Yo, Adrien!
Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal’s stranglehold on the downhill discipline this season was broken when Frenchman Adrien Theaux crossed the finish line today in Santa Caterina, Italy. Theaux took the victory with a time of 1:47.29 seconds, a full 1.04 seconds ahead of second-place finisher, Austria’s Hannes Reichelt. Theaux was joined on the podium by another Frenchman, as David Poisson charged into third place, 1.15 seconds back. Svindal was forced to settle for seventh, 1.61 seconds behind Theaux.
The day started off with a literal bang as the first racer on course, Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, threw a shoe soon after kicking out of the starting gate and had to rely on his sheer athleticism to avoid crashing. The extreme North-facing slope saw very little sunlight and it was apparent from the get-go that today’s race would require a particular mixture of courage, strength, and skill in order to come away with the victory.
Theaux, running with bib 11, proved more than up for the challenge as he was able to attack the dark, bumpy, and fast track with precision and grace. Looking more confident than the rest of the field, Theaux managed to keep a clean ski tracking in key sections that bounced racer after racer around like rag dolls.
In contrast to his strategy during yesterday’s training run of conserving energy on the top section and attacking more on the bottom, Theaux instead attacked from start to finish and was rewarded with his third World Cup victory and first since 2013 when he was victorious in the downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway.
“I am very happy about my race today,” he explained. “It’s a fight everywhere on the race. When you cross the line, you don’t know your time, it’s impossible to know if you are fast or not. I am happy because I tried to push a lot on the top and, yeah, it was good. It was perfect.”
Reichelt managed to turn two very solid training runs into his first podium appearance of the season, but acknowledged that he felt a little uncomfortable today and came dangerously close to ending up in the nets during his run.
“Today, the feeling was not so good. I had some parts where I’m really lucky that I’m standing here and didn’t have a crash,” Reichelt said. “It was really a tough race today. I’m happy about the second place because Adrien made a really good job today, so I couldn’t reach first place today. That was the best skiing I had today.”
For Poisson, the day marked his first trip to a World Cup podium, with the closest previous result a fourth in the Kitzbuehel downhill in 2013.
“Since the beginning of the weekend the feeling is not really good because the slope is really, really difficult, really tough,” a satisfied Poisson said in the finish. “I’m quite happy with the way I skied because I needed a big run since the beginning of the season. I take a lot of pleasure from the ski, but I always made some mistakes so it’s not so good for the confidence. Today I said, ‘OK, normally the conditions are good for you so just go, just try, forget your brain.’ I’m quite happy because the run went not so bad with the conditions. It’s really tough, you can’t really say you enjoy it, but I know when it’s like that I’ve got a chance.”
For Theaux and Poisson, having two Frenchman on the podium was special for more than one reason.
“It’s two French guys. He’s my teammate and my roommate so it’s just amazing,” Theaux said. “When you win or do a podium alone it’s good, but it’s different because the other guys are not like this. Today is just amazing.”
Hands-down the most impressive performance of the day came from Italian Christof Innerhofer. About 45 seconds into his run, he drifted low and was heading too direct into a high speed jump. Skiing head-first through the panel before the jump, Innerhofer’s body ripped the panel and one of the poles out of the snow, pulling his goggle strap over his eyes in the process. After sailing over the jump blindfolded, he managed to somewhat adjust his goggles, only to realize that the panel and pole were still attached to his body.
Approximately 30 seconds later, Innerhofer shook the pole loose but had to ski the rest of the course with a bright orange downhill panel flapping in the wind behind him. The newly caped crusader managed to not only finish, but wound up an improbable fourth place, leaving all to wonder if he was on his way to victory if not for the interloping gate that hitched a ride on his back.
The top North American finisher was Canada’s Ben Thomsen in eighth, 1.63 seconds off the pace. The result was a significant step in the right direction for Thomsen, as his previous best finish this season was 21st in the Lake Louise downhill last month.
Travis Ganong was the best American of the day, and although he finished a disappointing 17th place after coming away with his first career World Cup victory at the venue last season, was still satisfied with his skiing and had some strong take-aways from the experience.
“I had an amazing run. I had a huge mistake on the bottom and I’m still only two seconds out, so I’m pretty happy with the way I was able to go from the first training run to the race day,” he said.
Also of note was the fact that the Austrian, Italian, and Canadian teams were afforded the opportunity to train on the hill in the days leading up to the official training runs. The rest of the field did not receive the invite, and it showed with five of the top-10 finishers coming from those three nations.
