Wengen: Janka provides Swiss a reason to cheer
Switzerland has a hero.
It had been 15 races, five years and 363 days since a home country man had won a World Cup race at the historic site of Wengen. Carlo Janka notched his second career win Friday by winning the Wengen combined.
Second after the downhill leg, held on a shortened version of the course hosting a downhill tomorrow, Janka put down a solid slalom run and overtook a surprisingly good result by Italian Peter Fill. Swiss Silvan Zurbriggen was third, increasing the flag waving among the many Swiss in the crowd.
First run (DH) leader Daniel Albrecht slipped to sixth as slalom aces Ivica Kostelic moved up to fourth and Julien Lixeroux to fifth.Switzerland has a hero.
It had been 15 races, five years and 363 days since a home country man had won a World Cup race at the historic site of Wengen. Carlo Janka notched his second career win Friday by winning the Wengen combined.
Second after the downhill leg, held on a shortened version of the course hosting a downhill tomorrow, Janka put down a solid slalom run and overtook a surprisingly good result by Italian Peter Fill. Swiss Silvan Zurbriggen was third, increasing the flag waving among the many Swiss in the crowd.
First run (DH) leader Daniel Albrecht slipped to sixth as slalom aces Ivica Kostelic moved up to fourth and Julien Lixeroux to fifth.
Bode Miller was in position for a spot at or near the top of the results, holding fifth after the DH run. He ran into trouble twice in his slalom effort working in and out of bright sun and heavy shadow. He got caught in the backseat and launched around a gate about mid way down, seemed to have completely recovered, then lost the course again late in his run. He completed his run but dropped well down the finish order to post 32nd on the day, skiing the last few gates down the final pitch coasting to the finish. The only American to score points was Andrew Weibrecht in 28th. Canadian John Kucera was 21st.
Tour leader Benjamin Raich, 17th in the downhill, also had difficulty in the slalom leg with one big error bumping him out of contention for the win. He was the top Austrian finisher in seventh.
Janka’s win was the first for Switzerland at Wengen since Bruno Kernen won the downhill in 2003 and the first Swiss combined win at Wengen since Paul Accola in 1992.
A year ago Janka, just 21, had but two World Cup scoring results of any kind. He has 12 this season, scoring in every discipline but slalom. Considering his slalom effort at Wengen, that discipline may soon fall to his abilities soon.
“To win a World Cup classic at home, in front of my home crowd, is a real achievement,” Janka told Reuters reporter Manuele Lang. “It’s my second win, which shows this is my season but it’s also a great team performance with Silvan on the podium. We were really fired up after Adelboden,” he added.
The men’s World Cup tour is on its annual run through Switzerland which started at Adelboden last weekend. The team had six skiers score points, but only two were top 10 results and no podiums were scored. Six Swiss scored in the first of three races this weekend at Wengen and two of them were podium placings.
Janka said the slalom was well suited for him and suggested the win was “the perfect way to start the Wengen weekend.” Certainly the throngs of Swiss flag waving spectators would agree.
The North Americans were left to take what lessons they could from the event.
“Andrew (Weibrecht) did a good job in the downhill,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “He skied the top section fantastically.”
Canadian coach Paul Kristofic suggested Kucera’s mark could have been better. “He certainly skied well in sections (of the downhill) but made some big mistakes. His downhill was not as competitive as we were hoping. … there are a few things we will be trying to correct for tomorrow.”
“At the end of the day John got World Cup points and that is his objective in super combined,” Kristofic added.
The SCOOP
Equipment
Men’s combined Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Fill, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
4 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
5 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
6 Albrecht, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Zrncic-Dim, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
Men’s Super Combined, Wengen, Switzerland, Jan. 16, 2009. … It is the 28th race of the men’s 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … The second of four scheduled combineds. … It is the 83rd World Cup held at least in part at Wengen. … The 18th combined. … The race commences the 79th Internationale Lauberhornrennen, the first being held well before the World Cup in 1930.
