With Kvitfjell win, Reichelt threatens downhill title

By Published On: March 7th, 2015Comments Off on With Kvitfjell win, Reichelt threatens downhill title

In the second-to-last downhill of the season, the Norwegian fans had hoped to see local favorite Kjetil Jansrud lock up his first career discipline title on the Olympiabakken track in Kvitfjell. Instead, the chase – now tighter than ever – heads to Meribel, France, as Jansrud slipped to a slim 20-point advantage over Austrian Hannes Reichelt, who earned his third World Cup win of the season Saturday.

Due to wind and some fog up top, the men again raced on a shortened course — their third sprint downhill this year. Warm weather made for soft, inconsistent conditions on the track. Despite the lowered start, however, racers were reaching high speeds, over 150 kilometers per hour as they approached the finish line. Ultimately, Reichelt finished with the winning time of 1 minute, 29.65 seconds ahead of Canada’s Manny Osborne-Paridis and Germany’s Werner Heel.

At the final split, Reichelt was 0.12 seconds behind the pace of then-leader Heel, who wore bib 1. The Austrian, Reichelt, clearly had been generating speed, however, picking up a half-second on the fast, final gliding section into the finish.

“I’m not a machine. It’s just running really good at the moment, like Kjetil had at the beginning of the season,” said Reichelt after the win. “Hopefully I can bring the flow to Meribel to keep a chance for the globe. When you have a goal in sight, you do everything to try and achieve that goal. Hopefully I have a chance to make it exciting.”

Jansrud skied a clean run but like many of the racers experienced difficulties with the soft conditions, the snow breaking from under his skis. The Norwegian finished sixth on the day, picking up 36 World Cup points. Jansrud now trails Marcel Hirscher in the overall by 152 points with the calendar favoring the tech specialist for the remainder of the season.

For Osborne-Paridis, it’s been an admittedly lackluster season bookended by a pair of podiums — the other came in Lake Louise in November. The Canadian recently downsized his boots, which resulted in some added confidence and stability in the soft snow, he said.

“Pretty sweet way to end such a terrible season,” said Osborne-Paridis. “Now it’s not so terrible. I’ve been talking with my coaches, having a really tough time getting over not being 100 percent. The last two races I’ve been kind of feeling normal. … On our team, we have a theory if you’re over 30 and out of the 30, you should go get a real job, so I’m glad I was able to step up my game.”

With recent results north of the top 30, Heel had fallen off the radar coming into these races. But with positive memories on the hill — he won in 2008 — and strong performances in training, the Italian was able to land his first podium since 2013.

“I love this course. I had my first victory here in 2008 and I’m back to the podium here in downhill,” said Heel. “I’m not sure what changed for me here in Kvitfjell. When you have a course that you have good memories, it’s always cool. The last month, I was very down. I came back here and had a good feeling in the first training run and I’m happy I was able to bring it on race day.”

It was a strong day for the Americans with Travis Ganong in sixth leading the U.S. team at the site which produced his first-career World Cup podium a year ago. Ganong hyperextended his right knee in the final day of training Friday. He woke up feeling sore but wrapped it up and popped some Advil, which did the trick, he said.

“It’s so windy today. You don’t really know what you’re going to do. You just have to put your head down, ski as hard as you can and look for aerodynamics,” Ganong said. “We just try to adapt to the conditions. You have an idea what it will be like from the day before but you just have to trust your instincts.”

Finishing 12th, Marco Sullivan was one of four Americans in the top 15, along with Ganong, Andrew Weibrecht in 12th and Jared Goldberg in 15th.

“Our team actually had a good day, nothing at the very top but some strong results,” said Sullivan. “It was crazy how much the snow changed from the past couple days. … Personally, I wish the season would keep going. I’m just starting to heat up. I’ve had some good results the last three weeks, so I’ll take this fire into the summer, train hard and come out strong next year.”

After laying down the fastest final training run on Friday, Steven Nyman was disappointed to finish 25th on race day.

“I thought I skied pretty well, bummed I didn’t do what I wanted to do,” said Nyman. “There were a couple places where I opened up where I shouldn’t have. This hill is that way. There aren’t a lot of places to make up speed. … The snow changed too. It got really soft and sloppy. I like snow I can feel under my foot.”

The men continue racing in Kvitfjell on Sunday with a super G scheduled for 10:45 a.m. CET.

 

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

  1. Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  2. Osborne-Paradis, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  3. Heel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  4. Fayed, Head/Head/Head
  5. Kueng, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  6. Ganong, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  7. Jansrud, Head/Head/Head
  8. Streitberger, Head/Head/Head
  9. Paris, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  10. Baumann, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker

Men’s World Cup downhill, Kvitjell, Norway, March 7, 2015:

