Wengen: Grange claims Lauberhorn combined
Jean-Baptiste Grange of France used strong slalom leg to win a World Cup super-combi Friday, ahead of Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht and Bode Miller of the United States.
Grange finished outside the top 10 in the downhill leg, but put down the fastest slalom race of the day for a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.61 seconds. Albrecht was second with 2:20.67, while Miller clocked 2:21.12
"I was able to take advantage of a very good slope," said Grange of his showing in the slalom.
Jean-Baptiste Grange of France used a strong slalom leg to win a World Cup super-combi Friday, ahead of Switzerland's Daniel Albrecht and Bode Miller of the United States.
Grange finished outside the top 10 in the downhill leg, but put down the fastest slalom race of the day for a combined time of 2 minutes, 20.61 seconds. Albrecht was second with 2:20.67, while Miller clocked 2:21.12
"I was able to take advantage of a very good slope," said Grange of his showing in the slalom.
World Cup overall leader Benjamin Raich of Austria was fourth, 0.04 seconds from the podium.
"I haven't showed my best today, but the fourth rank is OK," Raich said. "Tomorrow is an important day for me," he said, referring to the slalom scheduled for Saturday.
Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety of the United States finished fifth in the best result for the U.S. Ski Team. Miller broke away from the U.S. Ski Team to compete on his own this season.
Ligety, 25th after the downhill on a sunny day with temperatures in the upper 30s, tore through the slalom but Grange's scorching run put him out of reach. Ligety's time was 2:21.19. Steven Nyman, sixth the downhill, missed a gate and did not finish, and T.J. Lanning, 29th in DH, straddled a gate at the top and failed to finish.
"It was exciting watching Bode. He's the only one who could go backwards and still be fast," Ligety said. "I was OK in downhill, just 1.2 out but then [Switzerland's Dider] Cuche came down and blew everything out and I was almost 2.6 back to start the slalom. My downhill's still a work in progress."
Winds forced organizers to lower the downhill start and shadows were troublesome — "but they're pretty much the norm in Wengen," he said. He focused on finishing the slalom, even if it meant having to trim his normally blazing slalom speed. "I'm definitely trying to go as fast as I can, but in Adelboden [last week] I was doing the same and I straddled a gate on the second run, so…I'd rather have the confidence where I could lay it down and still make it to the bottom."
"Ted's been skiing well. He can be so fast," U.S. head coach Phil McNichol said. "He had a great race, just a little off the mark in downhill and that leaves him so far back for slalom. But he threw it down there. And it was cool to see Bode doing what he can do, especially with a finish in slalom that included going backward through that hairpin in true Miller style.
"We were close. We had some opportunities in the slalom, but Steven and T.J. went out. Still, two in the top five, including one on the podium, is a good day for America."
After 18 races, Raich leads with 690 points. Miller is fourth overall (466), including third in the downhill and combined standings, while Ligety is sixth (380), including fourth in combined and giant slalom.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland was fastest in the downhill leg, just ahead of Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein, but neither skier raced in the slalom.
This weekend's races in Wengen also include a slalom Saturday and a downhill on Sunday.
– Associated Press and USSA contributed to this story
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men's combined, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 11, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
9 Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Fill, Dynastar/Lange/Look
Men's combined, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 11, 2008 – It is the 18th event of the men's 40 event 2007-08 World Cup schedule. … It is the second of five scheduled combineds. … It is the 80th World Cup race/event held at least in part at Wengen. … The 17th (Cup) combined. … The race is the first of the 78th annual International Lauberhornrennen, also including a downhill and slalom. … It is the first time the Lauberhorn combined has been successfully conducted entirely at Wengen in four consecutive years since 1977.
It is the second career World Cup win for Jean-Baptiste Grange, and second in a month, his previous win coming in slalom at Alta Badia Dec. 17. … His only other podium was a second place finish in the only other combined this season, at Beaver Creek Nov. 29. … It is just the second French World Cup combined win, the other also coming at Wengen from Michel Vion Jan. 21, 1985. … He was 28th after the downhill leg of the race.
It is the fifth career World Cup podium for Daniel Albrecht and fourth of the season. … Previously this season he won the combined and GS at Beaver Creek and was second in the Adelboden GS. … It is the 13th World Cup podium for the Swiss this season. … He was ninth after the downhill leg of the race.
It is the 56th career World Cup podium for Bode Miller. … His eighth in combined. … It is his fifth podium earned at Wengen and third in combined at Wengen. … He was fourth after the downhill leg of the race. … He has one finish in each of the top eight places this season having won the Bormio DH, placed 2nd in the Val Gardena SG, fourth in the Beaver Creek combined, fifth in the Soelden GS, sixth in the Beaver Creek DH, seventh at the Bad Kleinkirchheim GS and eighth in DH at Val Gardena.
It is the 17th career World Cup top five for Ted Ligety. … the sixth this season. … It is his second best career combined result after a fourth at Reiteralm Dec. 10, 2006. … No other North Americans completed the race.