“I only had three runs on the hill versus some of the other guys who have had seven, eight, nine, 10 runs in the last week,” explained Ganong. “So for us to catch up, it’s been good. It’s just too bad that they were able to train on this hill before the race. It’s not really fair, but it’s all good. It’s awesome that Theaux crushed it because he did not train on the hill, so I’m really happy that he won. That’s perfect. He deserved it for sure.”
A common theme emanating from the racers was how unique and challenging the Santa Caterina track is. The particular combination of terrain, speed, darkness, and off-rhythm turns provides a unique challenge not found anywhere else on the World Cup.
“I would probably say this is one of the toughest hills we ski on, it’s really hard,” added Ganong.
The men’s tour now takes a break until Jan. 6, when the relocated Zagreb slalom will now also be contested at Santa Caterina.
Fans can stay current on the World Cup circuit by downloading the new U.S. Ski Team iOS app powered by Ski Racing here.
The Scoop
By Hank McKee
- Theaux, Head/Head/Head
- Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
- Poisson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
- Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
- Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
- Kriechmayr, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
- Svindal, Head/Head/Head
- Thomsen, Head/Head/Head
- Fayed, Head/Head/Head
- Sander, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
- Men’s World Cup downhill, Santa Caterina, Italy, Dec. 29, 2015. … It is the 14th of 45 races on the original men’s calendar with 30 remaining. … It is the fourth of 11 scheduled downhills. … It is the 19th World Cup at Santa Caterina, but the second holiday pre-New Year stop at the site, replacing the calendar spot neighboring Bormio held for nearly 20 years. There have been five World Cup downhills at Santa Caterina, just one of them a men’s race, last season, won by Travis Ganong.
- It is the third career World Cup win for Adrien Theaux, the first since March 2, 2013 at Kvitfjell. … It is the first French win of the season. … Winning margin is 1.04 seconds. … Top 14 are within two seconds.
- It is the 35th career World Cup podium for Hannes Reichelt. … His 16th in downhill. … He placed sixth in his only other DH result at Santa Caterina. … It is his first podium of the season.
- It is the first career World Cup podium for David Poisson … the eighth of the season for France.
- Benjamin Thomsen matches his third best career result from Feb. 21 of last season at Saalbach. … His second best this season is 21st at Lake Louise. … It is the 27th best of 51 World Cup scoring results for Travis Ganong. … It is the fifth best of six scoring finishes this season for Steven Nyman.
- Aksel Lund Svindal (seventh in race) passes Marcel Hirscher (did not race) for the lead of the World Cup overall standings 636-621. … Kjetil Jansrud (27th in race) is third with 411pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is eighth overall with 248pts.
- Svindal holds the downhill standings lead 336-219 over Guillermo Fayed (ninth in race). … Jansrud is third with 174pts. … Ganong is eighth with 116pts and Erik Guay (did not start) is tied for tenth with 95pts.
- Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 2158-1699 over Norway. … France is third with 1637pts. … The U.S. is fifth at 1015 and Canada eighth at 263pts.
Official Results
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | Diff. | FIS Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 11 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:47.29 | 0.00 | |||
2 | 16 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | 1:48.33 | +1.04 | 12.12 | ||
3 | 25 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | 1:48.44 | +1.15 | 13.40 | ||
4 | 3 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:48.51 | +1.22 | 14.21 | ||
5 | 8 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:48.67 | +1.38 | 16.08 | ||
6 | 5 | 53980 | KRIECHMAYR Vincent | 1991 | AUT | 1:48.75 | +1.46 | 17.01 | ||
