Alta Badia: Kostelic hangs on to win slalom
Ivica Kostelic collected his ninth World Cup career win and first in two years in winning the misplaced slalom at Italy’s premier GS race hill of Alta Badia, Monday.
Amassing a huge half-second lead in the first run, Kostelic skied comfortably in the second run and had just enough to keep Jean-Baptiste Grange of France from the win. Austrian Benjamin Raich was third with three Italians just off the podium.
American Ted Ligety had a rough second run but held on for a 12th place tie, while Tim Jitloff got his first World Cup slalom points in 15th.
Ivica Kostelic collected his ninth World Cup career win and first in two years in winning the misplaced slalom at Italy’s premier GS race hill of Alta Badia, Monday.
Amassing a huge half-second lead in the first run, Kostelic skied comfortably in the second run and had just enough to keep Jean-Baptiste Grange of France from the win. Austrian Benjamin Raich was third with three Italians just off the podium.
American Ted Ligety had a rough second run but held on for a 12th place tie, while Tim Jitloff got his first World Cup slalom points in 15th.
“It’s beautiful. … coming to the finish to see my name above everyone else,” Kostelic told AFP. “I was a little bit surprised with the first run, especially at the bottom I didn’t think I was so fast. But it is great to win again.”
Kostelic’s first run was apparently better than it felt as he held a margin of more than a half second over the field.
With three men left to ski in the second run the Italians held all three podium placings (Giorgio Rocca, Manfred Moelgg and Patrick Thaler).
That would have been a very popular result at the Italian resort and had what crowd there was buzzing. It was not to be with three veterans left. Raich punched the lead up over a half second and Grange, the slalom standings leader, jumped the margin over the Italians to 1.23 seconds. That still left first run leader Ivica Kostelic. With a half second lead from the first heat and the confidence of yesterday’s GS podium in his hip pocket, he coasted the run, winning with a less than comfortable two-tenths of a second margin.
Raich told Austrian reporters he felt good about his run until Grange and Kostelic skied. Then, he said, it was apparent they were “in a class of their own.”
Raich has closed the gap in the overall rankings between he and tour leader Aksel Svindal who failed to qualify for the second run. In a strategic move he will skip the downhill at Bormio in order to train more slalom and GS. With six slaloms on tap for the month of January (and another Feb. 1) the move makes sense.
It was another tough day for American super star Bode Miller. Although on pace with the leaders he took one too many risks, caught a gate and was done before the first run was over. He has failed to finish five of his last nine races.
The race had originally been scheduled at Val d’Isere Dec. 14, but was moved after weather forced a postponement.
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s Slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 22, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Rocca, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
6 Thaler, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
7 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Hargin, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Byggmark, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
Men’s slalom, Alta Badia, Italy, Dec. 22, 2008. … It is the 13th race of the men’s 38 race 2008-09 World Cup schedule…. It is the second of ten scheduled slaloms. … It is a replacement race for the slalom originally scheduled at Val d’Isere Dec. 14. … It is the 28th World Cup at Alta Badia. … But just the third slalom, after one in December 2006 and one 2007. … There are five men’s slaloms on the schedule for the month of January.
It is the ninth career World Cup win for Ivica Kostelic. … the seventh in slalom with one coming in combined and one in the short-lived knock-out slalom format. … It is his second podium in two days having been second in a GS on the same hill 24hours earlier. … His last win had been in combined at Reiteralm Dec. 10, 2006. … His last slalom win at Madonna di Compiglio Dec. 15, 2003.
It is the ninth Cup podium for Jean-Baptiste Grange and sixth in slalom. … All of them have come in last season or this. … He won the slalom at Alta Badia last season. … He has never finished third in a World Cup race.
It is the 77th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … His 37th in slalom. … It is his third podium of the season in three different disciplines. … It is his third career podium scored at Alta Badia. … Austria has not won a Cup slalom this season.
It is the 19th time Ted Ligety has been in the top dozen of a World Cup slalom. … It is his eighth score of the season… and his worst result at Alta Badia in six scored races over three seasons. … It is a career best World Cup result for Tim Jitloff and his first score in a Cup slalom. … All three of his scoring results have come this season, the other two in GS. … It is the tenth career scoring result for Patrick Biggs, all of them coming in slalom. … It is his first score of the season. … It is the first scoring result for Thomas Grandi since March 18, 2007. … He returned from retirement to ski this season.
Aksel Svindal (did not qualify) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 430-393 over Raich. … Grange moves to third with 366pts. … Ligety, in tenth with 279pts is the top American. … Grange leads the slalom standings 180-145 over Kostelic. … Bode Miller (DNF 1st) is third with 80pts.
Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 2074-1734 over Switzerland. … Italy is third at 1062 and the U.S. fourth at 969.
