Feuz lays waste to Wengen field for DH win

By Published On: January 14th, 2012Comments Off on Feuz lays waste to Wengen field for DH win

Just a handful of kilometers from his hometown Beat Feuz claimed the 82nd running of the Lauberhorn downhill at Wengen Saturday (Jan. 14) for his second World Cup win of the season (SG Val Gardena). It is just his third career win and second in downhill, but he is the only man to have two wins in the last seven World Cup downhills dating back to last season. It gave him the lead of the downhill standings ahead of Bode Miller, the fifth place finisher, and moved him to third on the overall chart.

Austrian Hannes Reichelt, the first man out of the start house on a bright sunny day, put up a blistering pace on the 2.7mile long track that only Feuz, in bib 16, could match. Christof Innerhofer of Italy, the darling with three medals at the 2011 World Championships, finished third while Carlo Janka marked his return to form from back issues in strong fashion with fourth.

Miller placed fifth and Canadian Erik Guay tied for eighth.

The race was watched by a record 38,000 fans, the bulk waving Swiss flags, attracted in part because Feuz was considered the man to beat after handily winning the downhill leg of the Lauberhorn combined on Friday. Saturday he proved that was no fluke. He was fastest through the critical Kernen S turns high on the course with a margin of a half second over those who ran before him. Though he lost much of that margin before the final S-turns at the finish he found another gear and powered to a winning margin of .44, double that of any DH winning margin thus far this season. It was the third Swiss win of the Wengen DH in the last four seasons and the third of four downhills held this season.

Feuz said his placing in the combined had drawn considerable attention from Swiss and other media, something he wasn’t use to. But he used that and criticizm about his conditioning to advantage. “I think I just showed you what my fitness is,” he said. “I am very relaxed on my skis and I think I proved it today by skiing the Zeil S absolutely perfectly.”

Reichelt wasn’t complaining about second place. He had not made the team for the race last season. “I had some mistakes,” Reichelt said, “but I did a good job and it was good to start number one. There were three parts where I lost the line. … before the finish in the last agte, the Zeil-S, I was too late and I lost too much time. But Feuz he made up time there and also at the Minchkante. I had too much waiting and I lost time. But I am on the podium. It is a beautiful day.”

Miller gave chase kicking out of the start powerfully and taking the lead at the first interval timer, silencing the massive crowd. Despite sliding wide at the Kernen turns he came out with a green light again above the flat, but he could not keep pace with Feuz through the middle of the course and slid back to fifth .77 back.

The result for Guay was a breakthrough. He had never placed better than 18th at Wengen.

Canadian Jan Hudec skied to 22nd and American Marco Sullivan to 27th.

Beat Feuz photo by Gepa

MORE TO COME

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup Downhill, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 14, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Feuz, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2 Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Miller, Head/Head/Head
6 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Fill, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Kueng, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Men’s World Cup Downhill, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 14, 2012. … The 18th of 45 races on the men’s 2012 World Cup schedule with one cancelation (city event Munich). … The fifth of 11 downhills on the schedule and the fourth held. … It is the 94th Cup races at Wengen. … The 39th downhill. … It is the second of three events scheduled at Wengen in the 82nd running of the Lauberhorn.

It is the third career World Cup win for Beat Feuz. … his second in DH the other coming at the end of last season at Kvitfjell March 11. … It is his second win of the season after the SG at Val Gardena Dec. 16, and his sixth podium of the season. … He has been second three times this season including Friday’s combined event at Wengen.

It is the 15th career World Cup podium placing for Hannes Reichelt. … his second in DH. … It is his third podium of the season and second in DH after a third place finish at Lake Louise Nov. 26.

It is the sixth career World Cup podium placing for Christof Innerhofer and his third in DH. … his other two DH podiums have both come at Bormio. … It is his first top 10 result of the season.

