Ligety wins his second GS globe!
I know I have been away from the computer for a while and a lot has happened. I have been on the road at the Western Region Junior Championships with the FIS group from Mission Ridge. They did a great job over there bringing home 5 podiums including a convincing slalom win by Clare Wise on the last day. But regardless of all the junior stuff going on right now in the States, there are some big races going on in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in a preview of the 2011 World Championship hills.
The Downhill in Garmisch is a classic. There are great views of majestic peaks like the Zugspitze and the almost perfectly flat valley below with farms on the outskirts of the towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen. The Downhill and Super G tracks wind through the trees with great terrain, twists and fall-away turns as well as big air. Garmisch can be a very fast track when the snow is hard and is very technical in the middle section above the final jump. The GS is run on the lower DH and the slalom sits on its own at the jumping complex called Gudiberg in Partenkirchen. The slalom hill is very difficult as it has relentless pitch almost all the way, just barely flattening at the bottom. It is very difficult to set minimum turns here and requires short distances around 10 meters to get it done. There are other ways to get it done like setting excessive numbers of combinations. Tomorrow’s slalom race should be very interesting.
Ted Ligety once again proved he is the best GS skier in the world. He was tied with Phillip Shoerghofer of Austria for 3rd place today. Carlo Janka won the race, which locked up the Overall title for him. Ted has won 2 GS Championships in the last 3 seasons. He locked up the last one in Bormio 2 years ago, fell a little short last season and then won again this year with a strong finish to the GS season in Kranjska Gora and the podium today in Garmisch. I am sure the GS in Garmisch was of concern to Ted and the USST staff going in as the bottom of the hill is very flat. It is not really Ted’s strength and for sure he would need to carry all of his speed off the last steep pitch to the finish. One error in judgment there or a little technical bobble and the globe would disappear. He made no mistake and put it in the finish area to win the globe by 71 points. Had Ted been 0.76 slower over 2 runs, he would have tied for 9th, and would have fallen into a tie with Janka for the GS globe. I am sure there were nervous moments for Sasha Rearick and the rest of the men’s staff watching the day unfold. Great job boys and good luck tomorrow!
I would be remiss if I did not stop to congratulate Didier Cuche for his Downhill title. But I very much want to send congratulations to Erik Guay, our Canadian friend, for his Super G globe. It is the first globe for Canada in 28 years! Great job Erik, the dedication and professionalism you bring to the sport is not lost on me, I hope the rest of the world appreciates what they are seeing when they watch you race. Keep up the good work. And again, to Carlo Janka for locking up the Overall title, fantastic job!
Now on to the slalom. As I mentioned above, the piste in Partenkirchen is at the jump complex and is a very tough and relentless hill. You tend to have to set short distances which can translate into grinding, sliding and hitting type turns. Jacques Theolier who works for Italy sets run 1 and Stephane Quittet of France will set run 2. This is a very interesting situation. First, Reini Herbst leads the slalom standings by 43 points over Julien Lizeroux. Lizeroux is French. Stephane is French. Jacques is also French. As well, Jacques was a slalom team coach at the World Cup for 6 years with Lizeroux on the squad! I will guarantee the Austrians are nervous about it and probably all over him at the course set. Measuring everything, complaining about anything they can find. They will try to find any advantage to try to get Herbst that globe. It might be the only thing that saves their jobs. There are rumors flying out of Austria on what might happen to the men’s team coaching and team structure so a lot is riding on Herbst and the other slalom boys to get something done tomorrow. Ted starts 16 and Jimmy C starts 21. Jimmy likes this type of slalom very much and if he can keep himself in the front-seat and keep ahead of it as the hill flattens, he can be right in there. Jimmy has the speed to be on the podium, the consistency has often escaped him but I feel good about this one for him. I hope Ted can get it done and put a good chunk of points on the WCSL. It’s a big race for him so he can feel secure about staying in the top 30 in slalom. Then his 500 point status starts him 16 instead of 31. He currently sits 25 on the WCSL in slalom. For the race tomorrow, all the Austrians can win. They are all very good on this type of hill. Lizeroux has the distinct advantage I talked about in both of his coaches over the last 6 years are setting tomorrow. The only thing working against him is that he starts 7th. Felix Neureuther is on his home hill and won Kitzbuhel this season. This could be huge for him and the home town fans will be out there cheering him on. And Manny Moelgg won this race last season, he starts 12 tomorrow. I am going to go with my course setter theory on this one and call Lizeroux for the win coming from behind on Quittet’s set. It will put pressure on Herbst who will crack! Lizeroux wins the globe. A brave pick but that kind of drama is what makes watching racing so much fun.