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 5 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 49.26 | 50.57 | 1:39.83 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 6 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 49.79 | 50.24 | 1:40.03 | 1.20 |
| 3 | 10 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 49.83 | 50.80 | 1:40.63 | 4.81 |
| 4 | 13 | 290478 | ROCCA Giorgio | 1975 | ITA | 50.34 | 50.92 | 1:41.26 | 8.59 |
| 5 | 4 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 50.42 | 50.99 | 1:41.41 | 9.50 |
| 6 | 24 | 290732 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | 50.96 | 50.52 | 1:41.48 | 9.92 |
| 7 | 22 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 50.81 | 50.68 | 1:41.49 | 9.98 |
| 8 | 29 | 501111 | HARGIN Mattias | 1985 | SWE | 51.04 | 50.49 | 1:41.53 | 10.22 |
| 8 | 23 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 50.91 | 50.62 | 1:41.53 | 10.22 |
| 10 | 14 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 51.22 | 50.42 | 1:41.64 | 10.88 |
| 11 | 2 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | 49.90 | 51.76 | 1:41.66 | 11.00 |
| 12 | 11 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 50.80 | 51.03 | 1:41.83 | 12.02 |
| 12 | 9 | 291145 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | 50.94 | 50.89 | 1:41.83 | 12.02 |
| 14 | 20 | 560371 | DRAGSIC Mitja | 1979 | SLO | 50.55 | 51.54 | 1:42.09 | 13.58 |
| 15 | 52 | 534959 | JITLOFF Tim | 1985 | USA | 51.64 | 50.54 | 1:42.18 | 14.12 |
| 16 | 45 | 50931 | BECHTER Patrick | 1982 | AUT | 51.82 | 50.42 | 1:42.24 | 14.48 |
| 17 | 15 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 51.28 | 51.14 | 1:42.42 | 15.57 |
| 18 | 37 | 201422 | KOGLER Stefan | 1981 | GER | 51.53 | 50.95 | 1:42.48 | 15.93 |
| 19 | 21 | 511127 | GINI Marc | 1984 | SUI | 51.52 | 50.97 | 1:42.49 | 15.99 |
| 20 | 18 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 51.30 | 51.23 | 1:42.53 | 16.23 |
| 21 | 33 | 102456 | BIGGS Patrick | 1982 | CAN | 51.72 | 50.98 | 1:42.70 | 17.25 |
| 22 | 39 | 560355 | VALENCIC Mitja | 1978 | SLO | 51.87 | 50.97 | 1:42.84 | 18.09 |
| 23 | 16 | 50547 | SCHOENFELDER Rainer | 1977 | AUT | 51.33 | 51.57 | 1:42.90 | 18.45 |
| 24 | 28 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 51.50 | 51.51 | 1:43.01 | 19.11 |
| 25 | 31 | 100115 | GRANDI Thomas | 1972 | CAN | 51.93 | 51.10 | 1:43.03 | 19.23 |
| 26 | 43 | 511352 | VILETTA Sandro | 1986 | SUI | 51.93 | 51.14 | 1:43.07 | 19.47 |
| 27 | 46 | 50981 | HOERL Wolfgang | 1983 | AUT | 51.52 | 51.65 | 1:43.17 | 20.07 |
| 28 | 51 | 910000 | IMBODEN Urs | 1975 | MDA | 52.07 | 51.13 | 1:43.20 | 20.25 |
Did not finish 1st run: LONGHI Jhonatan (BRA), ROMAR Andreas (FIN), GROSS Stefano (ITA), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), ROBERTSSON Petter (SWE), LAHDENPERAE Anton (SWE), KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), JANSRUD Kjetil (NOR), PAQUIN Pierre (FRA), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), LEINO Jukka (FIN), ANDERSSON Magnus (SWE), STUTZ Paul (CAN), KOLL Alexander (AUT), KELLEY Tim (USA), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), YUASA Naoki (JPN), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), BROLENIUS Johan (SWE), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), PRANGER Manfred (AUT), MILLER Bode (USA), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER), MATT Mario (AUT), HERBST Reinfried (AUT)
Did not finish 2nd run: ZURBRIGGEN Silvan (SUI)
Disqualified 2nd run: JANYK Michael (CAN)
Did not qualify 1st run: MINAGAWA Kentaro (JPN), SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), SKUBE Matic (SLO), DOPFER Fritz (GER), NORDH Fredrik (SWE), STEHLE Dominik (GER), BOURGEAT Pierrick (FRA), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), ALBRECHT Kilian (BUL), MARSHALL Cody (USA), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), TISSOT Stephane (FRA), FANARA Thomas (FRA), SVINDAL Aksel Lund (NOR), SASAKI Akira (JPN)
About the Author: Pete Rugh
