Pinturault gets 1st Cup GS win, Hirscher 2nd, Ligety 3rd

By Published On: February 24th, 2013Comments Off on Pinturault gets 1st Cup GS win, Hirscher 2nd, Ligety 3rd

Shred messed up. He still made the podium.

After overnight snow covered the ice of lower section of the Garmisch downhill where Sunday’s (Feb 24) GS was held, the day belonged to young (21) Frenchman Alexis Pinturault, winning for the third time this season in his third discipline.

“When we arrived, we didn’t think it was possible and then they make a big race,” he said, still in the finish. “My first win in GS. It is just perfect.”

Putting on his businessman hat, Ligety said. “It’s cool to see Alexis get his first win in GS. Either way it’s a win for the Shred team today.”

Pinturault’s skiing was at least closer to perfect than anyone else. Felix Neureuther, racing in his hometown, was a popular first run leader, but the bid for his first career GS win vanished when he slipped to his side entering the mid-course flats. He was lucky to survive enough to claim 12th.

The other German in contention, Fritz Dopfer crashed out after hooking a gate and enduring a head over tea kettle crash. He appeared to survive unscathed.

Getting second, with an stunning effort considering he had been plagued with a case of the trots, was Marcel Hirscher. He started his second run .75 out and closed to .09 at the end with a solid but less than spectacular run.

“The batteries are very empty,” said Hirscher. “It is sensational
that I’m even on the podium. These are important points for me. In the
World Cup it looks good. It will be exciting.”

Ted “Shred” Ligety, fifth after the first run, had built a lead just shy of a half second when he leaned it over, used his left hand as an outrigger to stay up right and finished third, two tenths off of Pinturault’s time.

With two GS races remaining, Ligety holds the GS standings lead by 105 points and seems destine to claim his fourth World Cup title in the discipline.

“Third place is not what you want to be getting at this stage, but I’ll take it,” said Ligety, “In the first run I made a ton of little mistakes and in the second I was lucky not to get into too much soft snow. … The soft snow made it pretty tough to push the line anywhere,”

Hirscher gained 40 points on sixth place finisher Aksel Lund Svindal to pad his lead in the overall standings to 209pts.

There were some outstanding performances from lightly regarded skiers in the race. With the World Championships having sapped many contenders and with the World Junior Championships depleting part of the field skiers like Benedikt Staubitzer of Germany, Manuel Pleisch of Switzerland and Elia Zurbriggen, the son of Swiss champion Pirmin, gained their first World Cup points

American Tim Jitloff tallied hus best finish of the season, tied with Neureuther in 12th. Robby Kelley finished 41st in the first run and did not earn a second. No Canadians were entered.

Gepa photo

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee

Men’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Feb. 24, 2013
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Pinturault, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic   
3 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
4 Sandell, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Svindal, Head/Head/Head
7 Missillier, Dynastar/Lange/Look
8 Schoerghofer, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Mathis, Head/Head/Head
10 Blardone, Dynastar/Lange/Dynastar

Men’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Feb. 24, 2013
. … It is the 55th race of the 2013 World Cup schedule. … 27th for men and the sixth of eight scheduled giant slaloms. … It is the 95th Cup race hosted by Garmisch-Partenkirchen. … just the fourth GS, third for men.

It is the fourth career World Cup win for Alexis Pinturault, all coming in different disciplines and three of them coming this season. … He had placed second in World Cup GS’s three time previously, at Kranjska Gora March 5, 2011, at Soelden Oct. 23, 2011 and at Kransjka Gora March 10, 2012. … Kranjska Gora is is yet to be contested this season.

It is the 41st career World Cup podium for Marcel Hirscher. … his 16th in GS. … It is his 16th podium of the season in 17 completed races, including two World Championship medals.

It is the 35th career World cup podium for Ted Ligety. … his 28th in GS. … It is his ninth podium of the season including three gold medals at World Championships. … It is his sixth podium of the season in GS.

It is the fourth best career Cup result for Tim Jitloff. … third best in GS. … It is his best result of the season.

