Austrian Marcel Hirscher is really good. Monday (Dec. 19) in slalom at Alta Badia, Italy he flat out-skied the field for a half second margin, his second win and fourth podium of the season.

The local fans had plenty to cheer about with Giuliano Razzoli in second and they had a skier on the podium throughout most of the second run. Though the rest got pushed back the Squadra Azzura got half of the top eight with Cristian Deville sixth, Patrick Thaler seventh and Stefano Gross eighth.

Felix Neureuther was third for Germany, Andre Myhrer was fourth for Sweden and Ivica Kostelic fifth for Croatia. Hirscher got past Kostelic, the winner at Beaver Creek, and now leads the slalom standings 160-145.

Ted Ligety posted tenth to lead the American group. Jimmy Cochran, fighting back from ankle surgery this summer, was 17th.

Bode Miller exited early in the first run trying to cut through the quickly developing ruts. Nolan Kasper and Will Gregorak failed to make the cut for a second run.

Hirscher told Austrian reporters he had undergone three hours of physical therapy after the GS on Sunday trying to deal with back pain, but said the only thing that bothered him in the slalom was the pressure.

“The tension was enormous,” he said. “I knew that I must attack again, anything less helps nothing.”

A mistake in the middle of the second run left him “wide awake,” and he was able to easily out distance his foes.

Ligety said he felt he was making progress in slalom, but added “I need to figure out why Hirscher is beating everybody by six-tenths on the bottom.”

Image by Gepa

THE SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 19, 2011
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Razzoli, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
3 Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/
4 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/
5 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 DeVille, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
7 Thaler, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
8 Gross, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
9 Pranger, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Ligety, Head/Head/Head

Men’s World Cup slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 19, 2011. … It is the 11th race of the men’s 45 race 2011-12 World Cup schedule. … It is the third of 11 scheduled slaloms but the second to be held and the first to be held at the originally scheduled site. … It is the 28th Cup race to be hosted by Alta Badia and the fifth slalom. … Slalom was added to the Alta Badia schedule in 2006.

It is the fifth career Cup win for Marcel Hirscher and his second in slalom having won at Val d’Isere a season ago. … It is his fourth podium of the season split equally between GS and slalom.

It is the seventh career Cup podium result for Giuliano Razzoli, all in slalom. … It is the third podium for Italy this season and second in two days.

It is the 11th Cup podium for Felix Neureuther and tenth in slalom. … It is his second at Alta Badia having been second in the 2007 (Dec.) slalom.

It is the 74th career Cup top 10 for Ted Ligety. … his 21st in slalom. … It is his best slalom result since placing sixth at Zagreb last Jan. 6. … It is the first Cup score for Jimmy Cochran since March 2010.

Hirscher takes control of the World Cup overall standings 425-416 over Aksel Lund Svindal (did not qualify). … Ligety is third at 385. … Miller is sixth with 298pts. … Jan Hudec (did not race) is the top Canadian in 17th with 122pts. … Hirscher takes command o f tge slalom standings 160-145 over Kostelic. … Cristian DeVille (sixth in race) is third with 120pts. … Nolan Kasper (did not qualify) is top American in tenth with 50pts. … Brad Spence the top Canadian in 23rd with 16pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 1829-1157 over Switzerland. … France is third with 918pts and the US fourth with 899. … Canada sits eighth with 367pts.