  • It is the 29th of 38 races in the men’s calendar … the eighth of ten scheduled downhills. … It is the 58th World Cup race hosted at Kvitfjell … the 28th downhill. … Erik Guay won the most recent DH at the site, March 1 last season. Georg Streitberger and Kjetil Jansrud also won downhills at Kvitfjell last season. … Jury elects to lower start due to fog high on the course.
  • It is the 11th career World Cup victory for Hannes Reichelt. … It is his fifth win of the season including the super G gold medal at World Championships. … The winning margin is .30 of a second. … Top 21 skiers are within the same second.
  • It is the 11th career World Cup podium placing for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … It is his third career podium at Kvitfjell after winning the March 6, 2009 DH and finishing third in the March 7, 2009 DH. … It is his second podium of the season having also placed second in the DH opener at Lake Louise Nov. 29.
  • It is the tenth career World Cup podium for Werner Heel. … It is his first podium since March 3, 2013, also at Kvitfjell.
  • Travis Ganong matches his fifth best career placing. … It is his third best finish at Kvitfjell … and fourth best of the season including a silver medal from World Championships. … It is the fourth best career World Cup DH result for Andrew Weibrecht and his best World Cup DH finish of the season, though he did place better at Worlds. … It is the 15th best Cup DH result for Marco Sullivan and his third best World Cup DH finish of the season. … Jared Goldberg matches his fourth best career World Cup finish in any discipline, his second best in DH. … He matches his best finish of the season, from the Lauberhorn combined. … Ben Thomsen tallies his second best result at Kvitfjell … and matches his second best DH finish of the season.
  • Marcel Hirscher (did not race) maintains control of the World Cup overall standings 1128-940 over Kjetil Jansrud (seventh in race) … Alexis Pinturault (did not race) is third overall with 744pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is the top U.S. skier in tenth with 470pts.
  • Jansrud holds the lead of the downhill standings 505-485 over Reichelt. … Dominik Paris (ninth in race) is third in the downhill standings with 386pts.
  • With one race remaining, the downhill title is between Jansrud and Reichelt.

 

Results

 1  20  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  1:29.65  0.00
 2  28  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:29.95  +0.30  4.18
 3  1  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:30.03  +0.38  5.30
 4  22  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA  1:30.05  +0.40  5.58
 5  17  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  1:30.06  +0.41  5.72
 6  15  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  1:30.13  +0.48  6.69
 7  16  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:30.19  +0.54  7.53
 8  26  50858 STREITBERGER Georg 1981 AUT  1:30.22  +0.57  7.95
 9  21  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:30.25  +0.60  8.37
 10  14  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:30.27  +0.62  8.64
 11  3  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  1:30.28  +0.63  8.78
 12  34  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  1:30.29  +0.64  8.92
 12  25  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:30.29  +0.64  8.92
 12  23  533131 SULLIVAN Marco 1980 USA  1:30.29  +0.64  8.92
 15  37  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:30.39  +0.74  10.32
 16  18  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  1:30.40  +0.75  10.46
 17  6  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin 1987 CAN  1:30.41  +0.76  10.60
 18  8  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  1:30.43  +0.78  10.88
 19  19  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:30.46  +0.81  11.29
 20  11  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:30.55  +0.90  12.55
 21  51  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA  1:30.56  +0.91  12.69
 22  42  53936 DUERAGER Markus 1990 AUT  1:30.59  +0.94  13.11
 23  29  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:30.73  +1.08  15.06
 23  2  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER  1:30.73  +1.08  15.06
 25  9  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  1:30.74  +1.09  15.20
 26  27  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA  1:30.78  +1.13  15.76
 26  12  510727 DEFAGO Didier 1977 SUI  1:30.78  +1.13  15.76
 28  47  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  1:30.80  +1.15  16.03
 28  30  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar 1987 ITA  1:30.80  +1.15  16.03
 30  52  511808 SCHMED Fernando 1991 SUI  1:30.88  +1.23  17.15
 31  49  930024 MAPLE Wiley 1990 USA  1:30.91  +1.26  17.57
 32  38  561067 PERKO Rok 1985 SLO  1:30.92  +1.27  17.71
 33  5  293141 VARETTONI Silvano 1984 ITA  1:31.00  +1.35  18.82
 34  10  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:31.05  +1.40  19.52
 35  33  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI  1:31.09  +1.44  20.08
 36  4  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 1981 SUI  1:31.16  +1.51  21.05
 37  13  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:31.18  +1.53  21.33
 38  32  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:31.19  +1.54  21.47
 39  46  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  1:31.20  +1.55  21.61
 40  45  202196 BRANDNER Klaus 1990 GER  1:31.24  +1.59  22.17
 41  48  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA  1:31.26  +1.61  22.45
 42  24  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT  1:31.32  +1.67  23.28
 43  31  560447 SPORN Andrej 1981 SLO  1:31.35  +1.70  23.70
 44  44  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:31.37  +1.72  23.98
 45  39  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO  1:31.44  +1.79  24.96
 46  36  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:31.49  +1.84  25.66
 47  50  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA  1:31.50  +1.85  25.79
 48  35  103612 PRIDY Morgan 1990 CAN  1:31.54  +1.89  26.35
 49  7  191964 POISSON David 1982 FRA  1:31.61  +1.96  27.33
 50  41  6530104 BENNETT Bryce 1992 USA  1:31.79  +2.14  29.84
 51  54  6291029 BATTILANI Henri 1994 ITA  1:32.10  +2.45  34.16
 52  58  20324 OLIVERAS Marc 1991 AND  1:32.35  +2.70  37.65
 53  59  170131 FAARUP Christoffer 1992 DAN  1:32.37  +2.72  37.93
 54  43  481705 GLEBOV Alexander 1983 RUS  1:32.42  +2.77  38.62
 55  55  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  1:32.65  +3.00  41.83
 56  57  104096 THOMPSON Broderick 1994 CAN  1:32.66  +3.01  41.97
Did not start 1st run
 40  100558 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN
Did not finish 1st run
 56  202469 RENZ Fabio 1992 GER
 53  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR

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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.