Kitzbuehel: Defago wins the Hahnenkamm DH
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Swiss Didier Defago collected his second downhill win in a week adding the glory of the Hahnenkamm victory to his Lauberhorn win of Jan. 17.
Defago edged Austria Michael Walchhofer, the 2006 winner of Kitzbuehel’s famous downhill, by a scant .17 of a second. Yesterday’s super G winner, Klaus Kroell, gave the Austrian hosts two on the podium .29 of a second out.
Swiss Didier Cuche, last season’s race winner, tied with Bode Miller, last season’s runner up, for fourth, a half second back of Defago.
Two of the first four skiers down the track came to grief. American TJ Lanning flew upside down off the Hausberg jump and slammed hard into the safety nets. He was airlifted out as a precaution. Preliminary reports are he injured his right knee. Austrian Christoph Gruber also failed to finish.
When you’re hot, you’re hot. Swiss Didier Defago collected his second downhill win in a week adding the glory of the Hahnenkamm victory to his Lauberhorn win of Jan. 17.
Defago edged Austria Michael Walchhofer, the 2006 winner of Kitzbuehel’s famous downhill, by a scant .17 of a second. Yesterday’s super G winner, Klaus Kroell, gave the Austrian hosts two on the podium .29 of a second out.
Swiss Didier Cuche, last season’s race winner, tied with Bode Miller, last season’s runner up, for fourth, a half second back of Defago.
Defago told Reuters the win culminated “an incredible week.” He said he was barely recovered from winning at Wengen last weekend and that the training run crash of teammate Daniel Albrecht was emotionally draining. Albrecht remains hospitalized with a brain hemmorhage.
Defago said he had found it “liberating,” to ski in the super G Friday, and said that was the key to the downhill win.
“It was always my dream to win in Kitzbuehel,” he said. “I waited so long for my first downhill podium but I always believed it would come. To win twice in a row now is a dream.”
A fourth place finish for most racers would be acceptable, but Bode Miller is not most skiers. “We haven’t analyzed his run yet,” said coach Forest Carey. “He skied okay, there were no big mistakes, but it had no spark. His ankle is screwed. We used a new boot to protect the ankle, but they aren’t as good.”
Noting that Miller’s ski-all-events program is particularly punishing, Carey said, “That’s the downside.”
Still, Miller is just 35 points off the lead of the downhill standings and that goal, so far, is still in place. “We’ll know more after the slalom,” Carey said. “Slalom bothers it (the ankle) more than anything else, it effects the knee and then you get muscles shutting down. It has gotten better in the last week because we slacked off in training. If there’s trouble tomorrow we may have to back-off even more, and then something (in the schedule) may have to give. Right now, the downhill title and the World Championships are still targets.”
Two of the first four skiers down the track came to grief. American TJ Lanning flew upside down off the Hausberg jump and slammed hard into the safety nets. He was airlifted out as a precaution and preliminary reports indicated he damaged his right knee. Austrian Christoph Gruber also failed to finish.
Lanning teammate Erik Fisher was the second out of the gate and put up a stellar run, particularly for a course rookie. He held the lead, eventually got pushed down to 11th, the second best American on the day.
Fisher downplayed the result, saying “Hermann (Maier) only got me by four hundredths. … at Kitzbuehel. That’s pretty exciting.”
His coach, Sasha Rearick was a bit more impressed.
“You come down this hill and you want to overcome the fear because it is definitely intimidating,” said Rearick. “The first time here is about experience, it’s not about how fast you are really. For him to come down and perform that way, … He skied awesome. Top to bottom. He executed the plan. I could not be happier. … For him to execute the plan from top to bottom, no wild sections; tremendous, huge success.”
The biggest success of the day was Defago who now finds himself in lofty company. Stephen Eberharter was the last man to win both Wengen and Kitzbuehel, in 2002. Franz Heinzer the last Swiss to accomplish the feat in 1992.
The SCOOP
Equipment
Men’s downhill, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 24, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
2 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Kroell, Salomon/Nordica/Salomon
4 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
6 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Jerman, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
8 Thanei, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Poisson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Maier, Head/Head/Head
Men’s downhill, Kitzbuehel, Austria, Jan. 24, 2009. … It is the 69th running of the Hahnenkamm Downhill. … The second of four events this weekend. … It is the 22nd race of the men’s 2009 World Cup schedule. … The sixth of nine scheduled downhills. … It is the 130th World Cup race held at Kitzbuehel. … The 50th Cup downhill at the site.
It is the third career World Cup win for Didier Defago. … His second in DH and his second in DH in a week having won at Wengen Jan. 17. … It is the second straight season the Swiss have won Kitzbuehel’s DH with Didier Cuche winning last season. … Defago becomes the first to with Wengen and Kitzbuehel back to back since Stephen Eberharter in 2002.
It is the 38th career World Cup podium for Michael Walchhofer. … The 29th in DH. … It is his fourth podium of the season and third in DH. … He won Val Gardena earlier this season. … It is his sixth career Cup podium at Kitzbuehel having won the combined in 2003 and the downhill is 2006.
It is the sixth career World Cup podium for Klaus Kroell. … the fifth in DH. … and his second in two days having won the super G Jan.. 23. … It is his third podium of the season including a second at Bormio in DH Dec. 28.
