Hirscher wins Kranjka Gora, Ligety third
Marcel Hirscher, at 20, isn’t old enough to buy a drink in a U.S. city, but that was a man’s run he put down Saturday (Jan. 30) to come from well behind, overtake the leaders and win the Kranjska Gora GS.
Fifth after the first run and nearly a half second back, Hirscher skied what he said may have been his best run ever, fighting and holding every turn down the steeps of Podkoren number three cleanly carving his way to a .45 of a second win. Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud and America’s Ted Ligety got second and third respectively, but there was no denying Hirscher who took the second run handily.
He said even with that run, “maybe the best I have ever had,” the wait for the last four skiers, Ligety, Carlo Janka, Massimiliano Blardone and Jansrud made the Austrian junior triple World Junior Champion nervous.
“I knew that I was very good,” he said, “but the last three guys I thought, ‘Oh my God, all of these guys can ski fast’.”
The hill at Kranjska Gora can bring out the best in a good GS skier. Hirscher’s first Cup podium came here in 2008 and he added a second place yesterday in a race that had the same three men on the podium, though in different order. He added his second career win and second of the season
Ligety didn’t put in as good a first run as he did when he won the make-up GS from Adelboden, held Friday, but he had a very strong second run and still couldn’t come close to Hirscher. First run leader Jansrud was further back, with the ninth fastest second run, but had enough left over to hold up for second.
“I was pretty happy with the way I skied,” Ligety told reporters, “but Hirscher just killed the bottom part of the course.”
Ligety said it appeared to him many of the racers were tired at the bottom of the course. “I think a lot of guys lost a lot of time there,” he said. “Marcel took a lot of risk. I made a couple of small bobbles. That bottom is tough and you need to be willing to take risks there to be super fast. Marcel did that.”
Ligety’s result was enough to hold the lead of the giant slalom standings he had claimed for the first time Friday while Hirscher moved into third place, three points behind Massimiliano Blardone, the fourth place finisher on the day. Ligety’s lead is 43 points.
“That’s a healthy lead, but not a safe lead by any means,” said Ligety. “I’m definitely psyched to still have the red (leaders) bib but it’s far from over.”
Tim Jitloff was the only other U.S. finisher in 29th place, with a mistake ladened second run. Fritz Dopfer, an Austrian now skiing for Germany, had the second fastest second run, finishing 17th overall. The Italians made a strong push, putting three skiers, Blardone, Davide Simoncelli and Alexander Ploner, in the top seven while overall standings leaders Benjamin Raich and Carlo Janka finished in sixth and eighth places respectively.
American Bode Miller skipped the Kranjska Gora stop which continues with a Sunday slalom.
Hirscher photos by GEPA
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men’s giant slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Jan. 30, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Jansrud, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Blardone, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Simoncelli, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Ploner, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Richard, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Schoerghofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
Men’s giant slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Jan. 30, 2010. … It is the 27th race of the men’s 35 race 2010 World Cup schedule. … It is the sixth of seven scheduled giant slaloms. … It is the 69th Cup race set at Kransjka Gora, the 60th for men. … It is the 34th GS, 31st for men at the site.
It is the second career Cup win for Marcel Hirscher and second of the season the previous also in GS at Val d’Isere Dec. 13. … He has Cup podiums in slalom and combined as well. … It is his third podium at Kranjska Gora. … and second of the season.
It is a career best result and the third career Cup podium for Kjetil Jansrud and second in two days. … He has six top 10 finishes among his 13 scoring results this season. … He and Aksel Lund Svindal are the only Norwegians to tally a World Cup podium result this season.
It is the 20th career World Cup podium for Ted Ligety, his fourth of the season and second in two days. … It is his fifth podium at Kranjska Gora.
It is the seventh career scoring result for Tim Jitloff. … His third of the season. … and second in two days.
