Hudec leads 1-3-5 Canadian showing in Chamonix

By Published On: February 4th, 2012Comments Off on Hudec leads 1-3-5 Canadian showing in Chamonix

Jan Hudec has had a mash unit worth of injuries in his time and suffered through last season with a bad back and a fractured hand, but his progress toward complete recovery appears to be over.

That was one special run Jan Hudec etched down Chamonix’s La Verte des Houches race track, Saturday (Feb 4) taking away a win from Austrian Romed Baumann and leading an all time great Canadian result. Erik Guay finished third and Benjamin Thomsen charged from the 50th start to finish fifth. The only better three man Canadian result was 18 years ago when Ed Podivinsky, Cary Mullen and Ralf Socher went 1-2-5 in a two run downhill at Saalbach.

“We only had three guys in the race,” said Hudec, “so for us to have three in the top five I think we blew everybody out of the water.”

He said the day was “the culmination of 10 years of up and down drama,” but said he hoped he could continue on the World Cup for another five or six years “if I can stay healthy.”

The Canadians found a fast line at the top of the course that seemed to provide an advantage. Hudec also had a pair of rocket-fast skis (Rossignol) and made a commitment to setting up for Chamonix’s long gliding section. He stunned the field – and perhaps himself – winning the second of two World Cup downhills by more than half a second. Friday’s race had seen five finishers within a tenth of a second of the winner.

The burly Canadian dropped to one knee in the finish as the realization washed over him. He had won his first downhill race since a similar upset at Lake Louise Nov. 24, 2007.

Baumann held on for second but had been looking to pick up his first World Cup downhill win. Getting fourth was Beat Feuz, the early season Swiss sensation, coming in fresh off reported root canal surgery.

After a narrow miss on Friday (.01) Bode Miller appeared to lack some patience in his Saturday effort. He was skiing dynamically but seemed to attack his daring line a little too aggressively then lacked the punch on the glide to seriously content. He finished eighth.

“Bode was pushing hard,” said US coach Sasha Rearick, “and just got caught up a couple of times then he flew pretty far on the bottom jump and lost a bunch of time.”

Erik Fisher posted 12th for the US and Travis Ganong scored in 27th. Wiley Maple crashed, lost a ski and slid into the fence. Rearick said he was fine and had gone to slalom training after the race.

Gepa image

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup Downhill, Chamonix, France, Feb. 4, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Hudec, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Guay, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Feuz, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Thomsen, Head/Head/Head
6 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Cuche, Head/Head/Head
8 Miller, Head/Head/Head
9 Clarey, Head/Head/Head
10 Sporn, Elan/Lange/Elan

Men’s World Cup downhill, Chamonix, France, Feb. 4, 2012. … It is the 26th race of the men’s 45 (now 44) race schedule. … the eighth of 11 downhills. … It is the 32nd World Cup hosted at least in part at Chamonix. … the 13th downhill.

It is the second career World Cup victory for Jan Hudec, the previous also in DH scored at Lake Louise Nov. 24, 2007. … It is just his third career Cup podium, the other a third place finish also coming early in the 2008 season. … It is the first Canadian win at Chamonix since Ken Read and Dave Murray went 1-2 in 1978.

It is the eighth career World Cup podium for Romed Baumann. … and his third in DH. … It is his second podium of the season, both second place finishes in DH, the other at Kitzbuehel. … He has also been fourth twice this season, both in DH.

It is the 17th career World Cup podium for Erik Guay. … his 11th in DH. … It is his first career Cup podium at Chamonix. … It is his second podium of the season after placing second last weekend at Garmisch. … and his seventh single digit placing. … It is the first double podium for Canada since Jan. 20, 2007 when Guay was second and Manuel Osborne-Paradis third.

North Americans: It is a career best World Cup result for Benjamin Thomsen. … His previous best had been 11th from the day before on the same course. … He was closer in time to the winner in 11th the previous day than in fifth in this race. … Canadians last had three finishers in the top five Nov. 29, 2009 at Lake Louise SG (Osborne-Paradis 1, Guay 4, Robbie Dixon 5). … Bode Miller matches his worst of eight finishes at Chamonix. … Erik Fisher places 12th for the second consecutive day, matching his third best career score. … It is the 11th career scoring result for Travis Ganong, his sixth of the season.