It is the fifth top four of the season for Bode Miller, the fourth in DH. … He has been second twice and fourth twice in downhill this season. … It is his eighth career top four placing at Kitzbuehel. … He won the combined in 2004 and 2008. … He was second in last season’s DH. … It is the second best career placing for Erik Fisher and just his fourth career scoring result, all of them coming this season. … His one better result was seventh at Val Gardena in DH Dec. 20. … It is the eighth scoring race of the season for Erik Guay, his fifth in DH. … It is his third scoring result in a DH at Kitzbuehel. … He was fifth in the race in 2006. … It is the tenth scoring result of the season for John Kucera. … matching his sixth best of the season. … It was the seventh career scoring result for Andrew Weibrecht and sixth this season. … He has scored four times in the last five races. … It is the 37th career scoring result for Marco Sullivan. … His ninth of the season. … It is the eighth scoring result of the season for Manuel Osborne-Paradis. … His third career score at Kitzbuehel.
Benjamin Raich (12th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 660-610 over Aksel Svindal (19th in race). … Defago jumps into third place at 595. … Miller is the top American on the list in ninth with 445pts. … Walchhofer holds a slim lead over Defago for the downhill standings lead 310-298. … Miller is tied with Klaus Kroell for third at 275.
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 17 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:56.09 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 18 | 50041 | WALCHHOFER Michael | 1975 | AUT | 1:56.26 | 1.93 |
| 3 | 20 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:56.38 | 3.30 |
| 4 | 22 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 1:56.59 | 5.69 |
| 4 | 19 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 1:56.59 | 5.69 |
| 6 | 10 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:56.61 | 5.91 |
| 7 | 14 | 560332 | JERMAN Andrej | 1978 | SLO | 1:56.81 | 8.19 |
| 8 | 39 | 292291 | THANEI Stefan | 1981 | ITA | 1:56.85 | 8.64 |
| 9 | 30 | 191964 | POISSON David | 1982 | FRA | 1:56.99 | 10.23 |
| 10 | 7 | 50423 | MAIER Hermann | 1972 | AUT | 1:57.12 | 11.71 |
| 11 | 2 | 534939 | FISHER Erik | 1985 | USA | 1:57.16 | 12.17 |
| 12 | 32 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:57.21 | 12.73 |
| 12 | 11 | 350032 | BUECHEL Marco | 1971 | LIE | 1:57.21 | 12.73 |
| 14 | 8 | 510767 | HOFFMANN Ambrosi | 1977 | SUI | 1:57.26 | 13.30 |
| 15 | 9 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 1:57.33 | 14.10 |
| 16 | 34 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 1:57.63 | 17.51 |
| 17 | 26 | 500150 | JAERBYN Patrik | 1969 | SWE | 1:57.66 | 17.85 |
| 18 | 1 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:57.75 | 18.88 |
| 19 | 16 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:57.80 | 19.44 |
| 20 | 28 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:57.82 | 19.67 |
| 21 | 5 | 102873 | KUCERA John | 1984 | CAN | 1:57.83 | 19.78 |
| 22 | 47 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:57.87 | 20.24 |
| 23 | 44 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | 1:57.93 | 20.92 |
| 24 | 21 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 1:57.96 | 21.26 |
| 25 | 42 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:57.97 | 21.38 |
| 26 | 12 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 1:58.18 | 23.76 |
| 27 | 6 | 290998 | STAUDACHER Patrick | 1980 | ITA | 1:58.44 | 26.72 |
| 28 | 35 | 201606 | KEPPLER Stephan | 1983 | GER | 1:58.51 | 27.52 |
| 29 | 31 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:58.59 | 28.43 |
| 30 | 24 | 510747 | GRUENENFELDER Tobias | 1977 | SUI | 1:58.81 | 30.93 |
| 31 | 29 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 1:58.83 | 31.16 |
| 32 | 23 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:58.89 | 31.84 |
| 33 | 49 | 533842 | FRANCIS Kevin | 1982 | USA | 1:59.10 | 34.23 |
| 33 | 25 | 191591 | BERTRAND Yannick | 1980 | FRA | 1:59.10 | 34.23 |
| 35 | 37 | 50919 | STRUGER Peter | 1982 | AUT | 1:59.16 | 34.91 |
| 36 | 27 | 191116 | DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel | 1977 | FRA | 1:59.23 | 35.70 |
| 37 | 33 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:59.28 | 36.27 |
| 38 | 13 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:59.36 | 37.18 |
| 39 | 48 | 51327 | PUCHNER Joachim | 1987 | AUT | 1:59.46 | 38.32 |
| 40 | 38 | 192932 | FAYED Guillermo | 1985 | FRA | 1:59.49 | 38.66 |
| 41 | 50 | 560406 | GORZA Ales | 1980 | SLO | 2:00.03 | 44.80 |
| 42 | 51 | 292831 | PIERUZ Aronne | 1983 | ITA | 2:00.09 | 45.48 |
| 43 | 40 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | 2:00.12 | 45.82 |
| 44 | 46 | 561006 | GLEBOV Alek | 1983 | SLO | 2:00.36 | 48.55 |
| 45 | 41 | 533098 | FRIEDMAN Bryon | 1980 | USA | 2:02.01 | 67.31 |
| 46 | 52 | 480736 | HOROSHILOV Alexandr | 1984 | RUS | 2:02.32 | 70.84 |
Did not finish 1st run: LANNING T.J. (USA), MARSAGLIA Matteo (ITA), HEEL Werner (ITA), GRUBER Christoph (AUT), ALSTER Christoph (AUT), PENASA Massimo (ITA)
About the Author: Pete Rugh