Marcel Hirscher leads the World Cup overall standings 1215-1006 over Aksel Lund Svindal (sixth in race). … Felix Neureuther (12th in race) is third with 798pts. … Ted Ligety is fourth with 796pts. … Erik Guay (did not race) leads Canada in 15th with 373pts. … Ligety leads the GS standings (with two races remaining) 520-415 over Hirscher. … Manfred Moelgg (fifth in race) is third with 257pts and cannot win the title. … Jean-Philippe Roy is top Canadian in the GS rankings in 40th with 14pts. … Austria leads the men’s Nations Cup 4765-3241 over Italy with France third at 2632. … The US men are sixth with 1386 and Canada is eighth with 768pts

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)
FIS World Cup
Men’s Giant Slalom
Feb 24, 2013

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  2  194364 PINTURAULT Alexis  1991  FRA   1:14.23  1:18.19  2:32.42  0.00
 2  5  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   1:14.74  1:18.28  2:33.02  3.50
 3  4  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:14.65  1:18.40  2:33.05  3.68
 4  12  180534 SANDELL Marcus  1987  FIN   1:14.78  1:18.37  2:33.15  4.26
 5  3  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   1:14.38  1:18.88  2:33.26  4.90
 6  7  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:14.77  1:18.62  2:33.39  5.66
 7  19  192506 MISSILLIER Steve  1984  FRA   1:15.48  1:18.28  2:33.76  7.82
 8  10  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp  1983  AUT   1:15.12  1:19.08  2:34.20  10.39
 9  8  53985 MATHIS Marcel  1991  AUT   1:15.49  1:18.98  2:34.47  11.97
 10  11  292000 BLARDONE Massimiliano  1979  ITA   1:15.76  1:19.04  2:34.80  13.90
 11  17  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   1:16.05  1:18.82  2:34.87  14.31
 12  28  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA   1:16.06  1:18.83  2:34.89  14.42
 12  14  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER   1:13.99  1:20.90  2:34.89  14.42
 14  18  191423 RICHARD Cyprien  1979  FRA   1:15.64  1:19.31  2:34.95  14.77
 15  42  202265 STAUBITZER Benedikt  1990  GER   1:16.38  1:18.66  2:35.04  15.30
 16  33  193967 MUFFAT JEANDET Victor  1989  FRA   1:16.24  1:18.82  2:35.06  15.42
 17  24  292967 EISATH Florian  1984  ITA   1:16.36  1:18.74  2:35.10  15.65
 18  16  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:16.63  1:18.66  2:35.29  16.76
 19  20  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:16.35  1:18.96  2:35.31  16.88
 20  22  51159 NOESIG Christoph  1985  AUT   1:16.01  1:19.68  2:35.69  19.09
 21  23  421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian  1987  NOR   1:16.36  1:19.48  2:35.84  19.97
 22  29  294890 NANI Roberto  1988  ITA   1:16.78  1:19.42  2:36.20  22.07
 23  40  511718 PLEISCH Manuel  1990  SUI   1:16.59  1:19.63  2:36.22  22.19
 24  41  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA   1:16.55  1:19.86  2:36.41  23.30
 25  21  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE   1:16.78  1:19.74  2:36.52  23.94
 26  44  511741 ZURBRIGGEN Elia  1990  SUI   1:16.88  1:19.73  2:36.61  24.47
Did not start 1st run
   31  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA         
Did not qualify for 2nd run
   54  291145 DEVILLE Cristian  1981  ITA         
   53  561161 JAZBEC Patrick  1989  SLO         
   52  410266 GRIFFIN Benjamin  1986  NZL         
   51  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG         
   47  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA         
   45  290095 BALLERIN Andrea  1989  ITA         
   39  930160 KELLEY Robby  1990  USA         
   38  481006 ZUEV Stepan  1988  RUS         
   36  192653 FREY Thomas  1984  FRA         
   34  561032 JAZBEC Janez  1984  SLO         
   27  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI         
   26  191746 DE TESSIERES Gauthier  1981  FRA         
   25  194495 FAIVRE Mathieu  1992  FRA         
Did not finish 2nd run
   15  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT         
   13  191750 FANARA Thomas  1981  FRA         
   9  50742 REICHELT Hannes  1980  AUT         
   1  202462 DOPFER Fritz  1987  GER         
Did not finish 1st run
   50  511776 GASPOZ Vincent  1991  SUI         
   49  910004 DEFLORIAN Mirko  1980  MDA         
   48  202345 SCHWAIGER Dominik  1991  GER         
   46  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT         
   43  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI         
   37  511638 TUMLER Thomas  1989  SUI         
   35  990116 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca  1990  ITA         
   32  180627 MALMSTROM Victor  1991  FIN         
   30  700830 ZAMPA Adam  1990  SVK         
   6  292120 SIMONCELLI Davide  1979  ITA 

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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.”