Kristoffersen powers to another slalom win in Adelboden

By Published On: January 8th, 2017Comments Off on Kristoffersen powers to another slalom win in Adelboden

ADELBODEN, Switzerland — The race weekend in Adelboden, Switzerland, wrapped up on Sunday as Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen took his second slalom win in a row at the venue with a combined time of 1:54.87 seconds. Italy’s Manfred Moelgg continued his strong slalom skiing this season, landing in second place, albeit a massive 1.83 seconds behind the Norwegian. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher fought his way to a third-place finish, 2.19 seconds off the pace.

About 15 centimeters of fresh snow fell overnight, and course crews scrambled to clear the track in time for the first run start. Skies cleared for the start of the first run, but quickly turned as heavy fog rolled in after only a handful of racers had taken their runs, limiting visibility to just a few gates. Kristoffersen was one such early racer as he set the pace with bib three. Moelgg slid just behind in second with bib five and Hirscher, running sixth, was the first racer to have to deal with the fog and sat a distant sixth, 1.60 seconds back and crossed the line visibly annoyed with his bad luck.

ADELBODEN, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 08: Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway takes 1st place, Manfred Moelgg of Italy takes 2nd place, Marcel Hirscher of Austria takes 3rd place during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Slalom on January 08, 2017 in Adelboden, Switzerland (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom)

Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom

Second run saw the fog clear for the most part, but overcast skies still provided for challenging visibility for the top-30 racers. Hirscher channeled his frustrations from the first run and battled his way to the leader’s box following his second run. The Austrian knocked off the next few racers until Moelgg slipped in front with a solid performance. Not one to hold back, Kristoffersen took control of the race in his second run and showed the field who is the king of slalom at the moment, stretching his lead to an impressive 1.83 seconds for the win.

With Sunday’s result, Kristoffersen and Hirscher are now tied atop the slalom standings with 360 points a piece despite Kristoffersen sitting out the opening slalom in Levi, Finland.

“This was really good,” Kristoffersen said of his performance. “This was really cool. I had a bit of luck with the light in the first run, but I don’t think I had luck with the skiing. In the second run, even though it was tough, I still did really good. Today was an awesome day, for sure. I don’t think you can expect the same as last year, last year was pretty outstanding, but I hope I can ski good, keep skiing the way I did today; as long as I can do that, I’m happy.”

The 34-year-old Moelgg had to put up quite a fight in the second run to hold off a surging Hirsher, but his efforts were not enough to ultimately challenge for the win.

“Tough race,” he said. “The conditions were not so easy. Adelboden is always the same, it’s difficult. Fantastic people here, and I’m very happy about second place and compliments to Henrik, one second eighty, it’s a lot but it was not so easy. He skied very fast in the second run.”

Although Hirscher was frustrated with the conditions he had to deal with in the first run, the Austrian superstar managed to widen his lead in the overall standings and walked away with his 100th and 101st career podium finishes this weekend.

“I think a third place is, for today, absolutely the maximum,” reflected Hirscher. “140 points for this weekend is not too bad, let’s keep on going. Second run was nearly the same for everyone; first run was a big difference between the numbers, but we are outside and this is what you have to deal with. This is skiing, not ice hockey.”

The American contingent continued to find their groove in slalom after a frustrating start to the season as David Chodounsky, Michael Ankeny, and Mark Engel all managed to find the points in 12th, 23rd, and 24th, respectively. Robby Kelley and AJ Ginnis did not qualify for the second run, and Hig Roberts did not finish his first.

“First run was really good, I’m happy with that,” Chodounsky said in the finish. “Second run, not as happy with. I’m actually a little disappointed with today even though it’s my best result of the season. I’ll take it, obviously, I’m happy with that, but there was more left; I left a lot out there. I’m skiing well, I just have to bring it, and we have a lot of slaloms in a row now, which is great, gotta keep the momentum going into next week in Wengen.”

Ankeney has now scored points two years in a row in Adelboden, and took inspiration from the performances of his teammates into today’s race.

“I think seeing that my teammates, Mark Engel and AJ Ginnis, pop in there (in past races) really helped me because we are all really close in training, so it makes it really feasible,” he said.

Engel, after failing to finish in Zagreb after a blazing first run that had him sitting in podium contention, was happy with his result, but hungry for more as the World Cup tour continues.

“I’m pretty stoked to make it down two runs in a row, but I’m still unsatisfied,” Engel admitted. “I think I can do better than that.”

The men now head to Wengen, Switzerland, for downhill, combined, and slalom races Jan. 13-15.

