Carlo Janka wins tricky Jeongseon super G

By Published On: February 7th, 2016Comments Off on Carlo Janka wins tricky Jeongseon super G

It was another picturesque day in the mountains of Jeongseon, South Korea, as the Olympic super G test event took place on Sunday. Grippy snow, blue skies, cold air, and a challenging course set by Italian coach Alberto Ghidoni made for exciting racing action as Switzerland’s Carlo Janka took his first World Cup victory in over a year with a total time of 1:26.16 seconds. A distant second, 0.82 seconds back, was Italy’s Christof Innerhofer, with Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr rounding out the podium in third, 1.06 seconds off the pace.

Janka, who at 29 years old had never before won a World Cup super G, ran early wearing bib 7. The first group of starters were still figuring out the intricacies of the course set with its numerous jumps and blind turns. Janka utilized his big frame to ski fluidly and composed – especially through the tricky second and third intervals – and crossed the line with an enormous lead. However, with all of the top-ranked skiers yet to come and many of the athletes before him having trouble, it was unclear whether Janka had laid down a winning time.

Racer after racer slowly chipped away at Janka’s lead, but in the end, only Innerhofer managed to come within a second of Janka’s winning run.

“It was not an easy super G today. I took some risk and everything worked out,” Janka said. “The course had some difficult things in it, some jumps and some waves, but I took that risk and everything worked. That was the key today for me.”

Innerhofer, who was somewhat critical of the downhill during the training runs, clarified his remarks and said his criticisms were more directed towards very specific aspects of the downhill course, and not the hill as a whole. He also added that he always thought the Jeongseon venue was perfect for super G. Finding his first podium of the season may have further persuaded him to appreciate the hill.

“Everyone knows that super G is different than downhill, and we saw in inspection that it will not be an easy super G, especially on the first part,” explained Innerhofer. “I looked at Carlo on the TV and said, ‘Oh, those are good lines,’ so I tried to do the same. I had a good feeling in the middle of the run. My feeling was good and it wasn’t bad skiing and when I crossed the finish line and saw the second place I had a really big smile.”

Kriechmayr’s third place is the young Austrian’s second career World Cup podium, which bodes well in the future for an Austrian speed team that has been literally torn apart by injuries this season. After Saturday’s downhill where the 24 year old finished a disappointing 29th, he was eager to show his real speed in Sunday’s super G.

“I’m always faster in super G than in downhill and am really proud about the result today,” said Kriechmayr. “I was really fast in the last super Gs, but I’d always make a little mistake and today I didn’t make a mistake, so it’s third place today. I always like tricky and difficult courses, and today it was like this. The waves are not easy and the jumps, all together it was a really hard and difficult race. I’m always smiling when I see something like this.”

A young Frenchman also made a notable move on the day. Blaise Giezendanner in bib 39 cracked the top 10 for the first time in his career, scoring his first World Cup super G points in the process after finished eighth. The 2014 World University Games super G champion in Passo San Pellegrino has certainly found his stride on the World Cup stage. His previous best result on tour was 20th in the Santa Caterina downhill this past December.

It was a challenging day for the Americans, as Andrew Weibrecht fell victim to a tricky piece of terrain in the middle section of the course. Leading the way for the Stars and Stripes was Tommy Biesemeyer in 21st, followed closely by yesterday’s third-place finisher Steven Nyman in 22nd. Wiley Maple found the points once more and finished 24th, and Jared Goldberg rounded out the American scorers in 27th.

“It was OK,” said a disappointed Biesemeyer. “My performance was OK. I’m not really that proud of my skiing and that’s what I’m thinking about the most from today. I’m looking towards the next race.”

The men’s tour now heads to Yukawa Naeba, Japan, for slalom and GS races Feb. 13-14.

Stay current on the World Cup circuit by downloading the U.S. Ski Team iOS app powered by Ski Racing here.


The Scoop
By Hank McKee

  1. Janka, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  2. Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
  3. Kriechmayr, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  4. Kilde, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  5. Fill, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  6. Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  7. Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  8. Giezendanner, Head/Head/Head
  9. Reichelt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  10. Sander, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  • Men’s World Cup super G, Jeongseon, Korea, Feb. 6, 2016. … An Olympic course test. … And the 27th race of a 43 race men’s World Cup schedule. … The fifth of eight scheduled super Gs.
  • It is the 11th career World Cup win for Carlo Janka, but his first in super G. … It is his first win of the season. The winning margin is 0.82 of a second. … Top two are within the same second. … Top 20 within two seconds.
  • It is the 13th career World Cup podium for Christof Innerhofer … his fourth in super G. … It is his first podium of the season.
  • It is the second career World Cup podium for Vincent  Kriechmayr, the first coming March 8, 2015 at Kvitfjell, also in super G. … His best previous finish this season had been sixth in downhill at Santa Caterina Dec. 29.
  • It is the fourth best SG result of the season for Erik Guay. … It is the third best career finish for Thomas Biesemeyer, all in super G. … It is his second finish and second best finish of the season having previously finished 11th in the Beaver Creek SG Dec. 5. … It is the ninth best career SG result for Steven Nyman. … and his best SG finish of the season. … It is the career best World Cup SG finish for Wiley Maple … his third score of the season.
  • Marcel Hirscher (seventh in race) leads the World Cup overall standing 1005-916 over Aksel Lund Svindal (did not race – injured). … Henrik Kristoffersen is third overall with 817pts.
  • Svindal maintains the lead of the super G standings 310-190 over Andrew Weibrecht  (DNF in race). … Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is third with 185pts.
  • Austria leds the men’s Nations Cup 3655-3246 over Norway. … France is third with 2998 pts. … The U.S. is fifth at 1582pts and Canada ninth at 452pts.

