Theaux sets pace in first and only men’s training run
Adrien Theaux, the winner the last time a World Cup Finals downhill was actually held, in 2011, was fastest down the Silvano Beltrametti track by the narrowest 0.01 of a second over Switzerland’s Sandro Viletta Tuesday in the first and only training run at World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Carlo Janka was a surprise third, 0.04 back, with Olympic champion Mathias Mayer, of Austria, fourth, just 0.05 off the fastest pace. Travis Ganong, enjoying a late season surge that has brought him a third, fourth and fifth-place finish in his last three downhills, was seventh at 0.62 out. Ted Ligety was 12th in training. Bode Miller was the lone DNF. Canadians Manny Osborne-Paradise posted 18th and Erik Guay 20th. Christof Innerhofer appeared ready to take the lead, but lost a ton of time over the final split to finish 17th.
The weather was ideal, sunny and just below the freezing point. With weather claiming the downhills at finals in each of the last two seasons, the race being held is still no certainty. Aksel Lund Svindal, the 21st fastest finisher today, cannot be beaten for the downhill title regardless of the results.
“I like turning,” said Ganong in explaining why he favors the Lenzerheide downhill track. “There’s turns top to bottom. It’s not really a real downhill; there’s no gliding. There’s no jumps. It’s just turning top to bottom. So it’s just, you just have to nail the timing on all the turns. There’s quick tempo in a couple places. It’s a demanding course… short but demanding.”
Both the men and women are scheduled to race downhill on Wednesday, and the current forecast is favorable.
RESULTS
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Total Time | Diff. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | 192746 | THEAUX Adrien | 1984 | FRA | 1:31.54 | ||||
2 | 1 | 511352 | VILETTA Sandro | 1986 | SUI | 1:31.55 | +0.01 | |||
3 | 3 | 511313 | JANKA Carlo | 1986 | SUI | 1:31.58 | +0.04 | |||
4 | 15 | 53902 | MAYER Matthias | 1990 | AUT | 1:31.59 | +0.05 | |||
5 | 7 | 292455 | FILL Peter | 1982 | ITA | 1:31.66 | +0.12 | |||
6 | 10 | 50858 | STREITBERGER Georg | 1981 | AUT | 1:31.72 | +0.18 | |||
7 | 6 | 530874 | GANONG Travis | 1988 | USA | 1:32.16 | +0.62 | |||
8 | 18 | 511139 | KUENG Patrick | 1984 | SUI | 1:32.26 | +0.72 | |||
9 | 16 | 191740 | CLAREY Johan | 1981 | FRA | 1:32.38 | +0.84 | |||
10 | 20 | 421483 | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1985 | NOR | 1:32.53 | +0.99 | |||
11 | 11 | 291459 | PARIS Dominik | 1989 | ITA | 1:32.58 | +1.04 | |||
12 | 8 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 1:32.78 | +1.24 | |||
13 | 23 | 292514 | HEEL Werner | 1982 | ITA | 1:32.80 | +1.26 | |||
14 | 2 | 51215 | BAUMANN Romed | 1986 | AUT | 1:32.87 | +1.33 | |||
15 | 13 | 53817 | FRANZ Max | 1989 | AUT | 1:32.88 | +1.34 | |||
16 | 5 | 54005 | STRIEDINGER Otmar | 1991 | AUT | 1:33.09 | +1.55 | |||
17 | 9 | 293006 | INNERHOFER Christof | 1984 | ITA | 1:33.10 | +1.56 | |||
18 | 26 | 102899 | OSBORNE-PARADIS Manuel | 1984 | CAN | 1:33.13 | +1.59 | |||
19 | 22 | 50753 | KROELL Klaus | 1980 | AUT | 1:33.30 | +1.76 | |||
20 | 19 | 102263 | GUAY Erik | 1981 | CAN | 1:33.33 | +1.79 | |||
21 | 17 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 1:33.49 | +1.95 | |||
22 | 4 | 293141 | VARETTONI Silvano | 1984 | ITA | 1:33.51 | +1.97 | |||
23 | 24 | 422310 | SEJERSTED Adrian Smiseth | 1994 | NOR | 1:33.52 | +1.98 | |||
24 | 12 | 510727 | DEFAGO Didier | 1977 | SUI | 1:33.54 | +2.00 | |||
25 | 21 | 192932 | FAYED Guillermo | 1985 | FRA | 1:36.40 | +4.86 | |||
Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
25 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA |