The World Cup According to Grande: Adelboden and Haus; Lizeroux exerts pressure and Lindsey puts a stranglehold on the globe

By Published On: January 11th, 2010Comments Off on The World Cup According to Grande: Adelboden and Haus; Lizeroux exerts pressure and Lindsey puts a stranglehold on the globe

The GS was canceled in Adelboden due to fog. I have to say I am happy about it. Because run 1 was being run from a lowered start, and that is NOT Adelboden. I f you take out the fatigue factor as you hit the bottom pitch by taking away the top pitch and compression, it turns the toughest GS in the world into one that all World Cup skiers can be aggressive on. So I would rather see it canceled than run from a lowered start. Call me a traditionalist, but that is how I feel. I know not everyone will agree, but that is my opinion. Other than that, it was a wild weekend in our sport. Lindsey won 3 times and the men’s slalom in Adelboden held up its end of the bargain by bringing some high drama and another collapse by Reini Herbst.

I watched run 2 of the Adelboden slalom last night after a 4 day stint of training here at Mission Ridge. As well, my son Coen was racing in his first race of the season here at home so the days were long, starting early and ending late. But I couldn’t wait to see the race. I knew the results so I was excited to see what went down. The race did not disappoint.

First, I want to talk about Jimmy and Ted. What was going on there? How does that happen? Two athletes on the same team, who are close friends, straddle the same gate on the same run. Exiting a delay on the top of the basketball turn heading for the very steep finish pitch was the spot. Did Ted watch Jimmy on TV and simply got it embedded in his psyche, and then duplicated the feat? They were also the only guys to straddle that gate so I doubt there was some rut or shelf in play there.

Julien Lizeroux showed again that he is a force to be reckoned with. Adelboden rolls a few times down a fairly moderate section to a dead flat with a lot of terrain. Then it bends to the right and drops off a cliff toward the finish. Then a road and a short flat before you cross the line. The prevailing tactical thought has always been, attack the first half and ski solid on the bottom pitch and you are in the game. And if you watch closely, a lot of the guys took that approach, even on run 2. Raich definitely had that look to him. He was also uncharacteristically late with his move to the new ski all the way down. I have noticed this in the other slaloms with him as well. Has he lost a little quickness? Are his skis working well enough? Getting enough grip to be able to shape the turn the way he wants? Anyway, he was late and a little conservative. But I want to get back to Lizeroux. He took it to the hill the whole way, down the nasty finish pitch as well. He was in 12th place and probably just figured he would hammer the whole thing and hope it works out. I love the mentality. To him, 12th place might as well be 30th. He wants to win or at least compete for the win. And he did just that. He had a blazing and wonderfully executed run and put the pressure on the guys in the lead. They all knew exactly what kind of run he put down and make no mistake, they felt the pressure. You can see the anticipation on his face, on Hirscher’s face as well as on Kostelic when they were in the leader’s box with him. They are watching intently. They are watching every single turn the leaders make on the way down. They saw Herbst crumble again. The next 3 slaloms are Wengen, Kitzbuhel and Schladming. Huge crowds, big prestige and a lifetime of fame in central Europe is attached to wins at these venues. That brings pressure enough. The Austrians will feel the pressure at home.

If you look at the Austrian slalom group, they have 5 guys competing for 4 spots for the Olympic team. Herbst has 245 points, Raich 114, Pranger 89, Hirscher 85 and Matt with 32. Matt probably feels like he needs to put down some podiums very quickly or he is out of the Olympics. But with Herbst faltering and Raich not exactly lighting it up and Hirscher making a move…this selection could flip around in a hurry. I don’t know if they use Schladming in their selection. We traditionally had not used it as it was too close to the team naming deadline. But we did use it in 2005 for World Champs. So it is possible they will use it. Anyway, Matt has 4 podiums in Kitzbuhel since 2005; he won Schladming in 2008 and was 3rd the year before. He has not been on the podium in Wengen since 2001 but did win a Combi slalom run 2 years ago. Let’s say he wins in Wengen, Herbst crashes and Benni straddles there again. Matt jumps to 132 points moves ahead of Raich. Anyway, you can go on and on with scenarios but these guys are stressed out about it for sure. Just watch the reactions of Toni Giger (Austria Head Men’s Coach) in the finish area when Matt goes out and then again when Herbst blows his second straight slalom lead. The guy is stressing out because if the trend does not reverse, he might have a “B” team slalom squad because of their selection criteria. And where does Pranger fit in to all of this? Watch the next 3 races with all of this in mind. All the teams are going through the same thing. The American boys only have 3 guys with points in slalom right now. But one good race out of Jitloff or one of the others and the whole thing gets turned upside down. Will the USA even fill 4 spots if we only have 3 guys with slalom World Cup points? The Swiss don’t have full 4 guys in the points yet; the Italians will have 5 or 6 battling for 4 spots as will the Swedes. Very interesting stuff to watch.