Standings: Ivica Kostelic (48th in race) leads the World Cup overall standings 905-825 over Marcel Hirscher (did not race). … Beat Feuz (fourth in race) is third with 733pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is sixth with 578 and Miller seventh with 562pts. … Didier Cuche (seventh in race) leads the Cup downhill standings 473-437 for Klaus Kroell (sixth in race). … Feuz is third with 368pts, Miller fourth with 333pts and Guay sixth with 310. … Hudec moves into ninth with 242pts. … Austria leads the mens’ Nations Cup 4336-2665 for Switzerland. … Italy is third with 2216pts. … The US is fifth with 1573pts and Canada sixth with 1124pts.

Chamonix (FRA)

FIS World Cup
Men’s Downhill

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  24  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   2:03.25  0.00
 2  21  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   2:03.78  5.72
 3  20  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   2:03.88  6.80
 4  17  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   2:04.00  8.09
 5  50  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   2:04.28  11.11
 6  19  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   2:04.33  11.65
 7  16  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   2:04.36  11.98
 8  22  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   2:04.44  12.84
 9  15  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   2:04.49  13.38
 10  8  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   2:04.53  13.81
 11  10  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   2:04.56  14.14
 12  34  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   2:04.68  15.43
 13  3  511529 GISIN Marc  1988  SUI   2:04.74  16.08
 14  13  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   2:04.78  16.51
 15  29  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   2:04.85  17.27
 16  14  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   2:04.86  17.37
 17  6  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   2:04.88  17.59
 18  35  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   2:04.96  18.45
 19  2  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   2:05.00  18.88
 20  18  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   2:05.18  20.83
 21  23  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   2:05.20  21.04
 22  26  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   2:05.27  21.80
 23  45  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   2:05.33  22.45
 24  4  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   2:05.34  22.55
 25  11  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   2:05.36  22.77
 26  52  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   2:05.41  23.31
 27  28  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   2:05.75  26.98
 28  5  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   2:05.76  27.09
 29  30  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   2:05.80  27.52
 30  41  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   2:05.81  27.63
 31  1  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   2:05.84  27.95
 32  42  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   2:05.86  28.16
 33  40  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   2:05.87  28.27
 34  9  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   2:05.94  29.03
 35  7  51005 SCHEIBER Mario  1983  AUT   2:05.97  29.35
 36  36  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   2:05.99  29.57
 37  51  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   2:06.00  29.68
 38  25  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   2:06.01  29.78
 39  39  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   2:06.19  31.73
 40  54  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   2:06.21  31.94
 41  48  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   2:06.23  32.16
 42  33  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   2:06.31  33.02
 43  49  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   2:06.47  34.75
 44  27  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   2:06.49  34.96
 45  55  194190 ROGER Brice  1990  FRA   2:06.61  36.26
 46  46  561087 MARKIC Gasper  1986  SLO   2:06.63  36.47
 46  44  990081 CASSE Mattia  1990  ITA   2:06.63  36.47
 48  31  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   2:06.79  38.20
 49  53  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   2:07.20  42.62
 50  58  400281 HEEK, VAN Marvin  1991  NED   2:07.22  42.84
 51  37  53837 KRAMER Manuel  1989  AUT   2:07.34  44.14
 52  38  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   2:07.41  44.89
 53  47  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   2:07.71  48.13
 54  61  660021 DANILOCHKIN Yuri  1991  BLR   2:08.20  53.42
 55  59  220874 BALDWIN TJ  1990  GBR   2:08.73  59.14
 56  62  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZE   2:09.44  66.80
 57  60  92570 GEORGIEV Svetoslav  1991  BUL   2:10.24  75.43
 58  64  430472 KLUSAK Michal  1990  POL   2:11.58  89.89
Did not finish 1st run
   63  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG     
   57  380298 SIROKI Tin  1987  CRO     
   56  20267 ESTEVE Kevin  1989  AND     
   43  930024 MAPLE Wiley  1990  USA     
   32  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT     
   12  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   

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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.”