Lindsey wins how many globes?
How much crystal can one girl have? I am sure she has more Joska Crystal than she needs and there must be more room in the trophy case. I sure hope she is building a room for all of that glass so she can sit and stare at it all on those hot summer days when the drudgery of conditioning is wearing on her. Congratulations again, Lins! You can hang that gold around the globe and be proud of a job well-done.
And congratulations to Kati Hoelzl of Germany who grabbed the GS globe in a tight loss to Tina Maze of Slovenia. Tina did a great job this season as well with her season-ending GS win and 2 silver medals at Vancouver. Congratulations to her.
In the women’s slalom there is another interesting course setting issue. First, Guenther Obkircher sets run 1. He is Katrin Zettel’s coach and Christian Schwaiger sets run 2 who is the coach of Maria Riesch. I do have to say I am a little confused about this course set choice as I was under the impression that the host country was to be pulled from the course-set selection lottery. That certainly has been the process in past seasons. On top of this confusing issue, the Riesch girls drew 1 and 2 for the race tomorrow. It certainly seems like the fix is in on the slalom for the German ladies.
Maria has a 23 point lead over Zettel and 92 points over Aubert (FRA). The girl from Les 2 Alpes has only an outside shot at the slalom globe with those 2 girls that far ahead of her. She needs them to get shut out and she needs to win to make it happen. That would be akin to the Seattle Mariners coming back from 3 games behind the Angels with 3 games left without playing each other; and then winning a playoff game to win the division. So the battle between Riesch and Zettel has some great back-story as well. As we watch it unfold tomorrow there will be some drama. The girls go on the Gudiberg hill with the men and we could see tight courses there as well. The first course is 64 turns, long by any standards.
Lindsey goes 12 and Sarah goes 25. For Canada, their hopes lie with Brigitte Acton who starts 22. These are important starts for both Sarah and Brigitte to improve their start numbers for next season.
Some other interesting side-stories lay within the World Cup Start List, which carries over to create the first start list next season at Levi, FIN. Tina Maze and Tanja Poutiainen are just one point apart in 7th and 8th and there is a 3-way tie for 15th between Fanny Chmelar, Katharina Duerr and Frida Hansdottir. This stuff will all be sorted out tomorrow too.
The prediction? I think the omens that are out there for the Germans (Course setting oversight and drawing 1 and 2 for the sisters Riesch) means that Maria holds off Zettel for the slalom globe. I think she also wins the race on her home hill. I am hoping for a slalom comeback from Lindsey tomorrow and a big day from Schlep to end the season. The dark-horse for the day tomorrow is Christina Geiger; the youngster was born in 1990 and grew up not far away in Oberstdorf. She will have a lot of support there and has a decent start number. Good luck ladies!
The blog will post again tomorrow morning with a recap of the slalom races. I will also be doing a season re-cap sometime next week, followed by a season preview for next year based on the posted schedule. After that I will go to scheduled blogs, likely twice a week for the rest of the FIS and National Championship season as well as info on the Nor-Am Finals which begin soon on in East Burke, Vermont and Waterville Valley, NH. There is a lot to write about and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon! World Cup racing is only a small part of the racing world.
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Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain,
Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St.
Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg
returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head
Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to
Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program
Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg
became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.
In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World
Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski
Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the
helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and
experience to clubs nationwide.
About the Author: Eric Williams
