Kvitfjell: Grugger wins, Miller holds SG lead
Hans Grugger of Austria won a World Cup super G race at Kvitfjell on Sunday while discipline leader Bode Miller was seventh and held on to the super G standings lead.
Grugger, starting fifth, raced down the 2,574-meter Olympiabakken in 1 minute, 29.57 seconds to claim his fourth career World Cup victory.
“I wasn’t so far off in the race,” Miller said. “I made one mistake when I was thrown out of a late turn and it cost me a half-second. And a half-second in this race is the difference between second place and being seventh.”
KVITFJELL, Norway — Hans Grugger of Austria won a World Cup super G race at Kvitfjell on Sunday while discipline leader Bode Miller was seventh and held on to the super G standings lead.
Grugger, starting fifth, raced down the 2,574-meter Olympiabakken in 1 minute, 29.57 seconds to claim his fourth career World Cup victory.
Mario Scheiber made it an Austrian double, 0.72 behind Grugger. Didier Cuche of Switzerland placed third, 0.91 behind, and advanced to second place in the overall standings. Click here to see the latest men's overall standings.
“I wasn’t so far off in the race,” Miller said. “I made one mistake when I was thrown out of a late turn and it cost me a half-second. And a half-second in this race is the difference between second place and being seventh.”
Miller, the 2005 overall champion, was timed in 1:30.55 and shared seventh with Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein. Also for the United States, Scott Macartney was 17th and Steven Nyman was 26th.
Miller said he was hurt by his start from the 29th spot.
“The guys who win the race started more in the middle or beginning,” he said.
Two of the top contenders for the overall title skied out. Benjamin Raich, the defending overall champion from Austria, skied out but kept his lead with 1,055 points. Aksel Lund Svindal, skiing on his home hill at Kvitfjell, skied out near the same spot where Raich's mishap came.
Svindal dropped to third overall with 952 points.
Cuche has 963 points. Only four races — a downhill, super G, giant slalom and a slalom — remain at the World Cup Finals in Switzerland.
Grugger, a 25-year-old skier from Badgastein who won a super G in December 2005 prior a bad crash in downhill at Bormio, came from almost nowhere to beat Scheiber. Grugger, who started fifth, hadn’t finished a World Cup super G this season, but his secondplace in downhill at Garmisch-Partenkirchen last month helped him regain confidence. His fourth World Cup triumph — the Austrian also won two downhill races in past years — qualifies him at the last minute for the World Cup Finals in that specialty.
“I can’t say that I expected this – it’s a wonderful surprise for me,” said Grugger, only 27th in the downhill on Saturday. “The course conditions were excellent when I started and I wanted to finish the season on a high note in that discipline.”
Grugger’s performance will certainly feed the controversy surrounding the start orders in the speed events. Once more, a racer wearing a low number beat the favorites starting later — Scheiber had bib 22, Cuche wore bib 23, Miller started in 29th position and Hermann Maier in 30th.
Cuche is the big winner of the Norwegian weekend, earning a total of 175 points in the overall standings and his first crystal in downhill.
“I didn’t expect such great success here, I reached more than I thought and I’m very excited to be now second in the overall and [fourth] in the super G standings,” the Swiss veteran. “I’m looking forward now for a strong week at Lenzerheide, where I want to achieve same kinds of performances in front of my fans. I have nothing to lose there.”
Cuche’s chances to become a strong threat for Raich and Svindal in trhe overall standings are slim but real. He has been quite consistent in the speed events this season and quite strong, too, in giant slalom and has the potential to gain more than 200 points in those three specialties.
Bottom mistake costs Miller
U.S. DH/SG head coach Chris Bridham said, “We finally had some decent weather; yesterday [with a 90-minute hold after 11 racers because of fog and poor visibility for the downhill] was a very tough day. Today, it was excellent weather as a good race.”
Temperatures were in the mid-30s with partly sunny skies.
“Bode skied well on the top and especially in the middle, but he had a problem on the bottom section. He was carrying so much speed and couldn’t stop his line, so going into this big, banked turn it pushed him low and he dropped some time. He told me, though, he was very happy and, actually, happy with the way he’s skied the last couple of days …
“He’s got a nice lead going into that final super G and unless he goes out and Kucera or Cuche or Scheiber win it, or even Hermann [Maier of Austria, who is fifth at 155], who could win it and beat Bode by a point, it looks good for him.”
With NorAm super G runner-up Andrew Weibrecht 39th and two-time NorAm super G champion Erik Fisher 46th, Brigham said he liked the way they were absorbing experience. “This has been good experience for them, and having those guaranteed super G starts next season for both of them will be good, too,” Brigham said.
The about-face in the weather was welcome. “Yesterday was unfortunate. We had guys with early start numbers, Mac [Scott Macartney] and Marco [Sullivan], and then comes the light snow and fog and we have that hour-and-a-half interruption. When they restarted, it was sunny and nice, and the course was in good shape, and guys from way back got into the top 30,” he said. “Today was much better.”