Winning margin is .06 of a second. … Miller in third is .51 back. … Top seven are within a second of the winner. … Top nine within two seconds. … Benjamin Raich (fourth in race) extends his lead in the overall standings to 690-526 over Daniel Albrecht who moves into second. … Didier Cuche (did not start slalom) is third at 525 and Bode Miller fourth at 466. … Grange ties Albrecht for the lead in the combined standings at 180pts. … Miller is third at 110 and Ligety fourth with 77pts.
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 21 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 1:36.40 | 44.21 | 2:20.61 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 20 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 1:35.31 | 45.36 | 2:20.67 | 0.43 |
| 3 | 13 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 1:35.09 | 46.03 | 2:21.12 | 3.63 |
| 4 | 16 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:35.71 | 45.45 | 2:21.16 | 3.91 |
| 5 | 15 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:36.31 | 44.88 | 2:21.19 | 4.12 |
| 6 | 1 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 1:36.18 | 45.06 | 2:21.24 | 4.48 |
| 7 | 18 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:35.58 | 45.78 | 2:21.36 | 5.33 |
| 8 | 8 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 1:36.53 | 45.09 | 2:21.62 | 7.18 |
| 9 | 6 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | 1:35.84 | 46.45 | 2:22.29 | 11.95 |
| 10 | 11 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:36.89 | 45.99 | 2:22.88 | 16.14 |
| 11 | 28 | 292967 | EISATH Florian | 1984 | ITA | 1:35.31 | 47.72 | 2:23.03 | 17.21 |
| 12 | 9 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | 1:36.20 | &n bsp;47.17 |
2:23.37 | 19.63 |
| 13 | 17 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:36.14 | 47.49 | 2:23.63 | 21.48 |
| 14 | 39 | 50900 | KOLL Alexander | 1982 | AUT | 1:38.16 | 45.76 | 2:23.92 | 23.54 |
| 15 | 48 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | 1:38.32 | 45.76 | 2:24.08 | 24.68 |
| 16 | 31 | 560332 | JERMAN Andrej | 1978 | SLO | 1:35.69 | 48.49 | 2:24.18 | 25.39 |
| 17 | 7 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 1:36.82 | 47.75 | 2:24.57 | 28.16 |
| 18 | 40 | 292056 | GUFLER Michael | 1979 | ITA | 1:36.56 | 48.12 | 2:24.68 | 28.95 |
| 19 | 5 | 191462 | PAQUIN Pierre | 1979 | FRA | 1:36.89 | 47.97 | 2:24.86 | 30.23 |
| 20 | 35 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 1:37.93 | 47.33 | 2:25.26 | 33.07 |
| 21 | 50 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:37.29 | 48.37 | 2:25.66 | 35.91 |
| 22 | 38 | 292150 | HAPPACHER Alex | 1979 | ITA | 1:36.92 | 49.02 | 2:25.94 | 37.91 |
| 23 | 47 | 561067 | PERKO Rok | 1985 | SLO | 1:39.07 | 49.10 | 2:28.17 | 53.77 |
| 24 | 41 | 293079 | PITTSCHIELER Kurt | 1984 | ITA | 1:39.37 | 49.39 | 2:28.76 | 57.96 |
| 25 | 53 | 60159 | VAN BUYNDER Frederik | 1988 | BEL | 1:42.23 | 53.39 | 2:35.62 | 106.75 |
| 26 | 10 | 150398 | BANK Ondrej | 1980 | CZE | 1:36.34 | 1:07.04 | 2:43.38 | 161.94 |
Did not start 1st run : GRUENENFELDER Tobias (SUI), MACARTNEY Scott (USA)
Did not start 2nd run : SOLBAKKEN Bjarne (NOR), BRANCH Craig (AUS), SULLIVAN Marco (USA), MAIER Hermann (AUT), BUECHEL Marco (LIE), GUAY Erik (CAN), WALCHHOFER Michael (AUT), CUCHE Didier (SUI), DEFAGO Didier (SUI)
Did not finish 1st run : HOFFMANN Ambrosi (SUI), HOROSHILOV Alexandr (RUS), STUTZ Paul (CAN), FAYED Guillermo (FRA), KRIZAJ Andrej (SLO), DREIER Christoph (AUT), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), WEIBRECHT Andrew (USA)
Did not finish 2nd run : KEPPLER Stephan (GER), SEMPLE Ryan (CAN), OLSSON Matts (SWE), THANEI Stefan (ITA), HEEL Werner (ITA), LANNING Thomas (tj) (USA), KUCERA John (CAN), INNERHOFER Christof (ITA), STAUDACHER Patrick (ITA), SCHOENFELDER Rainer (AUT), RAINER Niklas (SWE), THEAUX Adrien (FRA), NYMAN Steven (USA)
Disqualified 1st run : MICKEL Finlay (GBR), BUDER Andreas (AUT)
About the Author: Pete Rugh
