14th World Cup race and fifth SG held at Whistler. … It is the first World Cup race at Whistler since Peter Runggaldier won a super G Feb. 26, 1995. … Two Americans and one Canadian have won races at Whistler: Bill Johnson, DH, March 11, 1984; Rob Boyd, DH, Feb. 25, 1989; Tommy Moe, SG, March 13, 1994.
    It is the fifth career World Cup win for Christoph Gruber. … His fourth in super G. … It is his first win of the season, the previous win coming Jan. 29, 2006 at Garmisch. … Three of his four SG wins have been at Garmisch. … His best previous result of the season had been at Beaver Creek in SG Dec. 3 when he placed third. … It is the 18th win of the season for the Austrian team.
    It is the seventh career podium for Hannes Reichelt, sixth in super G. … It is his third podium of the season, one in each of the last three months.
    It is the first career World Cup podium for Ales Gorza. … His previous best placing had been fifth in combined, which he had accomplished twice, at Beaver Creek in November and at Val d'Isere earlier this month. … He is the first Slovene male to podium in SG, though the women have done that nine times.
    It is the fourth best super G result in World Cup for Erik Guay and matches his best finish of the season from the Val Gardena DH Dec. 15. … His only better result on Canadian snow is a second in DH at Lake Louise Nov. 29, 2003. … Francois Bourque matches his eighth best SG result. … He has finished in the top 10 twice in the discipline. … It is his third best mark of the season. … It is the third career scoring result and second best career result for Robbie Dixon. … All three of his results have come this season. … It is the fourth time John Kucera has completed a World Cup super G in 15th place. … He has been better than that in SG four times. … including twice this season. … It is a career best SG result for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … His previous best had been 24th at Val Gardena in December. … He started 55th. … It is the eighth World Cup scoring result in super G for Steven Nyman.
    Winning margin is .03 of a second. … Top 15 skiers are within the same second. … Top 36 within two seconds. … .Bode Miller (DNF in race) maintains his lead in the overall standings but Benjamin Raich (11th in race) closes the gap to 1067-998. … Didier Cuche (seventh in race) is third overall with 918pts. … Jean-Baptiste Grange (did not race) is fourth at 682. … Cuche held on to the lead in the super G standings 280-225 for both Gruber and Reichelt. … Raich is fourth at 221. … The SG standings race remains very close with Mario Scheiber (ninth in race) and Marco Buechel (tenth in race) sitting fifth and sixth in the standings with 205 and 200pts respectively.

 

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	19	50451	GRUBER Christoph	1976	AUT	1:26.60	0.00
2	8	50742	REICHELT Hannes	1980	AUT	1:26.63	0.36
3	2	560406	GORZA Ales	1980	SLO	1:26.71	1.31
4	15	290998	STAUDACHER Patrick	1980	ITA	1:26.89	3.45
4	14	102263	GUAY Erik	1981	CAN	1:26.89	3.45
6	9	510727	DEFAGO Didier	1977	SUI	1:27.00	4.76
7	20	510030	CUCHE Didier	1974	SUI	1:27.01	4.88
8	31	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	1:27.02	5.00
9	17	51005	SCHEIBER Mario	1983	AUT	1:27.17	6.78
10	21	350032	BUECHEL Marco	1971	LIE	1:27.29	8.21
11	16	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	1:27.30	8.33
12	10	50858	STREITBERGER Georg	1981	AUT	1:27.31	8.44
13	5	102814	BOURQUE Francois	1984	CAN	1:27.39	9.40
14	3	102961	DIXON Robbie	1985	CAN	1:27.47	10.35
15	13	102873	KUCERA John	1984	CAN	1:27.53	11.06
16	1	510767	HOFFMANN Ambrosi	1977	SUI	1:27.76	13.80
17	33	292491	MOELGG Manfred	1982	ITA	1:27.86	14.99
18	6	510993	ALBRECHT Daniel	1983	SUI	1:27.89	15.34
19	7	50600	GOERGL Stephan	1978	AUT	1:27.99	16.53
20	52	191964	POISSON David	1982	FRA	1:28.03	17.01
21	55	102899	OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel	1984	CAN	1:28.12	18.08
22	29	560332	JERMAN Andrej	1978	SLO	1:28.13	18.20
23	28	50743	LANZINGER Matthias	1980	AUT	1:28.14	18.32
24	25	510747	GRUENENFELDER Tobias	1977	SUI	1:28.15	18.44
25	56	511313	JANKA Carlo	1986	SUI	1:28.20	19.03
25	23	533866	NYMAN Steven	1982	USA	1:28.20	19.03
27	43	510165	HOFER Beni	1978	SUI	1:28.28	19.98
28	36	560447	SPORN Andrej	19 81	SLO	1:28.31	20.34
28	30	293006	INNERHOFER Christof	1984	ITA	1:28.31	20.34
28	11	50041	WALCHHOFER Michael	1975	AUT	1:28.31	20.34
31	24	201606	KEPPLER Stephan	1983	GER	1:28.32	20.46
32	35	50761	ALSTER Christoph	1980	AUT	1:28.38	21.17
33	26	292514	HEEL Werner	1982	ITA	1:28.43	21.77
34	4	291399	GIRARDI Walter	1976	ITA	1:28.47	22.24
35	42	510207	HARI Konrad	1978	SUI	1:28.49	22.48
36	34	510307	BRAND Olivier	1980	SUI	1:28.64	24.26
37	44	421400	MYHRE Lars Elton	1984	NOR	1:28.68	24.74
38	47	534567	LANNING Thomas (tj)	1984	USA	1:28.70	24.98
39	46	191778	PICHOT Sebastien	1981	FRA	1:28.73	25.33
40	38	191116	DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel	1977	FRA	1:28.91	27.47
41	58	103156	WRIGHT Patrick	1986	CAN	1:28.93	27.71
42	60	191423	RICHARD Cyprien	1979	FRA	1:28.97	28.19
42	37	50919	STRUGER Peter	1982	AUT	1:28.97	28.19
44	49	292056	GUFLER Michael	1979	ITA	1:29.01	28.66
45	63	421483	JANSRUD Kjetil	1985	NOR	1:29.05	29.14
46	50	530939	WEIBRECHT Andrew	1986	USA	1:29.09	29.62
47	40	103512	FRISCH Jeffrey	1984	CAN	1:29.11	29.85
48	62	180534	SANDELL Marcus	1987	FIN	1:29.12	29.97
49	61	510997	BERTHOD Marc	1983	SUI	1:29.31	32.23
50	64	201702	NEUREUTHER Felix	1984	GER	1:29.50	34.49
51	59	40171	BRANCH Craig	1977	AUS	1:29.58	35.44
52	57	501026	RAINER Niklas	1983	SWE	1:29.60	35.68
53	45	220228	MICKEL Finlay	1977	GBR	1:29.67	36.51
54	48	501076	OLSSON Hans	1984	SWE	1:29.87	38.89
55	67	30149	SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier	1980	ARG	1:30.32	44.24
56	65	501101	BYGGMARK Jens	1985	SWE	1:30.39	45.08
57	66	534040	COCHRAN Jimmy	1981	USA	1:30.57	47.22

 

Official timekeeper

Did not finish 1st run : FRANCIS Kevin (USA), BLARDONE Massimiliano (ITA), EISATH Florian (ITA), PERKO Rok (SLO), THEAUX Adrien (FRA), LIGETY Ted (USA), SULLIVAN Marco (USA), MAIER Hermann (AUT), MILLER Bode (USA), FILL Peter (ITA)