Miller, Sullivan and Nyman will be competing in downhill with Nyman and Miller racing in super G at Lenzerheide.
— Manuèle Lang, USSA and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Men's SG, Kvitfjell, March 11, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Grugger, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
2 Scheiber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Walchhofer, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Maier, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Kernen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
7 Buechel, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
9 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Reichelt, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
Men's super G, Kvitfjell, Norway, March 11, 2007 — It is the 32nd race of the men's 38-race World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth SG of the season of six scheduled with one cancellation. … It is the final race before Finals. … Four races remain for the men, one each in DH, SG, SL and GS.
It is the fourth career World Cup win for Johann Grugger and his second in SG. … It is his first win since Dec. 16 of 2005 in SG at Val Gardena. … It is his eighth sco
ring result of the season and second podium after placing second in DH at Garmisch Feb. 23.
It is the seventh career podium and third in SG for Mario Scheiber. … His fourth podium of the season and second in SG. …It is his second podium at Kvitfjell, having placed second in DH March 5, 2005.
It is the 30th career podium for Didier Cuche. … Eighth of the season. … And second in two days, having won the DH March 10. … Cuche breaks up a four-man Austrian sweep.
It is the 86th career top-seven result for Bode Miller. … The 14th in SG. … It is his third-best result at Kvitfjell after a fourth (DH) and fifth (SG) in 2004. … Francois Bourque betters his personal best at Kvitfjell by one placing, topping last season's SG result. … It is the seventh time he has been in the top dozen this season, including a ninth in the World Championship SG. … It is the 13th Cup placing of the season for John Kucera. … He has two SG podiums (won Lake Louise Nov. 26, 3rd Val Gardena Dec. 15), but also a 29th (Hinterstoder Dec. 20) to go with the 15th here. … He has not cracked the top 10 since Dec. 17 (5th GS Alta Badia). … It is the seventh scoring result of the season for Scott Macartney but the first in SG. … It is his eighth-best career placing in World Cup. … It is the 10th career scoring result for Jan Hudec. … The sixth in SG. … It is his sixth score of the season. … It is the first result at Kvitfjell for Steven Nyman. … It is his fifth career SG result. … And first to happen after December.
Bode Miller (seventh in race) maintains the lead in the SG standings 254-178 over John Kucera (15th in race). … Mario Scheiber closes in third to 170 and Didier Cuche to fourth at 168. … With four races remaining, Benjamin Raich (DNF) holds the overall standings lead 1055-963 over Cuche. … Aksel Lund Svindal (DNF) slips to third at 952. …Miller sits fourth at 743. … Winning margin is .72. … Top nine are within a second. … Top 29 within two seconds.
Kvitfjell men's World Cup super G results
| 1 | 5 | 50833 | GRUGGER Hans | 1981 | AUT | 1:29.57 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 22 | 51005 | SCHEIBER Mario | 1983 | AUT | 1:30.29 | 8.28 |
| 3 | 23 | 510030 | CUCHE Didier | 1974 | SUI | 1:30.48 | 10.46 |
| 4 | 11 | 50041 | WALCHHOFER Michael | 1975 | AUT | 1:30.51 | 10.81 |
| 5 | 30 | 50423 | MAIER Hermann | 1972 | AUT | 1:30.52 | 10.92 |
| 6 | 20 | 510478 | KERNEN Bruno | 1972 | SUI | 1:30.53 | 11.04 |
| 7 | 29 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 1:30.55 | 11.27 |
| 7 | 19 | 350032 | BUECHEL Marco | 1971 | LIE | 1:30.55 | 11.27 |
| 9 | 24 | 50182 | STROBL Fritz | 1972 | AUT | 1:30.57 | 11.50 |
| 10 | 18 | 50742 | REICHELT Hannes | 1980 | AUT | 1:30.62 | 12.07 |
| 11 | 15 | 1028 14 |
BOURQUE Francois | 1984 | CAN | 1:30.73 | 13.34 |
| 12 | 3 | 201606 | KEPPLER Stephan | 1983 | GER | 1:30.77 | 13.80 |
| 13 | 14 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:30.78 | 13.91 |
| 14 | 10 | 500150 | JAERBYN Patrik | 1969 | SWE | 1:30.79 | 14.03 |
| 15 | 21 | 102873 | KUCERA John | 1984 | CAN | 1:30.87 | 14.95 |