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Top 10

  1. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
  2. Manfred Moelgg (ITA) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  3. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  4. Felix Neureuther (GER) – Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  5. Alexander Khoroshilov (RUS) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  6. Andre Myhrer (SWE) – Head/Head/Head
  7. Manuel Feller (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  8. Daniel Yule (SUI) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  9. Alexis Pinturault (FRA) – Head/Head/Head
  10. Linus Strasser (GER) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  3  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik 1994 NOR  58.39  56.48  1:54.87  0.00  100.00
 2  5  292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA  58.77  57.93  1:56.70  +1.83  11.47  80.00
 3  6  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  59.99  57.07  1:57.06  +2.19  13.73  60.00
 4  2  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER  59.66  57.45  1:57.11  +2.24  14.04  50.00
 5  7  480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS  59.77  57.55  1:57.32  +2.45  15.36  45.00
 6  1  501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE  59.88  57.61  1:57.49  +2.62  16.42  40.00
 7  22  54063 FELLER Manuel 1992 AUT  1:00.85  57.07  1:57.92  +3.05  19.12  36.00
 8  13  511996 YULE Daniel 1993 SUI  1:00.05  57.98  1:58.03  +3.16  19.81  32.00
 9  12  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  1:01.03  57.32  1:58.35  +3.48  21.81  29.00
 10  43  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER  1:01.18  57.55  1:58.73  +3.86  24.19  26.00
 10  24  421860 NORDBOTTEN Jonathan 1989 NOR  1:02.23  56.50  1:58.73  +3.86  24.19  26.00
 12  19  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA  1:00.71  58.09  1:58.80  +3.93  24.63  22.00
 13  9  54320 SCHWARZ Marco 1995 AUT  1:01.49  57.47  1:58.96  +4.09  25.64  20.00
 14  27  301709 YUASA Naoki 1983 JPN  1:01.21  57.78  1:58.99  +4.12  25.82  18.00
 15  10  220689 RYDING Dave 1986 GBR  1:01.66  57.37  1:59.03  +4.16  26.07  16.00
 16  16  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  1:01.37  57.72  1:59.09  +4.22  26.45  15.00
 17  14  290732 THALER Patrick 1978 ITA  1:01.45  57.65  1:59.10  +4.23  26.51  14.00
 18  34  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN  1:01.88  57.33  1:59.21  +4.34  27.20  13.00
 19  28  511902 ZENHAEUSERN Ramon 1992 SUI  1:01.86  57.39  1:59.25  +4.38  27.45  12.00
 20  50  561322 HADALIN Stefan 1995 SLO  1:01.94  57.57  1:59.51  +4.64  29.08  11.00
 21  20  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA  1:01.37  58.20  1:59.57  +4.70  29.46  10.00
 22  33  511127 GINI Marc 1984 SUI  1:02.05  57.53  1:59.58  +4.71  29.52  9.00
 23  53  934502 ANKENY Michael 1991 USA  1:02.09  57.53  1:59.62  +4.75  29.77  8.00
 24  44  934523 ENGEL Mark 1991 USA  1:01.82  57.82  1:59.64  +4.77  29.90  7.00
 25  45  380361 RODES Istok 1996 CRO  1:02.18  57.48  1:59.66  +4.79  30.02  6.00
 26  37  320266 JUNG Dong-hyun 1988 KOR  1:02.13  57.80  1:59.93  +5.06  31.72  5.00
 27  17  51395 DIGRUBER Marc 1988 AUT  1:02.03  57.96  1:59.99  +5.12  32.09  4.00
 28  23  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano 1984 ITA  1:01.93  58.30  2:00.23  +5.36  33.60  3.00
 29  30  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR  1:02.04  58.32  2:00.36  +5.49  34.41  2.00
 30  31  194262 BUFFET Robin 1991 FRA  1:01.50  59.29  2:00.79  +5.92  37.11  1.00
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 67  561244 KRANJEC Zan 1992 SLO
 66  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG
 61  511896 MURISIER Justin 1992 SUI
 59  202437 LUITZ Stefan 1992 GER
 57  6531063 GINNIS AJ 1994 USA
 52  6290183 RONCI Giordano 1992 ITA
 51  103676 BROWN Phil 1991 CAN
 49  512138 SIMONET Sandro 1995 SUI
 46  53889 HIRSCHBUEHL Christian 1990 AUT
 40  290095 BALLERIN Andrea 1989 ITA
 38  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN
 36  930160 KELLEY Robby 1990 USA
 35  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
 32  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
 29  501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton 1985 SWE
 15  191459 LIZEROUX Julien 1979 FRA
Did not finish 1st run
 69  54106 BREITFUSS KAMMERLANDER Simon 1992 BOL
 68  60236 VAN DEN BROECKE Dries 1995 BEL
 65  410365 BARWOOD Adam 1992 NZL
 64  700868 FALAT Matej 1993 SVK
 63  303696 KONO Kyosuke 1991 JPN
 62  934566 ROBERTS Hig 1991 USA
 60  512063 BONVIN Anthony 1994 SUI
 58  194207 THEOLIER Steven 1990 NED
 56  54252 RASCHNER Dominik 1994 AUT
 55  550054 ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps 1992 LAT
 54  202520 HOLZMANN Sebastian 1993 GER
 48  511899 ROCHAT Marc 1992 SUI
 47  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel 1992 RUS
 42  6291574 SALA Tommaso 1995 ITA
 41  511908 SCHMIDIGER Reto 1992 SUI
 39  291318 TONETTI Riccardo 1989 ITA
 26  501101 BYGGMARK Jens 1985 SWE
 25  201896 STEHLE Dominik 1986 GER
 21  511983 AERNI Luca 1993 SUI
 18  422082 FOSS-SOLEVAAG Sebastian 1991 NOR
 11  54170 MATT Michael 1993 AUT
 8  501111 HARGIN Mattias 1985 SWE
 4  293797 GROSS Stefano 1986 ITA

 

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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.