Benjamin Raich (6th in race) leads the World Cup overall standings 1283-1151 over Carlo Janka (8th in race). … Didier Cuche (did not race) is third overall with1104pts. … Ligety is the top American on the overall list in sixth with 787. … Manuel Osborne-Paradis (did not race) is the top Canadian in 16th with 477pts. … Ligety holds the lead of the GS standings 352-309 over Massimiliano Blardone (4th in race). … Hirscher moves to third at 306pts. … Jean-Philippe Roy holds the top Canadian placing on the GS list in 26th with 42pts.
61pts.
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| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 5 | 53831 | HIRSCHER Marcel | 1989 | AUT | 1:18.39 | 1:12.91 | 2:31.30 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 2 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:17.92 | 1:13.83 | 2:31.75 | 2.62 |
| 3 | 3 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:18.29 | 1:13.59 | 2:31.88 | 3.37 |
| 4 | 1 | 292000 | BLARDONE Massimiliano | 1979 | ITA | 1:18.03 | 1:14.13 | 2:32.16 | 5.00 |
| 5 | 13 | 292120 | SIMONCELLI Davide | 1979 | ITA | 1:19.02 | 1:13.37 | 2:32.39 | 6.34 |
| 6 | 6 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:18.91 | 1:13.62 | 2:32.53 | 7.15 |
| 7 | 9 | 290693 | PLONER Alexander | 1978 | ITA | 1:18.65 | 1:14.07 | 2:32.72 | 8.26 |
| 8 | 4 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:18.27 | 1:14.63 | 2:32.90 | 9.31 |
| 9 | 10 | 191423 | RICHARD Cyprien | 1979 | FRA | 1:19.01 | 1:14.05 | 2:33.06 | 10.24 |
| 10 | 11 | 51007 | SCHOERGHOFER Philipp | 1983 | AUT | 1:19.66 | 1:13.60 | 2:33.26 | 11.40 |
| 11 | 7 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:18.98 | 1:14.29 | 2:33.27 | 11.46 |
| 12 | 15 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 1:18.90 | 1:14.55 | 2:33.45 | 12.50 |
| 13 | 16 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:19.40 | 1:14.15 | 2:33.55 | 13.09 |
| 14 | 30 | 51159 | NOESIG Christoph | 1985 | AUT | 1:19.63 | 1:13.96 | 2:33.59 | 13.32 |
| 15 | 26 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | 1:19.77 | 1:13.89 | 2:33.66 | 13.73 |
| 16 | 8 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:19.41 | 1:14.51 | 2:33.92 | 15.24 |
| 17 | 52 | 202462 | DOPFER Fritz | 1987 | GER | 1:20.75 | 1:13.25 | 2:34.00 | 15.70 |
| 18 | 24 | 420148 | KARLSEN Truls Ove | 1975 | NOR | 1:20.71 | 1:13.68 | 2:34.39 | 17.97 |
| 19 | 23 | 511352 | VILETTA Sandro | 1986 | SUI | 1:19.96 | 1:14.59 | 2:34.55 | 18.90 |
| 20 | 14 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | 1:20.24 | 1:14.38 | 2:34.62 | 19.31 |
| 21 | 20 | 192506 | MISSILLIER Steve | 1984 | FRA | 1:20.40 | 1:14.28 | 2:34.68 | 19.66 |
| 22 | 36 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | 1:20.99 | 1:13.90 | 2:34.89 | 20.88 |
| 23 | 33 | 53853 | SIEBER Bjoern | 1989 | AUT | 1:21.15 | 1:13.79 | 2:34.94 | 21.17 |
| 24 | 27 | 292056 | GUFLER Michael | 1979 | ITA | 1:20.20 | 1:14.92 | 2:35.12 | 22.22 |
