Hirscher gets 1st World Cup slalom win

By Published On: December 12th, 2010Comments Off on Hirscher gets 1st World Cup slalom win

Austria’s slalom specialists exited early in the World Cup test at Val d’Isere today (Dec. 12) and still the Red and White took the top two spots with Marcel Hirscher in first and Benjamin Raich second. Third went to Frenchman Steve Missillier with an all-out second run attack that moved him from 25th (and 1.8 second out) after the first heat.

Our neighbors to the North had Julien Cousineau in fifth and Trevor White 12th, a  potent showing that might have been much better as Michael Janyk, Brad Spence and Patrick Biggs all skied off course in the second run.

It was not the best of days for the U.S. squad. Ted Ligety had finished the first run in the top 15, but ran into a world of hurt in the second, finishing more than 35 seconds off the pace.

Will Brandenburg was the top American after run one in 12th, but could not keep the pace through the second run and exited.

For the young Hirscher (21) it was his first slalom win after two second places. After letting yesterday’s GS get away with a major error on the last pitch, he was determined to maintain in the slalom, skiing possessed.

With three Austrians exiting in the first run – Manfred Pranger, Mario Matt and Reinfried Herbst – and other favored skiers Jean-Baptiste Grange, Olympic champ Giuliano Razzoli and Bode Miller following suit, and with Manfred Moelgg leading after one, it was a difficult test for Hirscher. He never blinked.

“It is a very steep hill with a lot of rolls so you have to ski very technically,” Hirscher told Austrian reporters.  “This is my best weapon in skiing. I took a rounder line because the snow was very bumpy. That was the plan and I followed it up.”

Perhaps the best skiing of the day was that of Missillier. Celebrating his 26th birthday he was more than a second faster than Hirscher in the second run saying that since it was impossible not to make some mistakes, he reasoned it was best to challenge the track and take as many risks as possible.

While the U.S. group wound up with zip for the day, the coach remained optimistic. “I was pleased with Willie, he was right in there, he just straddled is all – both guys straddled,” said Sasha Rearick.”It wasn’t easy at all. The first course took a lot of top guys out.”

Ted and Willie skied tactically smart. I was pleased with their skiing.”

Cousineau was pleased, but left wanting more. “I would have loved a podium,” he said. “I just tried to charge as hard as I could, but came out on the wrong side. It’s coming though, I know it. I’ve been fighting my way back for the last four years and now I’m where I want to be and where I think I should be. But I want more, so we’ll see.”

White, too, said his placing was “a good result. Val d’Isere is such a tough hill. It’s steep, it’s dark and relentless. It was really hard to charge today so I just tried to ski solid. There were a lot of casualties. … Unfortunately some of our guys were some of the casualties.”

The men have a GS at Alta Badia, Italy next on the schedule Friday then slip into Val Gardena Saturday and Sunday for a downhill and super G.

Gepa photo

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee
Men’sWorld Cup slalom, Val d’Isere, France, Dec. 12, 2010. … It is the ninth race on the men’s 38 race 2010-2011 World Cup schedule with a cancellation (Soelden GS) and a postponement (Beaver Creek DH) on the books. … It is the seventh race held. … It is the second of 10 scheduled slaloms. … It is the 154th Cup race held at least at Val d’Isere (including six combineds held in part at other sites). … the seventh slalom held at Val d’Isere and the second men’s slalom, the other won by Tomas Fogdoe Dec. 6, 1992.

It is the third career World Cup win for Marcel Hirscher, the first in slalom. … It is his fourth Cup podium at Val d’Isere. … It is his second podium of the season having placed third in the Beaver Creek GS.

It is the 87th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … his 39th in slalom. … It is his fourth Cup podium at Val d’Isere and first in slalom. … It is his first podium of the season.

It is the first career World Cup podium for Steve Missillier. … his previous best had been fifth in GS at Kranjska Gora Feb. 28, 2009. … His best result last season was eighth.

Julien Cousineau matches his career best result from the Jan. 26, 2010 night slalom at Schladming. … It is the second best career placing for Trevor White, his only better at eighth in slalom at Kitzbuehel Jan. 25, 2009. … Ted Ligety in 25th will receive no points for his finish due to the percent of time behind the winner he finished.

Aksel Lund Svindal (did not race) maintains his lead on the World Cup overall list 236-221 over Ligety. … Hirscher moves to third with 200pts. … Hirscher and Jean-Baptiste Grange (DNF 1st in race) share the lead of the slalom standings with 100pts each. … Silvan Zurbriggen (4th in race) is third with 90pts. … Cousineau is the top North American in seventh with 77pts. … Ligety is top U.S. skier in 30th with 13pts.

Austria stretches its lead in the men’s Nations Cup standings to 1294-880 over Switzerland. … France is third at 568. … The US is sixth with 311pts and Canada seventh with 298pts.

