Ligety wins Kranjska Gora and earns fourth GS crown

By Published On: March 9th, 2013Comments Off on Ligety wins Kranjska Gora and earns fourth GS crown

Ted Ligety won his fourth World Cup GS title today (March 9) just the way he wanted to, by winning on one of his favorite courses, the Podkoren 3 at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher was second in the race and is in the GS standings, but cannot catch the American in the one remaining GS on the schedule.

Umbrellas were the fashion accessory of the day as a steady rain fell throughout the second run. While the rain actually helped activate the salt and chemicals liberally sprinkled on the race surface, it created a mix of conditions with some turns icing up and holding up decently and others giving away to the warm temperatures creating ruts.

Alexis Pinturault was third fastest on the day, Feleix Neureuther fourth and Thomas Fanara fifth. Aksel Lund Svindal, in a battle with Hirscher for the World Cup’s coveted overall title finished sixth and now sits 69points back with two slaloms, a GS, a downhill and a super G yet to be held. He will hold an advantage in two of those five races and fights an uphill fight.

Ligety said locking the GS title down was “a huge weight off my shoulders,” indicating he would now be able to enjoy World Cup Finals scheduled at Lenzerheide, Switzerland March 13-19. Though he won five of the seven Cup GS’s held so far this season, and never missed the podium, he could not be comfortable until Hirscher was mathematically eliminated.

“I had an awesome season in GS, but Hirscher was right there,” he said from the finish. “Even when I was winning by three seconds he was still there in second.” Hirscher only missed one GS podium this season but both he and Pinturault were quick to applaud Ligety’s second run that gave him a .45 of a second margin.

The second run was contested in rain that made visibility difficult as it clung to goggles and had several skiers, including Svindal, actively wiping them off mid-course. German Fritz Dopfer had his goggles knocked off when he hit a gate with his head. Reaching to find them he got caught in soft slushy snow and flew off course slamming into the safety fencing along skiers left side of the slope. He appeared to have sustained no serious damage, though a hold was called to repair the fencing. It was the only time action slowed as skiers were sent off every minute, 15seconds as race officials hurried to get the race in before heavier rainfall began. With a slalom on tap for tomorrow, Kranjska Gora will be hard pressed to provide a solid race surface.

The win was the fifth in GS at Kranjska Gora for Ligety who also won in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012.
“This hill is awesome. It has everything,” Ligety said. “I’m super proud to win here again.”

Gepa photos

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup GS, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 9, 2013
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
2 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Pinturault, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Neureuther, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
5 Fanara, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
7 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Schoerghofer, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Noesig, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
10 Defago, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men’s World Cup GS, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 9, 2013. … It is the final weekend of the World Cup regular season. … It is the 31st of 40 scheduled men’s races. … the seventh of eight slated GS’s. … It is the 77th Cup race hosted by Kranjska Gora, which first hosted in 1968.

It is the 16th career World Cup win for Ted Ligety, all of them coming in GS. … He is now alone in third all time among men for Cup GS wins behind Ingemar Stenmark (46) and Michael VonGruenigen (23). … He had been tied with Alberto Tomba. … It is his fifth win at Kranjska Gora. … It is his eighth win of the season including three gold medals at the World Championships.

It is the 42nd career World Cup podium placing for Marcel Hirscher. … his sixth at Kranjska Gora. … It is his 17th Cup podium in GS. … He has finished on the podium in 17 of his 18 completed races this season including World Championships. … He finished on the podium in six of the seven Cup GS’s this season.

It is the 13th career World Cup podium placing for Alexis Pinturault. … his fourth at Kranjska Gora. … It is his fifth career Cup podium in GS. … It is his sixth podium of the season, second in GS.

Marcel Hirscher bumps his lead of the World Cup Overall standings to 1295-1226 over Aksel Lund Svindal (sixth in race) with five races remaining. … Ligety is third with 909pts. … Erik Guay (did not race) is top Canadian in 18th place with 378pts. … Ligety leads the GS standings 620-495 over Hirscher with one race remaining and cannot be overtaken for the title. … Manfred Moelgg (14th in race) is third with 275pts. … No other American or Canadian will qualify for World Cup finals in GS. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup standings 5442-3600 for Italy. … France in third with 2959. … The US is sixth at 1535 and Canada eighth with 880pts.