| 16 | 8 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 1:30.94 | 15.75 |
| 17 | 6 | 532490 | MACARTNEY Scott | 1978 | USA | 1:31.20 | 18.74 |
| 18 | 25 | 50451 | GRUBER Christoph | 1976 | AUT | 1:31.37 | 20.70 |
| 19 | 41 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:31.38 | 20.81 |
| 20 | 9 | 50743 | LANZINGER Matthias | 1980 | AUT | 1:31.39 | 20.93 |
| 20 | 4 | 102271 | HUDEC Jan | 1981 | CAN | 1:31.39 | 20.93 |
| 22 | 2 | 291399 | GIRARDI Walter | 1976 | ITA | 1:31.41 | 21.16 |
| 23 | 40 | 191116 | DALCIN Pierre-Emmanuel | 1977 | FRA | 1:31.42 | 21.27 |
| 24 | 47 | 501076 | OLSSON Hans | 1984 | SWE | 1:31.49 | 22.08 |
| 24 | 33 | 292000 | BLARDONE Massimiliano | 1979 | ITA | 1:31.49 | 22.08 |
| 24 | 7 | 533866 | NYMAN Steven | 1982 | USA | 1:31.49 | 22.08 |
| 27 | 37 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:31.50 | 22.19 |
| 28 | 27 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:31.57 | 23.00 |
| 28 | 1 | 560447 | SPORN Andrej | 1981 | SLO | 1:31.57 | 23.00 |
| 30 | 17 | 190930 | DENERIAZ Antoine | 1976 | FRA | 1:31.67 | 24.15 |
| 31 | 60 | 421400 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | 1:31.77 | 25.30 |
| 32 | 31 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 1:31.79 | 25.53 |
| 33 | 51 | 103512 | FRISCH Jeffrey | 1984 | CAN | 1:31.93 | 27.14 |
| 33 | 45 | 292056 | GUFLER Michael | 1979 | ITA | 1:31.93 | 27.14 |
| 33 | 35 | 50761 | ALSTER Christoph | 1980 | AUT | 1:31.93 | 27.14 |
| 36 | 34 | 510307 | BRAND Olivier | 1980 | SUI | 1:31.95 | 27.37 |
| 37 | 50 | 560406 | GORZA Ales | 1980 | SLO | 1:32.11 | 29.21 |
| 38 | 32 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | 1:32.14 | 29.55 |
| 39 | 56 | 530939 | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1986 | USA | 1:32.19 | 30.13 |
| 40 | 36 | 510207 | HARI Konrad | 1978 | SUI | 1:32.31 | 31.51 |
| 41 | 48 | 292150 | HAPPACHER Alex | 1979 | ITA | 1:32.49 | 33.58 |
| 42 | 44 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:32.64 | 35.30 |
| 43 | 64 | 421566 | BRENNA Petter | 1986 | NOR | 1:32.66 | 35.53 |
| 44 | 42 | 420911 | SOLBAKKEN Bjarne | 1977 | NOR | 1:32.70 | 35.99 |
| 45 | 57 | 534567 | LANNING Thomas (tj) | 1984 | USA | 1:32.71 | 36.11 |
| 46 | 49 | 534939 | FISHER Erik | 1985 | USA | 1:33.00 | 39.44 |
| 47 | 38 | 292967 | EISATH Florian | 1984 | ITA | 1:33.04 | 39.90 |
| 48 | 43 | 291116 | FATTORI Alessandro | 1973 | ITA | 1:33.13 | 40.94 |
| 49 | 59 | 150421 | ZAHROBSKY Petr | 1980 | CZE | 1:33.23 | 42.09 |
| 50 | 46 | 293141 | VARETTONI Silvano | 1984 | ITA | 1:33.34 | 43.35 |
| 51 | 54 | 201439 | STEHLE Johannes | 1981 | GER | 1:33.57 | 46.00 |
| 52 | 63 | 533131 | SULLIVAN Marco | 1980 | USA | 1:33.71 | 47.61 |
| 53 | 62 | 380292 | ZRNCIC-DIM Natko | 1986 | CRO | 1:33.78 | 48.41 |
| 54 | 66 | 480736 | HOROSHILOV Alexandr | 1984 | RUS | 1:34.48 | 56.46 |
| 55 | 58 | 532173 | JOHNSON Justin J | 1977 | USA | 1:34.59 | 57.73 |
Did not start 1st run:
POISSON David (FRA)
Did not finish 1st run:
OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel (CAN), PERKO Rok (SLO), BERTRAND Yannick (FRA), MICKEL Finlay (GBR), RAINER Niklas (SWE), SVINDAL Aksel Lund (NOR), GUAY Erik (CAN), HOFFMANN Ambrosi (SUI), ZURBRIGGEN Silvan (SUI), RAICH Benjamin (AUT)
World Cup super G standings
(After 4 of 5 races)
1. Bode Miller, United States, 254 points.
2. John Kucera, Canada, 178.
3. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 170.
4. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 168.
5. Hermann Maier, Austria, 155.
6. Peter Fill, Italy, 143.
7. Christoph Gruber, Austria, 121.
8. Georg Streitberger, 100.
(tie) Hans Grugger, 100.
10. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 96.
Overall World Cup standings
(After 32 of 36 races)
1. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1,055 points.
2. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 963.
3. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 952.
4. Bode Miller, United States, 743.
5. Peter Fill, Italy, 694.
6. Mario Matt, Austria, 664.
7. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 564.
8. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 553.
9. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 497.
10. Marc Berthod, Switzerland, 496.
About the Author: Pete Rugh
