Attacking Vikings top the super-G podium in Val d’Isere

By Published On: December 2nd, 2016Comments Off on Attacking Vikings top the super-G podium in Val d’Isere

Pristine blue skies and solid snow conditions in Val d’Isere, France, made for a dream-like start to the men’s World Cup super-G season on Friday, and marked the first use of the new speed start order, which was approved by the FIS this summer.

Attacking Vikings Kjetil Jansrud and Aksel Lund Svindal topped the podium, coming in first and second place. This was Jansrud’s seventh World Cup super-G win, and he’s the first Norwegian to win at the venue since Atle Skaardal – now the women’s World Cup Chief Race Director – in 1995.

“Every race you want to have this kind of feeling between taking risks and also being in control and also just skiing fast and I think today was probably on the safe side, but it proves how difficult a super-G it was,” Jansrud shared.

The men were certainly challenged, many struggling to stay ahead of the turns and maintain a fast line.

“If you saw [Alexis ] Pinturault, for example, he was charging, he was looking good and leading until he made a mistake, so it was a race today where I don’t think anyone really had the perfect run,” he continued.

Svindal was obviously excited about his first run back after injuring his knee at the Hahnenkamm last season. Running bib 5, he came into the finish ahead of Slovenia’s Bostjan Kline by 0.28 seconds, and pumped his fists in the air to mark the miraculous comeback. The Norwegian ultimately finished the day in second place after his teammate came down two racers later to take over the lead.

I hadn’t been pushing anything since Kitzbuehel kind of, so I needed to really get into the race mode,” Svindal said. “My attitude was kind of I’d rather have a chance for a good race and make a mistake and be number 20 or 30 than do a safe run and be 15.

Rounding out the podium was Dominik Paris, an Italian speedster who was a contender for the downhill globe last season. This third-place result marked his fifth time on a World Cup super-G podium.

“I’m happy with my start today,” he said. “It was good. I tried to push hard in the section where I saw it was straight. Feeling was okay. In super-G, I feel confident, so it’s good stand on the podium.”

Paris was accompanied in the top 10 by last season’s World Cup downhill globe winner Peter Fill of Italy, who ended the day in eighth place. Also in the top 10 was American Downhiller Travis Ganong, earning seventh place just three-quarters of a second behind Svindal.

The next-fastest American was Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who made an impressive jump from bib 61 to 15th place and earned his best World Cup super-G result ever.

“It’s my best World Cup result,” Cochran-Siegle said. “I got 15th in Schladming at World Champs just because I got lucky and someone got DQed in front of me, so to do it here in a World Cup starting so far back was pretty amazing. I wasn’t really expecting anything. I was just trying to send as hard as possible, and make it down.”

Andrew Weibrecht and Ted Ligety of the U.S. Ski Team also cracked the top 30, ending the day in 18th and 29th respectively. Teammates Steven Nyman, Brennan Rubie, Jared Goldberg, and Bryce Bennett finished in 33rd, 34th, 50th and 53rd. Thomas Biesemeyer did not finish after a crash landing in the fence. He was able to get up and remove himself from the netting under his own power.

The northern neighbors had a solid day with Erik Guay taking 11th place and Dustin Cook earning 13th place. Fellow Canadians Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Erik Read finished in 37th and 40th place while Trevor Philp did not finish. Their former teammate, Jan Hudec of the Czech Republic, had a rough start to the season, finishing in 62nd place.

Men’s racing continues on Saturday with the downhill in Val d’Isere while the ladies race in Lake Louise.

Fans can stay up to date on World Cup news by downloading the U.S. Ski Team – Ski Racing app for iOS and Android.