| 25 | 31 | 292967 | EISATH Florian | 1984 | ITA | 1:20.04 | 1:15.52 | 2:35.56 | 24.78 |
| 26 | 19 | 292250 | SCHIEPPATI Alberto | 1981 | ITA | 1:21.00 | 1:15.09 | 2:36.09 | 27.86 |
| 27 | 34 | 290896 | HELL Wolfgang | 1980 | ITA | 1:21.08 | 1:15.03 | 2:36.11 | 27.98 |
| 28 | 21 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 1:21.14 | 1:15.16 | 2:36.30 | 29.08 |
| 29 | 29 | 534959 | JITLOFF Tim | 1985 | USA | 1:20.54 | 1:16.46 | 2:37.00 | 33.15 |
| Did not start 1st run | |||||||||
| 39 | 533397 | ZAMANSKY Jake | 1981 | USA | |||||
| 18 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | |||||
| Did not qualify 1st run | |||||||||
| 72 | 460040 | NAN Ioan-Gabriel | 1980 | ROU | |||||
| 71 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | |||||
| 70 | 90047 | GEORGIEV Stefan | 1977 | BUL | |||||
| 69 | 410270 | CAFE Tim | 1987 | NZE | |||||
| 66 | 561161 | JAZBEC Patrick | 1989 | SLO | |||||
| 65 | 102456 | BIGGS Patrick | 1982 | CAN | |||||
| 64 | 511383 | FEUZ Beat | 1987 | SUI | |||||
| 62 | 302982 | OHKOSHI Ryunosuke | 1988 | JPN | |||||
| 59 | 561117 | KUERNER Miha | 1987 | SLO | |||||
| 58 | 193967 | MUFFAT JEANDET Victor | 1989 | FRA | |||||
| 56 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | |||||
| 55 | 532188 | SPENCER Dane | 1977 | USA | |||||
| 54 | 51050 | BRENNER Hannes | 1984 | AUT | |||||
| 47 | 193986 | PLACE Francois | 1989 | FRA | |||||
| 46 | 191778 | PICHOT Sebastien | 1981 | FRA | |||||
| 45 | 534038 | NICKERSON Warner | 1981 | USA | |||||
| 42 | 192943 | OBERT Anthony | 1985 | FRA | |||||
| 41 | 201702 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | |||||
| 38 | 290910 | LONGHI Omar | 1980 | ITA | |||||
| 35 | 103512 | FRISCH Jeffrey | 1984 | CAN | |||||
| 32 | 180292 | LEINO Jukka | 1978 | FIN | |||||
| 28 | 421669 | HAUGEN Leif Kristian | 1987 | NOR | |||||
| 22 | 191746 | DE TESSIERES Gauthier | 1981 | FRA | |||||
| Did not finish 2nd run | |||||||||
| 25 | 192504 | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1984 | FRA | |||||
| Did not finish 1st run | |||||||||
| 68 | 561085 | KRIZAJ Andrej | 1986 | SLO | |||||
| 67 | 303097 | ISHII Tomoya | 1989 | JPN | |||||
| 63 | 410266 | GRIFFIN Benjamin | 1986 | NZE | |||||
| 61 | 561148 | SKUBE Matic | 1988 | SLO | |||||
| 60 | 491151 | DE LA CUESTA Paul | 1988 | SPA | |||||
| 57 | 150495 | VRABLIK Martin | 1982 | CZE | |||||
| 53 | 180570 | ROMAR Andreas | 1989 | FIN | |||||
| 51 | 294348 | PERAUDO Adam | 1987 | ITA | |||||
| 50 | 560406 | GORZA Ales | 1980 | SLO | |||||
| 49 | 531799 | FORD Tommy | 1989 | USA | |||||
| 48 | 561032 | JAZBEC Janez | 1984 | SLO | |||||
| 44 | 51258 | ZACH Michael | 1986 | AUT | |||||
| 43 | 421650 | BJERKESTRAND Iver | 1987 | NOR | |||||
| 40 | 102912 | SPENCE Brad | 1984 | CAN | |||||
| 37 | 501324 | OLSSON Matts | 1988 | SWE | |||||
| 17 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | |||||
| 12 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | |||||
About the Author: Hank McKee