It is the second career win for Carlo Janka, the previous coming in GS at Val d’Isere Dec. 13. … He also has a second place finish in DH from Nov. 29 at Lake Louise. … It is the first Swiss win at Wengen since Bruno Kernen won the downhill in 2003. … It is the first Swiss combined win at Wengen since Paul Accola in 1992.
It is the ninth career World Cup podium for Peter Fill and his first since winning the Lake Louise DH Nov. 29. … Three of his podiums have come at Wengen, the other two a third in DH in 2007 and a third in combined in 2006.
It is the fourth career Cup podium for Silvan Zurbriggen and third in combined. … His most recent previous podium was also in combined and also at Wengen Jan. 14, 2007.
It is the sixth scoring result at Wengen for John Kucera. … He now has three combined and three DH scores at the site. … It is this seventh score of the season. … He was 11th in the previous combined at Val d’Isere. … It is the fourth career Cup scoring result for Andrew Weibrecht. … and second of the season after also finishing 28th in the Val Gardena DH Dec. 20.
Benjamin Raich (seventh in race) hangs on to the lead of the World Cup overall standings 593-536 over Jean-Baptiste Grange (ninth in race). … Aksel Svindal (eighth in race) holds third at 502. … Janka moves up to fifth with 466, behind Ivica Kostelic’s (fourth in race) 479. … Ted Ligety (did not race) is the top American in 11th with 327. … Raich also holds the lead of the combined standings 136-132 for Janka. … Fill is third at 116. … Weibrecht is the only American in the combined standings, ranked 39th with three points. … John Kucera is the top North American in the combined standings in 17th with 34pts.
| Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 5 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:47.15 | 47.01 | 2:34.16 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 14 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:47.65 | 46.73 | 2:34.38 | 1.77 |
| 3 | 16 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 1:48.16 | 46.40 | 2:34.56 | 3.22 |
| 4 | 19 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 1:48.73 | 46.08 | 2:34.81 | 5.23 |
| 5 | 13 | 191459 | LIZEROUX Julien | 1979 | FRA | 1:48.75 | 46.20 | 2:34.95 | 6.35 |
| 6 | 17 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 1:46.47 | 48.60 | 2:35.07 | 7.32 |
| 7 | 18 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 1:48.62 | 46.65 | 2:35.27 | 8.93 |
| 8 | 21 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:48.19 | 47.15 | 2:35.34 | 9.49 |
| 9 | 20 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 1:49.52 | 45.89 | 2:35.41 | 10.05 |
| 10 | 15 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | 1:49.67 | 45.87 | 2:35.54 | 11.10 |
| 11 | 9 | 421400 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | 1:49.21 | 46.63 | 2:35.84 | 13.51 |
| 12 | 25 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:47.87 | 48.65 | 2:36.52 | 18.98 |
| 13 | 12 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:47.89 | 48.92 | 2:36.81 | 21.32 |
| 14 | 24 | 501026 | RAINER Niklas | 1983 | SWE | 1:49.05 | 47.84 | 2:36.89 | 21.96 |
| 15 | 28 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:48.32 | 48.58 | 2:36.90 | 22.04 |
