Hirscher takes Levi on tough day for North Americans

By Published On: November 13th, 2016Comments Off on Hirscher takes Levi on tough day for North Americans

In stark contrast to the postcard-perfect scene for the women’s slalom on the Levi Black slope in Levi, Finland, the men’s race on Sunday saw heavy fog roll in as racing action got underway in the morning. With last season’s World Cup slalom champion Henrik Kirstoffersen notably absent, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher returned to his winning ways as he took the 40th World Cup win of his career by an impressive 1.30 seconds over his compatriot Michael Matt in second. Italy’s Manfred Moelgg landed in third place, 1.31 seconds back for his first podium appearance since 2014.

Challenging visibility and a fast first run set with lots of rhythm changes caught a few racers off guard as Hirscher set the pace after run one. As is quite common in Levi, only 1.73 seconds separated Hirscher from 30th place, setting the stage for an action-packed second run.

A lightning fast second run set saw the margins draw even closer as the leaderboard was shaken up numerous times as aggressiveness was rewarded with huge leaps in the standings. That is, however, until Hirscher took to the course and blew the doors off the competition, building on his 0.21 second first run advantage at each interval and eventually crossing the finish line well over a second ahead of his fellow Austrian for the victory.

Hirscher has been a bit under the weather lately as a middle-ear infection nearly sidelined him from competing. Luckily for him and those of us watching, the superstar was able to shake the bug and put on yet another show, snagging the second Levi reindeer of his career, which he named “Leo.”

“The ear pain was horrific and I thought no race for today but I went to bed at 8 o’clock,” he explained. “So pretty early but I woke up at 6 o’clock in the morning and it was pretty good. No pain, no loss of strength so I thought, ‘Ok, I’m ready for the race.'”

And race, Hirscher did.

“I am very thankful that I am able to ski here today and compete in this race, but yesterday, it was not that good,” Hirscher continued. “Today, it was already in the morning clear that I can compete today, so this is amazing that I can be in this race and what is great is just to see my team colleagues so close by my side. … Congrats for that. I’ve seen that already during our last training, so I am thankful as well for them, for the great sparring we’ve had in the last week.”

For Matt, who is the younger brother of the now-retired Austrian World and Olympic slalom champion Mario Matt, today’s result is the young Austrian’s first career World Cup podium.

“It was amazing,” Matt said. “Training has gone really well. I was always fast and I’m really happy that I could show my good skiing on the race today. I’m more than happy with the second place. In the first run, I was a little bit more nervous. Second run, I felt that the skis were doing what I want and then if you can push and ski the way you want, then it’s not that difficult anymore. Watching Marcel and all them on the TV and now you’re in the middle of the ski World Cup, it’s amazing.”

Moelgg’s first podium in nearly two-and-a-half years was a welcome one for the 2008 World Cup slalom champion as he looks to return to that form as the season progresses. Missing out on a second-place finish by only 0.01 seconds stung initially, but the veteran was happy to return to the podium regardless of which step it was.

“It’s fantastic,” a happy Moelgg told reporters. “It’s been a long time and I’m happy to be on the podium. It was a tough race, always a tough hill, but I am happy about that and we will see about the next race. I had a little bit of a mistake in the last part and I saw one hundredth and was not so happy, but that was the performance so after that to stay on the podium is very nice. It’s very good.”

Great Britain’s Dave Ryding managed to snag a career-best sixth place finish, marking his first ever trip inside a World Cup top 10 and the first for a British man since Alain Baxter landed in fourth place in the slalom in Are, Sweden, in 2001.

Unfortunately for the American and Canadian contingents, either by way of skiing out or ill-timed mistakes, not a single North American skier managed to qualify for a second run.

The men’s race will be broadcast on Sunday, Nov. 13 on Universal HD at 2:00 p.m. ET. The men’s tour now heads to Lake Louise, Canada, for the opening downhill and super G races of the season on Nov. 26 and 27.


Top 10 Finishers

  1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  2. Michael Matt (AUT) – Rossignol/Rossignol/Look
  3. Manfred Moelgg (ITA) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  4. Feix Neureuther (GER) – Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  5. Manuel Feller (AUT) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  6. Dave Ryding (GBR) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  7. Mattias Hargin (SWE) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  8. Luca Aerni (SUI) – Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
  9. Fritz Doofer (GER) – Nordica/Nordica/Marker
  10. Jonathan Nordbotten (NOR) – Head/Head/Head