Cousineau photo by Gepa

Place   Val
d Isere
(FRA)
  Discipline   Slalom
Date   12.12.2010   Category   FIS World Cup
Race codex   0471   Gender   M
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Malsiner Markus (ITA)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  12  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   51.64  53.06  1:44.70  0.00
 2  3  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   51.57  53.44  1:45.01  1.81
 3  18  192506 MISSILLIER Steve  1984  FRA   53.24  52.02  1:45.26  3.26
 4  1  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   51.49  53.96  1:45.45  4.37
 5  14  102239 COUSINEAU Julien  1981  CAN   51.79  54.04  1:45.83  6.58
 6  10  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER   51.94  54.07  1:46.01  7.63
 7  29  150398 BANK Ondrej  1980  CZE   52.91  53.16  1:46.07  7.98
 8  52  511896 MURISIER Justin  1992  SUI   53.35  52.79  1:46.14  8.39
 9  11  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   51.44  54.73  1:46.17  8.56
 10  34  50824 DREIER Christoph  1981  AUT   52.86  53.39  1:46.25  9.03
 11  19  511127 GINI Marc  1984  SUI   53.00  53.28  1:46.28  9.21
 12  41  102922 WHITE Trevor  1984  CAN   52.99  53.50  1:46.49  10.43
 13  42  511174 VOGEL Markus  1984  SUI   53.36  53.49  1:46.85  12.53
 14  36  501101 BYGGMARK Jens  1985  SWE   52.63  54.46  1:47.09  13.92
 15  20  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   52.54  54.56  1:47.10  13.98
 16  49  290732 THALER Patrick  1978  ITA   52.98  54.30  1:47.28  15.03
 17  32  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   52.76  54.59  1:47.35  15.44
 18  5  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   52.13  55.59  1:47.72  17.60
 19  28  501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton  1985  SWE   53.60  54.59  1:48.19  20.33
 20  26  500656 LARSSON Markus  1979  SWE   52.80  55.64  1:48.44  21.79
 21  27  301709 YUASA Naoki  1983  JPN   53.13  57.63  1:50.76  35.31
 22  7  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   52.03  59.18  1:51.21  37.93
 23  39  180251 PALANDER Kalle  1977  FIN   53.53  58.16  1:51.69  40.72
 24  47  50981 HOERL Wolfgang  1983  AUT   53.01  1:05.73  1:58.74  81.80
 25  16  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   52.70  1:28.44  2:21.14  212.31
Disqualified 1st run
   37  561148 SKUBE Matic  1988  SLO         
   4  191459 LIZEROUX Julien  1979  FRA         
Did not qualify 1st run
   74  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG         
   69  480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander  1984  RUS         
   68  700830 ZAMPA Adam  1990  SVK         
   67  220083 BAXTER Noel  1981  GBR         
   65  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO         
   60  150495 VRABLIK Martin  1982  CZE         
   58  193967 MUFFAT JEANDET Victor  1989  FRA         
   57  202462 DOPFER Fritz  1987  GER         
   55  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian  1987  NOR         
   54  532138 KASPER Nolan  1989  USA         
   53  250127 BJORGVINSSON Bjorgvin  1980  ISL         
   51  50931 BECHTER Patrick  1982  AUT         
   50  293797 GROSS Stefano  1986  ITA         
   48  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZE         
   46  150594 TREJBAL Filip  1985  CZE         
   44  193347 TISSOT Maxime  1986  FRA         
   40  192943 OBERT Anthony  1985  FRA         
   33  534508 CHODOUNSKY David  1984  USA         
   23  501223 BAECK Axel  1987  SWE         
   22  910000 IMBODEN Urs  1975  MDA         
Did not finish 2nd run
   45  102456 BIGGS Patrick  1982  CAN         
   35  530165 BRANDENBURG Will  1987  USA         
   25  102912 SPENCE Brad  1984  CAN         
   21  291145 DEVILLE Cristian  1981  ITA         
   8  102435 JANYK Michael  1982  CAN         
Did not finish 1st run
   75  561117 KUERNER Miha  1987  SLO         
   73  180534 SANDELL Marcus  1987  FIN         
   72  291034 PLANK Andy  1989  ITA         
   71  501401 SAXVALL Per  1989  SWE         
   70  930107 GREGORAK Will  1990  USA         
   66  990048 BORSOTTI Giovanni  1990  ITA         
   64  380290 SAMSAL Dalibor  1985  CRO         
   63  193986 PLACE Francois  1989  FRA         
   62  560371 DRAGSIC Mitja  1979  SLO         
   61  560425 VAJDIC Bernard  1980  SLO         
   59  500909 ANDERSSON Oscar  1982  SWE         
   56  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis  1991  FRA         
   43  51395 DIGRUBER Marc  1988  AUT         
   38  102727 STUTZ Paul  1983  CAN         
   31  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA         
   30  50707 MATT Mario  1979  AUT         
   24  301312 SASAKI Akira  1981  JPN         
   17  560355 VALENCIC Mitja  1978  SLO         
   15  501111 HARGIN Mattias  1985  SWE         
   13  50624 PRANGER Manfred  1978  AUT         
   9  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano  1984  ITA         
   6  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  1984  FRA         
   2  50605 HERBST Reinfried  1978  AUT       

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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.”