Kranjska Gora (SLO)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Giant Slalom
March 9, 2013

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  3  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:22.16  1:13.27  2:35.43  0.00
 2  2  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   1:22.76  1:13.12  2:35.88  2.58
 3  4  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis  1991  FRA   1:22.36  1:13.84  2:36.20  4.41
 4  9  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER   1:22.38  1:13.86  2:36.24  4.64
 5  8  191750 FANARA Thomas  1981  FRA   1:23.82  1:12.83  2:36.65  6.99
 6  1  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:23.15  1:13.58  2:36.73  7.44
 7  13  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:23.49  1:13.71  2:37.20  10.14
 8  11  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp  1983  AUT   1:24.93  1:12.49  2:37.42  11.39
 9  21  51159 NOESIG Christoph  1985  AUT   1:24.36  1:13.15  2:37.51  11.91
 10  20  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:25.03  1:12.50  2:37.53  12.02
 11  10  292000 BLARDONE Massimiliano  1979  ITA   1:23.99  1:13.58  2:37.57  12.25
 12  15  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT   1:23.71  1:13.89  2:37.60  12.43
 13  7  292120 SIMONCELLI Davide  1979  ITA   1:25.16  1:12.58  2:37.74  13.23
 14  6  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   1:23.75  1:14.00  2:37.75  13.28
 15  16  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:24.57  1:13.20  2:37.77  13.40
 16  12  180534 SANDELL Marcus  1987  FIN   1:24.31  1:13.52  2:37.83  13.74
 17  33  193967 MUFFAT JEANDET Victor  1989  FRA   1:24.32  1:13.57  2:37.89  14.09
 18  43  422304 KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik  1994  NOR   1:24.71  1:13.21  2:37.92  14.26
 19  19  192506 MISSILLIER Steve  1984  FRA   1:24.21  1:13.92  2:38.13  15.46
 20  18  191423 RICHARD Cyprien  1979  FRA   1:24.84  1:13.55  2:38.39  16.95
 21  29  294890 NANI Roberto  1988  ITA   1:25.22  1:13.26  2:38.48  17.46
 22  14  53985 MATHIS Marcel  1991  AUT   1:24.61  1:14.03  2:38.64  18.38
 23  27  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA   1:25.65  1:13.00  2:38.65  18.44
 24  26

 194495 FAIVRE Mathieu  1992  FRA   1:24.66  1:14.00  2:38.66  18.50
 25  17  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   1:24.62  1:14.14  2:38.76  19.07
 26  31  481148 MAYTAKOV Sergei  1990  RUS   1:25.70  1:13.14  2:38.84  19.53
 27  23  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian  1987  NOR   1:25.72  1:13.15  2:38.87  19.70
 28  45  511741 ZURBRIGGEN Elia  1990  SUI   1:25.52  1:14.46  2:39.98  26.05
Did not qualify for 2nd run
   68  770011 TRELEVSKI Dmitry  1983  KGZ         
   67  800013 TOLA Erjon  1986  ALB         
   66  700879 ZAMPA Andreas  1993  SVK         
   62  92534 CHONGAROV Nikola  1989  BUL         
   60  380335 ZUBCIC Filip  1993  CRO         
   58  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG         
   56  6290440 ZINGERLE Alex  1992  ITA         
   55  511776 GASPOZ Vincent  1991  SUI         
   52  194686 FABRE Jonas  1993  FRA         
   51  561244 KRANJEC Zan  1992  SLO         
   50  561148 SKUBE Matic  1988  SLO         
   48  530651 STIEGLER Seppi  1988  USA         
   47  481327 TRIKHICHEV Pavel  1992  RUS         
   44  202265 STAUBITZER Benedikt  1990  GER         
   42  422139 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt  1992  NOR         
   41  700830 ZAMPA Adam  1990  SVK         
   38  930160 KELLEY Robby  1990  USA         
   36  192653 FREY Thomas  1984  FRA         
   35  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca  1990  ITA         
   30  511852 CAVIEZEL Gino  1992  SUI         
   28  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT         
   24  292967 EISATH Florian  1984  ITA         
Did not finish 2nd run
   25  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA         
   5  202462 DOPFER Fritz  1987  GER         
Did not finish 1st run
   65  550054 ZVEJNIEKS Kristaps  1992  LAT         
   64  150743 BERNDT Ondrej  1988  CZE         
   63  561255 CATER Martin  1992  SLO         
   61  561161 JAZBEC Patrick  1989  SLO         
   59  410266 GRIFFIN Benjamin  1986  NZL         
   57  561254 ZERAK Misel  1992  SLO         
   54  400237 MEINERS Maarten  1992  NED         
   53  910004 DEFLORIAN Mirko  1980  MDA         
   49  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT         
   46  290095 BALLERIN Andrea  1989  ITA         
   40  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA         
   39  511718 PLEISCH Manuel  1990  SUI         
   37  51163
8
TUMLER Thomas  1989  SUI         
   34  561032 JAZBEC Janez  1984  SLO         
   32  180627 MALMSTROM Victor  1991  FIN         
   22  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE       

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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.”