Kroell ruins Norway's party, takes DH lead

By Published On: March 3rd, 2012Comments Off on Kroell ruins Norway's party, takes DH lead

Were it not for Klaus Kroell the aquaveit would be flowing in Kvitfjell celebrating the end of a 15 year victory drought on home snow. But Kroell instead will head to World Cup finals with the lead of the downhill standings and Kjetil Jansrud is left lamenting the loss of two races in a row by a combined five hundredths of a second.

Norway hasn’t seen a home snow win since Lasse Kjus won at Kvitfjell in 1997 and had Jansrud, the fastest skier in both training runs here and the third place finisher behind a tie in Friday’s super G, was in the lead with veteran teammate Askel Lund Svindal in second. But Kroell, the starter just after Svindal and created an eruption in the stands by giving Norway a 1-2 finish chance, was happy to spoil the party. Somehow he dug out a smidgin of speed in the final turns of the 1994 Olympic course to pull out the narrow win by .02.

Didier Cuche, the downhill standings leader after the last race at Sochi, started well, but dropped steadily back as small errors compounded and finished tenth and evaporated his slim tour lead. Beat Feuz had good speed but finished a .66 back for fourth place and will head to finals three points behind Cuche – in third – in the fight for the downhill globe.

Kroell’s run did not look, at first blush, to be good enough to unseat Jansrud. He was .32 off the pace at the second of five interval timers. But the last remaining veteran of the Austrian started peeling off the tenths the rest of the way down the 3034m course. A smooth tuck and some fast skis, squeezed out the narrow victory, the sixth of his career, third of the season, and second in two days, having also nipped Jansrud in Friday’s super G when he tied Feuz for the win.

Canadian Ben Thomsen finished ninth, managing to keep attacking after needing a miraculous recovery just to stay on course and upright. It is his third straight single digit DH result. Teammate Erik Guay posted, and was disappointed in, 12th place while Robbie Dixon charged from the 32nd start to finish 19th in his first downhill since injury earlier this season.

American Erik Fisher was on the verge of providing a bright spot for the battle-weary squad. With an eye on breaking into the top 25 for an invitation to World Cup finals, Fisher was in contention for a possible podium position through the first half of the course when he got in the back seat, went down on a hip, pulled him self back to his feet but caught an edge and went down for good sliding off into the fencing. There was a course delay while he was checked over, but he was on his feet and on his skis before the next racer took to the course.

Travis Ganong, in 30th, was the only American to score.

MORE TO COME
Gepa photo


The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup downhill, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 3, 2012
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Kroell, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2 Jansrud, Head/Head/Head
3 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
4 Feuz, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Paris, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
6 Poisson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Theaux, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Thomsen, Head/Head/Head
10 Cuche, Head/head/Head

Men’s World Cup downhill, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 3, 2012. … It is the 37th race of the men’s 44 race 2012 World Cup schedule. … the tenth of 11 downhills. … the second of a three race set at Kvitfjell.

It is the sixth career World Cup win for Klaus Kroell. … his fourth in DH. … It is his third win of the season and second in two days, the other a tie for first in super G also at Kvitfjell. … He has been in the top 10 of every DH this season.

It is the ninth career World Cup podium placing for Kjetil Jansrud. … his first in downhill. … It is his fourth podium of the season in three different disciplines. … he had never scored a podium in a speed race (SG or DH) before this season. … He does not yet own a Cup victory.

It is the 36th career World Cup podium result for Aksel Lund Svindal. … his 11th in DH. … It is his third podium of the season and first since Dec. 3 at Beaver Creek (SG). … The last time Norwegians had two skiers on the same podium was Feb. 29, 2004 at Kranjska Gora in slalom (Truls Ove Karlsen and Tom Stiansen 1-2).

North Americans: It is the third career World Cup top 10 for Benjamin Thomsen all of them coming since Feb. 4. … It is the 11th best of 14 scoring finishes at Kvitfjell for Erik Guay. … It is the fourth scoring result of the season for Robbie Dixon and second best. … It is thre 16th best of 16 scoring results this season for Jan Hudec. … the seventh best of seen for Travis Ganong.

Standings: Beat Feuz (fourth in race) leads the World Cup overall standings 1190-1135 for Marcel Hirscher (did not race). … Ivica Kostelic (did not race) is third with 1043. … Svindal is fourth with 919pts. … Ted Ligety (did not race) holds ninth with 674pts and Bode Miller ( did not race) tenth with 612pts. … Guay is top Canadian in 16th with 488pts and Hudec 17th with 482. … Kroell takes over the lead of the downhill standings 569-521 for Didier Cuche (10th in race). … Feuz is third with 518pts. … With one race remaining those three are the only remaining contenders for the crown. … Bode Miller is fourth with 383pts and Guay sixth with 343pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 6456-3940 over Switzerland. … Italy is third with 3190. … The US is fifth with 1855 and Canada seventh with 1533pts.