Top 10

  1. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
  2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) – Head / Head / Head
  3. Dominik Paris (ITA) – Head / Head / Head
  4. Carlo Janka (SUI) –  Rossignol / Look / Rossignol
  5. Bostjan Kline (SLO) – Stoeckli /   / Head
  6. Beat Feuz (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  7. Travis Ganong (USA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  8. Peter Fill (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  9. Andreas Sanders (GER) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  10. Max Franz (AUT) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  7  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR  1:21.66  0.00
 2  5  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR  1:21.83  +0.17  2.25
 3  6  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA  1:22.07  +0.41  5.42
 4  11  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:22.10  +0.44  5.82
 5  4  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  1:22.11  +0.45  5.95
 6  16  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  1:22.37  +0.71  9.39
 7  27  530874 GANONG Travis 1988 USA  1:22.41  +0.75  9.92
 8  14  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:22.42  +0.76  10.05
 9  8  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  1:22.57  +0.91  12.04
 10  24  53817 FRANZ Max 1989 AUT  1:22.79  +1.13  14.94
 11  29  102263 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN  1:22.83  +1.17  15.47
 12  15  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:22.85  +1.19  15.74
 13  17  100558 COOK Dustin 1989 CAN  1:22.88  +1.22  16.14
 13  13  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  1:22.88  +1.22  16.14
 15  61  6530319 COCHRAN-SIEGLE Ryan 1992 USA  1:22.90  +1.24  16.40
 16  28  53933 SCHWEIGER Patrick 1990 AUT  1:22.94  +1.28  16.93
 17  10  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  1:22.98  +1.32  17.46
 18  19  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA  1:23.06  +1.40  18.52
 19  53  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:23.12  +1.46  19.31
 19  33  194190 ROGER Brice 1990 FRA  1:23.12  +1.46  19.31
 21  41  6190176 BAILET Matthieu 1996 FRA  1:23.21  +1.55  20.50
 22  3  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  1:23.23  +1.57  20.76
 23  1  53902 MAYER Matthias 1990 AUT  1:23.25  +1.59  21.03
 24  31  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  1:23.26  +1.60  21.16
 25  25  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:23.30  +1.64  21.69
 26  58  202535 DRESSEN Thomas 1993 GER  1:23.34  +1.68  22.22
 27  37  511139 KUENG Patrick 1984 SUI  1:23.41  +1.75  23.14
 28  68  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA  1:23.50  +1.84  24.34
 29  22  534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA  1:23.57  +1.91  25.26
 30  35  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  1:23.60  +1.94  25.66
 31  32  511513 CAVIEZEL Mauro 1988 SUI  1:23.63  +1.97  26.05
 32  42  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:23.64  +1.98  26.19
 33  30  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  1:23.67  +2.01  26.58
 34  52  934568 RUBIE Brennan 1991 USA  1:23.74  +2.08  27.51
 34  36  202196 BRANDNER Klaus 1990 GER  1:23.74  +2.08  27.51
 36  45  54009 WALDER Christian 1991 AUT  1:23.77  +2.11  27.91
 37  54  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:23.79  +2.13  28.17
 38  40  422310 SEJERSTED Adrian Smiseth 1994 NOR  1:23.80  +2.14  28.30
 38  9  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:23.80  +2.14  28.30
 40  63  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN  1:23.82  +2.16  28.57
 41  48  511352 VILETTA Sandro 1986 SUI  1:23.91  +2.25  29.76
 42  50  6290845 BOSCA Guglielmo 1993 ITA  1:23.93  +2.27  30.02
 43  21  50858 STREITBERGER Georg 1981 AUT  1:23.99  +2.33  30.82
 44  12  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA  1:24.00  +2.34  30.95
 45  39  422073 NETELAND Bjoernar 1991 NOR  1:24.01  +2.35  31.08
 45  23  511638 TUMLER Thomas 1989 SUI  1:24.01  +2.35  31.08
 47  43  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT  1:24.13  +2.47  32.67
 48  38  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  1:24.18  +2.52  33.33
 49  67  194495 FAIVRE Mathieu 1992 FRA  1:24.30  +2.64  34.92
 50  51  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:24.35  +2.69  35.58
 51  57  511808 SCHMED Fernando 1991 SUI  1:24.36  +2.70  35.71
 52  49  194542 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 1992 FRA  1:24.38  +2.72  35.97
 53  62  6530104 BENNETT Bryce 1992 USA  1:24.47  +2.81  37.16
 54  64  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI  1:24.60  +2.94  38.88
 55  71  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK  1:24.91  +3.25  42.98
 56  66  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:25.28  +3.62  47.88
 57  60  561067 PERKO Rok 1985 SLO  1:25.36  +3.70  48.93
 58  72  380335 ZUBCIC Filip 1993 CRO  1:25.47  +3.81  50.39
 59  55  6291029 BATTILANI Henri 1994 ITA  1:25.52  +3.86  51.05
 60  59  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel 1992 RUS  1:25.68  +4.02  53.17
 61  73  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG  1:26.35  +4.69  62.03
 62  26  102271 HUDEC Jan 1981 CZE  1:27.94  +6.28  83.06
Did not start 1st run
 75  180534 SANDELL Marcus 1987 FIN
 65  310426 VUKICEVIC Marko 1992 SRB
Did not finish 1st run
 74  460071 ACHIRILOAIE Ioan Valeriu 1990 ROU
 70  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
 69  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN
 56  6290540 DE VETTORI Matteo 1993 ITA
 47  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas 1989 USA
 46  422278 WINDINGSTAD Rasmus 1993 NOR
 44  511529 GISIN Marc 1988 SUI
 34  202059 FERSTL Josef 1988 GER
 20  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA
 18  293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA
 2  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com