| 16 | 11 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:49.18 | 47.95 | 2:37.13 | 23.89 |
| 17 | 27 | 511352 | VILETTA Sandro | 1986 | SUI | 1:50.12 | 47.30 | 2:37.42 | 26.22 |
| 18 | 31 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:47.63 | 49.85 | 2:37.48 | 26.70 |
| 19 | 40 | 511139 | KUENG Patrick | 1984 | SUI | 1:49.14 | 48.47 | 2:37.61 | 27.75 |
| 20 | 37 | 192504 | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1984 | FRA | 1:50.36 | 47.37 | 2:37.73 | 28.72 |
| 21 | 1 | 102873 | KUCERA John | 1984 | CAN | 1:48.43 | 49.35 | 2:37.78 | 29.12 |
| 22 | 7 | 150644 | KRYZL Krystof | 1986 | CZE | 1:50.22 | 47.63 | 2:37.85 | 29.68 |
| 23 | 62 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 1:51.33 | 46.59 | 2:37.92 | 30.24 |
| 23 | 4 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 1:50.75 | 47.17 | 2:37.92 | 30.24 |
| 25 | 3 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | 1:48.46 | 49.77 | 2:38.23 | 32.74 |
| 26 | 23 | 191462 | PAQUIN Pierre | 1979 | FRA | 1:50.10 | 48.20 | 2:38.30 | 33.30 |
| 27 | 26 | 190915 | BOURGEAT Pierrick | 1976 | FRA | 1:50.52 | 47.93 | 2:38.45 | 34.51 |
| 28 | 35 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:48.85 | 49.85 | 2:38.70 | 36.52 |
| 29 | 38 | 294277 | KLOTZ Siegmar | 1987 | ITA | 1:50.88 | 47.85 | 2:38.73 | 36.76 |
| 30 | 6 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:48.19 | 50.74 | 2:38.93 | 38.37 |
| 31 | 33 | 292291 | THANEI Stefan | 1981 | ITA | 1:49.59 | 49.39 | 2:38.98 | 38.77 |
| 32 | 22 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 1:47.73 | 51.27 | 2:39.00 | 38.93 |
| 33 | 51 | 511529 | GISIN Marc | 1988 | SUI | 1:50.78 | 48.36 | 2:39.14 | 40.06 |
| 34 | 48 | 201987 | STRODL Andreas | 1987 | GER | 1:49.69 | 50.18 | 2:39.87 | 45.93 |
| 35 | 41 | 533842 | FRANCIS Kevin | 1982 | USA | 1:49.47 | 50.44 | 2:39.91 | 46.25 |
| 36 | 66 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:51.20 | 49.10 | 2:40.30 | 49.39 |
| 37 | 45 | 501230 | ERICSSON Daniel | 1987 | SWE | 1:51.40 | 48.91 | 2:40.31 | 49.47 |
| 38 | 47 | 103090 | HELIE Louis-Pierre | 1986 | CAN | 1:50.59 | 49.97 | 2:40.56 | 51.48 |
| 39 | 55 | 220695 | CRAWFORD Douglas | 1987 | GBR | 1:51.39 | 49.75 | 2:41.14 | 56.14 |
| 40 | 49 | 150495 | VRABLIK Martin | 1982 | CZE | 1:53.77 | 47.88 | 2:41.65 | 60.25 |
| 41 | 53 | 30149 | SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier | 1980 | ARG | 1:53.88 | 48.91 | 2:42.79 | 69.42 |
| 42 | 59 | 90047 | GEORGIEV Stefan | 1977 | BUL | 1:54.36 | 50.40 | 2:44.76 | 85.26 |
Did not start 1st run: BUECHEL Marco (LIE), KROELL Klaus (AUT), ALSTER Christoph (AUT), FRIEDMAN Bryon (USA)
Did not start 2nd run: FISHER Erik (USA), MAIER Hermann (AUT), WALCHHOFER Michael (AUT), CUCHE Didier (SUI)
Did not finish 1st run: MARKIC Gasper (SLO), SIROKI Tin (CRO), ZAHROBSKY Petr (CZE), WAGNER Hannes (GER), PERKO Rok (SLO)
Did not finish 2nd run: VAN BUYNDER Frederik (BEL), GEORGIEV Georgi (BUL), BRAUER Jono (AUS), PUCHNER Joachim (AUT), STRUGER Peter (AUT), KRIZAJ Andrej (SLO), STAUDACHER Patrick (ITA), JERMAN Andrej (SLO), GORZA Ales (SLO)
Disqualified 1st run: HOFFMANN Ambrosi (SUI)
Disqualified 2nd run: FAYED Guillermo (FRA)
About the Author: Pete Rugh
