Herbst takes Levi slalom win with second run surge

Reinfret Herbst won like a pro.

Herbst, a 31 year old Austrian veteran, posted a near perfect second run and moved up from fourth to first as the front runners crumbled in the opening slalom of the 2010 World Cup season at Levi, Finland Sunday (Nov. 15).

First run leader Andre Myhrer of Sweden wound up 11th while top seeded Frenchmen Julien Lizeroux faded from second to fifth and Jean-Baptiste Grange could only hold on to third. Taking second was Croatian Ivica Kostelic who climbed from the sixth position and gained his 29 career World Cup podium.

It was the sixth career win for Herbst, a slalom specialist who got his first win in Japan in 2006.

“I was a little bit lucky,” Herbst told reporters after negotiating a second course that was faster and tricker than the first. A gate setting at the top of Levi’s Black pitch caused numerous racers grief.

American Ted Ligety had sat seventh after the first run but was one who ran into difficulties in the second heat under the lights and sank to 18th. It was, he reported, “A kick in the ___.”

Bode Miller narrowly made the cut into the second run, then became a victim of the second course, failing to finish and finding himself bloodied for the effort.

Canadian Michael Janyk wound up leading the way for the North American group placing 14th, 1.67second off the pace of Herbst. Jimmy Cochran posted 19th for the only other U.S. finish while the Canadians also had Trevor White in 22nd and Julien Cousineau in 24th scoring points.

“Half of the top 30 had trouble at the top of the steeps in the second run,” said U.S. head technical coach Rudi Soulard. “And Ted (Ligety) was one of those guys. They were coming over the pitch with speed then getting kicked out and ending up below the next gate. From there it was tough for them to regain their rhythm.”

Soulard said Miller’s first run had been pretty experimental. “He was trying a lot of things but was still able to get a second run.”

Miller was cranking good in the second run, too, but got smacked in the face by a gate, swelling a lip and bloodying his nose. “He’s okay,” said Soulard, “His skiing is not where he needs to be yet, but he’s doing all the right things to get there.”

The 19th place finish for Jimmy Cochran should move him back into the top 30 for the slalom start list.

Though far from being excited by their results, the Canadians were reasonably pleased with three scoring placings.

“It felt good to say ‘okay, we’re back in it’,” said Janyk. “I had a great second run. I was just too far off after the first run to make up too many places. But it feels good to be racing again. It was a solid start. I think we are all expecting more, but there was a lot of strong skiing today.”

“Nothing to get too excited about,” said Canadian head men’s coach Paul Kristofec, “but a solid start.”

Herbst photo above by GEPA
Cochran photo below by GEPA

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s World Cup Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 15, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
2 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Hargin, Nordica/Nordica/
5 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
6 Myhre, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Rocca, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Pranger, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Gini, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Men’s Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 15, 2009. … It is the second of 34 races on the men’s World Cup schedule. … The first of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the tenth Cup race held at Levi. … The third for men. … The first Cup race at Levi was Feb. 28, 2004.

It is the sixth career World Cup victory for Reinfried Herbst, all of them coming in slalom. … He had two wins last season (Adelboden and Schladming) and two in 2008 (Garmisch and Bormio). … His first win was at Shigakogen, Japan in 2006. … He gets the first Austrian win of the season and second podium.

It is the 29th  career World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic. … His 23rd in slalom.

It is the 13th career World Cup podium for Jean-Baptiste Grange. … His tenth in slalom. … He won Levi Nov. 16, 2008.

Fourteenth marks the 20th best career result for Michael Janyk. … It is also his 20th best in slalom. … It is his second best result at Levi having placed seventh in 2006. … It is the 30th best slalom result for Ted Ligety, but it is his best result at Levi having placed 22nd last season. … It is the 16th best career result for Jimmy Cochran. … 12th best in slalom. … and second best at Levi after a 15th in 2006. … It is the third career scoring result for Trevor White, all in slalom and all since January of last season. … It is the tenth scoring result for Julien Cousineau’s career. … It was the first World Cup start for Nolan Kasper.

Kostelic takes the lead of the overall World Cup standings 102-100 over Herbst and Soelden GS winner Didier Cuche. … Grange is fourth at 96 and Ligety fifth at 83pts. …