Kvitfjell (NOR)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Downhill

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  16  50753 KROELL Klaus  1980  AUT   1:45.76  0.00
 2  1  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR   1:45.78  0.25
 3  15  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:46.24  6.04
 4  18  511383 FEUZ Beat  1987  SUI   1:46.42  8.30
 5  8  291459 PARIS Dominik  1989  ITA   1:46.63  10.94
 6  6  191964 POISSON David  1982  FRA   1:46.64  11.07
 7  5  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:46.82  13.33
 8  14  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:46.91  14.46
 9  7  103271 THOMSEN Benjamin  1987  CAN   1:47.07  16.47
 10  21  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   1:47.08  16.60
 11  2  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   1:47.10  16.85
 12  17  102263 GUAY Erik  1981  CAN   1:47.12  17.10
 13  20  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:47.26  18.86
 14  9  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:47.29  19.24
 15  43  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   1:47.34  19.87
 15  22  191740 CLAREY Johan  1981  FRA   1:47.34  19.87
 15  10  51327 PUCHNER Joachim  1987  AUT   1:47.34  19.87
 18  4  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA   1:47.42  20.88
 19  32  102961 DIXON Robbie  1985  CAN   1:47.49  21.76
 20  27  53817 FRANZ Max  1989  AUT   1:47.54  22.38
 20  3  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:47.54  22.38
 22  25  191591 BERTRAND Yannick  1980  FRA   1:47.56  22.64
 23  28  50858 STREITBERGER Georg  1981  AUT   1:47.61  23.26
 24  12  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:47.63  23.52
 25  40  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE   1:47.73  24.77
 26  19  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:47.82  25.91
 27  45  180570 ROMAR Andreas  1989  FIN   1:47.89  26.79
 28  23  200379 SANDER Andreas  1989  GER   1:47.91  27.04
 28  11  102271 HUDEC Jan  1981  CAN   1:47.91  27.04
 30  24  530874 GANONG Travis  1988  USA   1:47.96  27.67
 31  29  510767 HOFFMANN Ambrosi  1977  SUI   1:48.19  30.56
 32  13  560447 SPORN Andrej  1981  SLO   1:48.25  31.31
 33  30  201606 KEPPLER Stephan  1983  GER   1:48.27  31.56
 34  37  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   1:48.30  31.94
 35  34  533131 SULLIVAN Marco  1980  USA   1:48.32  32.19
 36  35  53981 KROELL Johannes  1991  AUT   1:48.37  32.82
 37  42  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:48.48  34.21
 38  60  103612 PRIDY Morgan  1990  CAN   1:48.52  34.71
 38  41  500150 JAERBYN Patrik  1969  SWE   1:48.52  34.71
 40  56  561216 KLINE Bostjan  1991  SLO   1:48.55  35.09
 41  33  530939 WEIBRECHT Andrew  1986  USA   1:48.57  35.34
 42  51  561067 PERKO Rok  1985  SLO   1:48.62  35.97
 43  31  201811 STECHERT Tobias  1985  GER   1:48.67  36.60
 44  39  511142 LUEOEND Vitus  1984  SUI   1:48.90  39.49
 45  48  100558 COOK Dustin  1989  CAN   1:49.01  40.87
 46  58  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   1:49.18  43.01
 47  46  561087 MARKIC Gasper  1986  SLO   1:49.21  43.39
 48  44  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:49.24  43.76
 49  36  53837 KRAMER Manuel  1989  AUT   1:49.28  44.27
 50  49  511634 SPESCHA Christian  1989  SUI   1:49.37  45.40
 51  38  202059 FERSTL Josef  1988  GER   1:49.41  45.90
 52  50  103385 PRIDY Conrad  1988  CAN   1:49.52  47.28
 53  47  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:49.62  48.54
 54  52  103090 HELIE Louis-Pierre  1986  CAN   1:49.79  50.68
 55  61  400281 HEEK, VAN Marvin  1991  NED   1:50.05  53.95
 56  55  193034 BOUILLOT Alexandre  1985  FRA   1:50.26  56.59
 57  59  501439 HEDIN Douglas  1990  SWE   1:50.54  60.11
 58  57  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI   1:50.65  61.49
 59  64  531799 FORD Tommy  1989  USA   1:50.80  63.38
 60  54  103656 HALBERT Kelby  1990  CAN   1:50.82  63.63
 61  66  170131 FAARUP Christoffer  1992  DAN   1:52.49  84.63
Did not start 1st run
   63  660021 DANILOCHKIN Yuri  1991  BLR     
   53  531452 BIESEMEYER Thomas  1989  USA     
Did not finish 1st run
   65  550022 RODE Roberts  1987  LAT     
   62  561199 SOVIC Tomaz  1990  SLO     
   26  534939 FISHER Erik  1985  USA   

Share This Article

About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”