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  5  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT  53.11  51.56  1:44.67  0.00
 2  26  54170 MATT Michael 1993 AUT  53.74  52.23  1:45.97  +1.30  8.94
 3  17  292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA  53.72  52.26  1:45.98  +1.31  9.01
 4  6  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER  53.53  52.55  1:46.08  +1.41  9.70
 5  20  54063 FELLER Manuel 1992 AUT  54.23  51.92  1:46.15  +1.48  10.18
 6  21  220689 RYDING Dave 1986 GBR  53.57  52.67  1:46.24  +1.57  10.80
 6  10  501111 HARGIN Mattias 1985 SWE  53.85  52.39  1:46.24  +1.57  10.80
 8  28  511983 AERNI Luca 1993 SUI  54.21  52.09  1:46.30  +1.63  11.21
 8  2  202462 DOPFER Fritz 1987 GER  54.00  52.30  1:46.30  +1.63  11.21
 10  24  421860 NORDBOTTEN Jonathan 1989 NOR  54.12  52.23  1:46.35  +1.68  11.56
 11  15  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA  54.53  52.01  1:46.54  +1.87  12.86
 12  66  502015 JAKOBSEN Kristoffer 1994 SWE  54.48  52.07  1:46.55  +1.88  12.93
 12  29  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR  54.24  52.31  1:46.55  +1.88  12.93
 14  27  501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton 1985 SWE  54.77  51.90  1:46.67  +2.00  13.76
 15  34  150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE  54.20  52.58  1:46.78  +2.11  14.51
 16  31  511127 GINI Marc 1984 SUI  54.49  52.30  1:46.79  +2.12  14.58
 17  23  501101 BYGGMARK Jens 1985 SWE  54.78  52.15  1:46.93  +2.26  15.55
 18  19  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA  54.71  52.39  1:47.10  +2.43  16.72
 19  9  511996 YULE Daniel 1993 SUI  53.75  53.42  1:47.17  +2.50  17.20
 20  16  193967 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor 1989 FRA  54.44  52.74  1:47.18  +2.51  17.27
 21  14  290732 THALER Patrick 1978 ITA  54.15  53.08  1:47.23  +2.56  17.61
 22  25  511902 ZENHAEUSERN Ramon 1992 SUI  54.35  52.90  1:47.25  +2.58  17.75
 23  12  51395 DIGRUBER Marc 1988 AUT  54.20  53.07  1:47.27  +2.60  17.88
 24  13  191459 LIZEROUX Julien 1979 FRA  54.21  53.09  1:47.30  +2.63  18.09
 25  40  290095 BALLERIN Andrea 1989 ITA  54.47  53.08  1:47.55  +2.88  19.81
 26  42  511908 SCHMIDIGER Reto 1992 SUI  54.81  53.02  1:47.83  +3.16  21.74
 27  65  512138 SIMONET Sandro 1995 SUI  54.54  53.35  1:47.89  +3.22  22.15
 27  46  53889 HIRSCHBUEHL Christian 1990 AUT  54.84  53.05  1:47.89  +3.22  22.15
 29  45  202451 STRASSER Linus 1992 GER  54.33  53.72  1:48.05  +3.38  23.25
Disqualified 1st run
 44  6291574 SALA Tommaso 1995 ITA
 4  501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE
Did not qualify for 2nd run
 85  54106 BREITFUSS KAMMERLANDER Simon 1992 BOL
 84  660021 DANILOCHKIN Yuri 1991 BLR
 82  180666 TORSTI Samu 1991 FIN
 81  550066 ZVEJNIEKS Miks 1995 LAT
 80  561244 KRANJEC Zan 1992 SLO
 77  180718 HENTTINEN Jens 1993 FIN
 75  430633 JASICZEK Michal 1994 POL
 74  320293 KYUNG Sung-hyun 1990 KOR
 73  60253 MARCHANT Armand 1997 BEL
 69  6190403 NOEL Clement 1997 FRA
 68  501873 LUNDBAECK Gustav 1993 SWE
 67  180567 RASANEN Joonas 1989 FIN
 63  512182 MEILLARD Loic 1996 SUI
 60  194664 RIZZO Maxime 1993 FRA
 58  54252 RASCHNER Dominik 1994 AUT
 55  202520 HOLZMANN Sebastian 1993 GER
 54  934502 ANKENY Michael 1991 USA
 52  103676 BROWN Phil 1991 CAN
 51  561322 HADALIN Stefan 1995 SLO
 43  380334 VIDOVIC Matej 1993 CRO
 41  302982 OHKOSHI Ryunosuke 1988 JPN
 39  291318 TONETTI Riccardo 1989 ITA
 37  320266 JUNG Dong-hyun 1988 KOR
 36  301709 YUASA Naoki 1983 JPN
 35  930160 KELLEY Robby 1990 USA
 22  201896 STEHLE Dominik 1986 GER
 18  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano 1984 ITA
 1  480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS
Did not finish 2nd run
 3  54320 SCHWARZ Marco 1995 AUT
Did not finish 1st run
 83  170151 DYRBYE NAESTED Casper 1996 DEN
 79  180808 HANDOLIN Juho 1997 FIN
 78  180705 PIRINEN Eemeli 1993 FIN
 76  700868 FALAT Matej 1993 SVK
 72  180627 MALMSTROM Victor 1991 FIN
 71  501351 JOHANSSON Emil 1988 SWE
 70  422300 EIDE Peder Dahlum 1994 NOR
 64  202437 LUITZ Stefan 1992 GER
 62  194207 THEOLIER Steven 1990 NED
 61  6531063 GINNIS AJ 1994 USA
 59  491879 SALARICH Joaquim 1994 ESP
 57  550054 ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps 1992 LAT
 56  54093 STROLZ Johannes 1992 AUT
 53  511947 BRUEGGER Matthias 1993 SUI
 50  511899 ROCHAT Marc 1992 SUI
 49  192506 MISSILLIER Steve 1984 FRA
 48  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel 1992 RUS
 47  934523 ENGEL Mark 1991 USA
 38  103865 PHILP Trevor 1992 CAN
 33  103729 READ Erik 1991 CAN
 32  700830 ZAMPA Adam 1990 SVK
 30  194262 BUFFET Robin 1991 FRA
 11  422082 FOSS-SOLEVAAG Sebastian 1991 NOR
 8  534508 CHODOUNSKY David 1984 USA
 7  293797 GROSS Stefano 1986 ITA

Share This Article

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.