HAUS, AUSTRIA
The women competed in Haus, Austria and by now everyone who reads this blog has likely read the cliché headlines. Vonn Cleans Haus and other such irresistible nonsense. And I will spend a little time on Mrs. Vonn. She is definitely worth more than a few words. Take a good look at what happened at Haus. Lindsey not only won the 3 races, but Maria Riesch, her closest pursuer for the Overall globe, was not good; finishing 3rd, 7th and 24th. She fell 192 points behind Lindsey in that category and looks to be going the wrong way. Zettel is in 3rd and is 325 points behind and does not ski DH and is barely worth mention in Super G. Paerson is making herself known again in speed after a good showing in Haus but it is too little and too late. You can just about hand Lindsey the globe right now. The only thing that bothers me about her right now is that she has not skied well in her tech events since Levi. I don’t know if it is the equipment switch catching up to her or the injury but she will need to get some good training time in the next few weeks to be able to compete again in GS and slalom. Regardless, great job Lindsey and keep it up!

The rest of the racing in Haus had some great bits of news here and there too. Stacey Cook had a great DH weekend, finishing 13th and 9th in the 2 downhills. Alice McKennis continued her excellent World Cup effort with a 21st in the first DH and Julia had some consistent results with a 10th in Super G and 14th and 11th in the 2 DH races. This is all interesting because there is only one DH left on the calendar before selection on January 25th. That is Cortina d’Ampezzo, the traditionally most technical of the women’s speed events. If they are able to go from the upper start, it is a great downhill to watch. The lower start does really make it pedestrian. So the way it stands now, Lindsey gets picked up in the first line of criteria, obviously. Then Stacey, Julia and Alice ALL meet the second line in downhill, 1 top 10 finish. Stacey has the best finish of the 3 with her 9th in Haus. Both Alice and Julia had a 10th place in Lake Louise. And then Chelsea Marshall is lurking behind them with 23 points. So with 1 downhill left on the schedule, it looks like the Olympic DH squad is selected, unless Chelsea gets on the podium or deep into the top
10 with enough points to pass someone too. In Super G only Vonn and Mancuso meet the first 2 lines of criteria. Then you have Chelsea, Keely Kelleher and Alice with a few points each. So the battle will be fought among those 3 plus Stacey for an Olympic Super G berth.

For the Canadians it seems that Britt Janyk is showing that she is the leader of their team and will be going to Vancouver and running DH and SG on her home hill in Whistler. Brydon is in as well but pretty much disappeared in Haus. Brydon had great races early in Lake Louise but when it was a little turnier and a little trickier; she showed she could not really adjust. Cortina could make it tough for her to carry momentum into Whistler. If the start is lowered in Cortina, she has traditionally done well. If they run off the top start, she has trouble. The Canadian women’s DH team is so depleted by injury that they could end up starting Shona Rubens and Georgia Simmerling at the Olympics. They have not scored a World Cup DH point between them. They do have a handful of Super G points. But in Georgia’s defense, she was probably expecting a season of NorAm and Europa Cup racing with some World Cup experience mixed in. She has found herself thrust onto the
World Cup full-time and needing to get up to speed.

Some other athletes who put themselves solidly into the mix for their Olympic Teams this weekend were Nadja Kamer (SUI) and Ingrid Jacquemod (FRA) who were languishing toward the back of their selections after Lake Louise and the cancellation in Val d’Isere. Both went onto the podium in the second DH in Haus and put themselves toward the front of their respective selections. There is a lot to watch this month!

The women head to Flachau, Austria for one slalom tomorrow. Flachau is famous as the hometown of Hermann Maier. It is just off the Autbahn to the west as you head south from Salzburg toward Kärnten (Carinthia to you and me) and Slovenia beyond. The race hill there is excellent and should be fun for the girls. It is a moderate pitch with some nice big rolls. I set my first World Cup there in early January, 2004. It was easy to make minimum turns and now with the vertical drop rules the minimum turns would be 59 from the men’s start. I made 57 but I set 12 meters almost the whole way and stretched out every combination to 6 meters. It is very easy to make 59 turns on the hill. As well, the girls might have a lower start which will change the vertical drop to 180 meters and the setting minimum to 51 turns which will be easy to hit. There are a lot of flat spots on top of the rolls to put flushes and plenty of width to meander if you so desire. The women should be able to attack the hill and have a lot of fun. We had huge crowds every time we raced in Flachau and was always some of the best fun on tour. If you head there, you have to check out the Après Ski Tempel Hofstadl just steps away from the quad that serves the race arena. It is a crazy place that starts thumping around noon and doesn’t stop. I know because our hotel was just steps away from the place and we could easily hear the partying going on over there. All full with crazed Austrian race fans. Have fun watching Flachau tomorrow. It should be a great hill for both Lindsey and Sarah. Hopefully the others can get it rolling too. 

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Greg “Grande” Needell grew up ski racing at Stratton Mountain, Vermont. After graduating from SMS he skied for NCAA Division 1 St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY where he was co-captain in 1986. Greg returned to SMS to coach there for five years serving as the Head Women’s Coach as well as the Head J2 Men’s Coach. He then moved to Mission Ridge in Wenatchee, Washington in 1992 to become the Program Director and Head Coach of the Mission Ridge Ski Club. In 1997, Greg became the Head Coach at Mammoth Mountain, California.

In 2002 Needell was asked to join the U.S. Ski Team staff as a World Cup SL and GS coach. From 2002 to 2008 Needell helped lead the U.S. Ski Team Men to 43 wins, 105 podiums and 264 top ten finishes. Now at the helm of Alpine Race Consulting, Needell offers his knowledge and experience to clubs nationwide.

Click here for “The World Cup According to Grande” archive.

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About the Author: Eric Williams