Worlds: Janka leads GS after first run

Carlo Janka, winner of a World Cup GS at Val d’Isere Dec. 13, has the early lead for the World Championship race in the discipline under bright sunny skies.Carlo Janka, winner of a World Cup GS at Val d’Isere Dec. 13, has the early lead for the World Championship race in the discipline on the same course under bright sunny skies.

After the first of two runs down the icy Bellevarde course the 22 year old Swiss holds a .48 of a second edge over the 2006 Olympic GS gold medalist Austrian Benjamin Raich. Italian Massimiliano Blardone sits third, nearly a full second out. Didier Cuche, already a double medallist at Val d’Isere this year is fourth.

Ted Ligety is the top American in the early going in ninth with 1.71 seconds to make up in the second heat. Bode Miller is 17th after a posting a rare conservative run. Tim Jitloff made the cut for the second run in 22nd but was well off the leading pace. Jake Zamansky exited the course.

Canada has Robbie Dixon in 24th while Michael Janyk and John Kucera did not qualify for a second run and Jean-Philippe Roy failed to finish.

Racers are reporting the steep slope, the site of all the men’s races and half of the women’s race at these championships sport an inconsistent surface alternating between grippy and slick making inspection a critical factor.

Without a men’s medal yet in the championships the Austrians were bolstered not only by Raich’s strong position but also with Marcel Hirscher in fifth and Philipp Schoerghofer in seventh. With the grand stands packed and thousands lining the course leading into the stadium the home field advantage helped lift Jean-Baptiste Grange to eighth. Italy’s Manfred Moelgg was a top 10 finisher in the sixth postion a little more than a second off Janka’s pace.