It is the 105th World Cup top five for Bode Miller. … His 29th in DH. … and his 12th at Wengen. … It is his fifth top five of the season and third in DH. … It is the 52nd Cup top 10 for Erik Guay. … and is 10 placings better than any previous result at Wengen. … It is his fourth top eight result of the season. … It is the fourth DH score of the season for Jan Hudec. … The first score at Wengen for Marco Sullivan since 2009. … his fourth of the season.

Marcel Hirscher (did not race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 725-595 over Ivica Kostelic (38th in race). … Feuz moves to third overall with 545. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is fourth with 493pts and Bode Miller sixth with 448pts. … Guay is top Canadian overall in 23rd place with 172pts. … Feuz takes the lead of the downhill standings 260-219 over Miller. … Klaus Kroell (sixth in race) is third at 205pts. … Guay leads the Canadians in 11th with 96pts. …Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 2951-1861 over Switzerland. … Italy is third with 1609pts. … the US fifth with 1222pts and Canada tenth with 561pts.

Place   Wengen (SUI)   Discipline   Downhill
Date   14.01.2012   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   1418   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Fischer Andreas (GER)
       
  

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  16  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   2:35.31  0.00
 2  1  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   2:35.75  3.77
 3  13  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   2:35.80  4.20
 4  7  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:35.92  5.22
 5  22  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   2:36.08  6.59
 6  19  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   2:36.20  7.62
 7  23  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:36.43  9.59
 8  18  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   2:36.53  10.45
 8  9  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   2:36.53  10.45
 10  14  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   2:36.54  10.53
 11  25  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   2:36.61  11.13
 12  21  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:36.66  11.56
 13  5  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   2:36.67  11.65
 14  11  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   2:36.69  11.82
 15  17  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   2:36.75  12.33
 16  10  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   2:36.90  13.62
 17  24  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   2:36.99  14.39
 18  8  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   2:37.03  14.73
 19  6  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   2:37.23  16.44
 20  31  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   2:37.34  17.38
 21  29  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   2:37.56  19.27
 22  28  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   2:37.61  19.70
 23  2  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   2:37.63  19.87
 24  30  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   2:37.71  20.55
 25  12  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   2:37.74  20.81
 26  3  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   2:37.80  21.32
 27  36  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   2:37.90  22.18
 28  51  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   2:37.93  22.44
 29  20  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:37.98  22.86
 30  26  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   2:37.99  22.95
 31  4  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:38.19  24.66
 32  48  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   2:38.30  25.60
 33  39  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   2:38.50  27.32
 34  33  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   2:38.51  27.40
 35  32  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   2:38.90  30.74
 36  44  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   2:38.96  31.26
 37  50  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   2:39.12  32.63
 38  27  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:39.15  32.88
 39  37  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   2:39.21  33.40
 40  15  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   2:39.31  34.25
 41  42  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   2:39.33  34.43
 42  54  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   2:39.53  36.14
 43  34  102961 DIXON Robbie  1985  CAN   2:39.56  36.39
 44  40  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   2:39.69  37.51
 45  46  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   2:39.81  38.54
 46  41  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   2:39.96  39.82
 47  43  930024 MAPLE Wiley  1990  USA   2:40.00  40.16
 48  35  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   2:40.01  40.25
 49  38  53837 KRAMER Manuel  1989  AUT   2:40.42  43.76
 50  47  294911 PATSCHEIDER Hagen  1988  ITA   2:40.62  45.47
 51  56  561085 KRIZAJ Andrej  1986  SLO   2:40.84  47.36
 52  45  561087 MARKIC Gasper  1986  SLO   2:40.86  47.53
 53  49  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   2:41.41  52.24
 54  53  103385 PRIDY Conrad  1988  CAN   2:42.37  60.46
 55  58  90131 GEORGIEV Georgi  1987  BUL   2:43.56  70.65
 56  57  380298 SIROKI Tin  1987  CRO   2:44.32  77.16
 57  59  430472 KLUSAK Michal  1990  POL   2:45.15  84.27
Did not start 1st run
   55  910004 DEFLORIAN Mirko  1980  MDA     
Did not finish 1st run
   52  103090 HELIE Louis-Pierre  1986  CAN   

Share This Article

About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”