7 | 19 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:48.90 | +1.61 | 18.76 | ||
8 | 28 | 103271 | THOMSEN Benjamin | 1987 | CAN | 1:48.92 | +1.63 | 18.99 | ||
9 | 21 | 192932 | FAYED Guillermo | 1985 | FRA | 1:48.95 | +1.66 | 19.34 | ||
10 | 24 | 200379 | SANDER Andreas | 1989 | GER | 1:48.99 | +1.70 | 19.81 | ||
11 | 26 | 511529 | GISIN Marc | 1988 | SUI | 1:49.05 | +1.76 | 20.51 | ||
12 | 13 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:49.20 | +1.91 | 22.25 | ||
12 | 9 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:49.20 | +1.91 | 22.25 | ||
14 | 10 | 53817 | FRANZ Max | 1989 | AUT | 1:49.28 | +1.99 | 23.18 | ||
15 | 7 | 194167 | MUZATON Maxence | 1990 | FRA | 1:49.29 | +2.00 | 23.30 | ||
16 | 14 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 1:49.31 | +2.02 | 23.53 | ||
17 | 17 | 530874 | GANONG Travis | 1988 | USA | 1:49.41 | +2.12 | 24.70 | ||
18 | 29 | 54005 | STRIEDINGER Otmar | 1991 | AUT | 1:49.42 | +2.13 | 24.82 | ||
19 | 23 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:49.67 | +2.38 | 27.73 | ||
20 | 40 | 194298 | GIEZENDANNER Blaise | 1991 | FRA | 1:49.68 | +2.39 | 27.85 | ||
21 | 47 | 990081 | CASSE Mattia | 1990 | ITA | 1:49.73 | +2.44 | 28.43 | ||
22 | 38 | 561216 | KLINE Bostjan | 1991 | SLO | 1:49.88 | +2.59 | 30.18 | ||
23 | 36 | 194542 | GIRAUD MOINE Valentin | 1992 | FRA | 1:50.02 | +2.73 | 31.81 | ||
23 | 34 | 53981 | KROELL Johannes | 1991 | AUT | 1:50.02 | +2.73 | 31.81 | ||
25 | 55 | 512042 | KRYENBUEHL Urs | 1994 | SUI | 1:50.05 | +2.76 | 32.16 | ||
26 | 18 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 1:50.06 | +2.77 | 32.27 | ||
27 | 22 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:50.16 | +2.87 | 33.44 | ||
28 | 42 | 294277 | KLOTZ Siegmar | 1987 | ITA | 1:50.17 | +2.88 | 33.55 | ||
29 | 37 | 561217 | KOSI Klemen | 1991 | SLO | 1:50.28 | +2.99 | 34.84 | ||
30 | 4 | 293141 | VARETTONI Silvano | 1984 | ITA | 1:50.41 | +3.12 | 36.35 | ||
31 | 50 | 511847 | MANI Nils | 1992 | SUI | 1:50.43 | +3.14 | 36.58 | ||
31 | 46 | 512124 | HINTERMANN Niels | 1995 | SUI | 1:50.43 | +3.14 | 36.58 | ||
33 | 39 | 934643 | GOLDBERG Jared | 1991 | USA | 1:50.70 | +3.41 | 39.73 | ||
34 | 43 | 180570 | ROMAR Andreas | 1989 | FIN | 1:51.12 | +3.83 | 44.62 | ||
35 | 41 | 103512 | FRISCH Jeffrey | 1984 | CAN | 1:51.33 | +4.04 | 47.07 | ||
36 | 20 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:51.43 | +4.14 | 48.23 | ||
37 | 27 | 6530104 | BENNETT Bryce | 1992 | USA | 1:51.44 | +4.15 | 48.35 | ||
38 | 52 | 293550 | MARSAGLIA Matteo | 1985 | ITA | 1:51.58 | +4.29 | 49.98 | ||
39 | 31 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:51.64 | +4.35 | 50.68 | ||
40 | 57 | 6290393 | CAZZANIGA Davide | 1992 | ITA | 1:51.69 | +4.40 | 51.26 | ||
41 | 54 | 511808 | SCHMED Fernando | 1991 | SUI | 1:51.74 | +4.45 | 51.85 | ||
42 | 30 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 1:51.84 | +4.55 | 53.01 | ||
43 | 53 | 54009 | WALDER Christian | 1991 | AUT | 1:51.98 | +4.69 | 54.64 | ||
44 | 56 | 110324 | VON APPEN Henrik | 1994 | CHI | 1:52.57 | +5.28 | 61.52 | ||
45 | 35 | 511981 | WEBER Ralph | 1993 | SUI | 1:53.77 | +6.48 | 75.50 | ||
46 | 32 | 103762 | WERRY Tyler | 1991 | CAN | 1:54.01 | +6.72 | 78.29 | ||
Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
44 | 380292 | ZRNCIC DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | ||||||
33 | 53933 | SCHWEIGER Patrick | 1990 | AUT | ||||||
Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
58 | 104096 | THOMPSON Broderick | 1994 | CAN | ||||||
51 | 422310 | SEJERSTED Adrian Smiseth | 1994 | NOR | ||||||
49 | 930024 | MAPLE Wiley | 1990 | USA | ||||||
48 | 202196 | BRANDNER Klaus | 1990 | GER | ||||||
45 | 194190 | ROGER Brice | 1990 | FRA | ||||||
15 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | ||||||
12 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | ||||||
6 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | ||||||
2 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | ||||||
1 | 422139 | KILDE Aleksander Aamodt | 1992 | NOR |