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  7  511313 JANKA Carlo 1986 SUI  1:26.16  0.00
 2  14  293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA  1:26.98  +0.82  10.28
 3  17  53980 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 1991 AUT  1:27.22  +1.06  13.29
 4  19  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt 1992 NOR  1:27.37  +1.21  15.17
 5  13  292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA  1:27.42  +1.26  15.79
 6  15  51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT  1:27.46  +1.30  16.30
 7  12  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  1:27.48  +1.32  16.55
 8  39  194298 GIEZENDANNER Blaise 1991 FRA  1:27.56  +1.40  17.55
 9  16  50742 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT  1:27.60  +1.44  18.05
 10  26  200379 SANDER Andreas 1989 GER  1:27.65  +1.49  18.68
 11  29  561216 KLINE Bostjan 1991 SLO  1:27.67  +1.51  18.93
 12  44  194542 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 1992 FRA  1:27.78  +1.62  20.31
 13  11  990081 CASSE Mattia 1990 ITA  1:27.82  +1.66  20.81
 14  32  202196 BRANDNER Klaus 1990 GER  1:27.95  +1.79  22.44
 14  27  511981 WEBER Ralph 1993 SUI  1:27.95  +1.79  22.44
 16  22  192746 THEAUX Adrien 1984 FRA  1:28.02  +1.86  23.31
 17  10  102263 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN  1:28.04  +1.88  23.57
 18  23  561217 KOSI Klemen 1991 SLO  1:28.08  +1.92  24.07
 19  2  511638 TUMLER Thomas 1989 SUI  1:28.09  +1.93  24.19
 20  1  511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI  1:28.11  +1.95  24.44
 21  25  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas 1989 USA  1:28.49  +2.33  29.21
 22  4  533866 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA  1:28.50  +2.34  29.33
 23  5  53933 SCHWEIGER Patrick 1990 AUT  1:28.57  +2.41  30.21
 24  34  930024 MAPLE Wiley 1990 USA  1:28.59  +2.43  30.46
 25  37  511529 GISIN Marc 1988 SUI  1:28.60  +2.44  30.58
 26  36  380292 ZRNCIC DIM Natko 1986 CRO  1:28.69  +2.53  31.71
 27  30  934643 GOLDBERG Jared 1991 USA  1:28.74  +2.58  32.34
 28  35  180570 ROMAR Andreas 1989 FIN  1:28.77  +2.61  32.72
 29  41  561255 CATER Martin 1992 SLO  1:28.79  +2.63  32.97
 30  48  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca 1990 ITA  1:28.85  +2.69  33.72
 31  28  102899 OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN  1:29.05  +2.89  36.23
 32  43  560447 SPORN Andrej 1981 SLO  1:29.06  +2.90  36.35
 33  42  50753 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT  1:29.23  +3.07  38.48
 34  31  6290985 BUZZI Emanuele 1994 ITA  1:29.27  +3.11  38.98
 35  38  202535 DRESSEN Thomas 1993 GER  1:29.30  +3.14  39.36
 36  49  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin 1987 CAN  1:29.35  +3.19  39.99
 37  47  533131 SULLIVAN Marco 1980 USA  1:29.63  +3.47  43.50
 38  45  292514 HEEL Werner 1982 ITA  1:29.76  +3.60  45.13
 39  50  303758 SUGAI Ryo 1991 JPN  1:30.41  +4.25  53.27
 40  52  370022 JENOT Olivier 1988 MON  1:30.96  +4.80  60.17
 41  46  511847 MANI Nils 1992 SUI  1:31.23  +5.07  63.55
 42  54  320290 KIM Hyeon-tae 1990 KOR  1:33.33  +7.17  89.87
Did not start 1st run
 3  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas 1984 FRA
Did not finish 1st run
 53  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
 51  110324 VON APPEN Henrik 1994 CHI
 40  194167 MUZATON Maxence 1990 FRA
 33  103512 FRISCH Jeffrey 1984 CAN
 24  192932 FAYED Guillermo 1985 FRA
 21  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew 1986 USA
 20  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR
 18  291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA
 9  54005 STRIEDINGER Otmar 1991 AUT
 8  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA
 6  191740 CLAREY Johan 1981 FRA

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.