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[Event]Lenzerheide, Switzerland 2006/07, World Cup finals - Men and Women
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The World Cup comes to an this week with the World Cup finals at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Located in eastern Switzerland, on a 1500m high valley between Chur and Tiefencastle, Lenzerheide is about 3 hours from Basel.
Schedule
Wednesday, March 14 - Men's Downhill
Wednesday, March 14 - Women's Downhill
Thursday, March 15 - Men's Super G
Thursday, March 15 - Women's Super G
Friday, March 16 - Team
Saturday, March 17 - Men's Giant Slalom
Saturday, March 17 - Women's Slalom
Sunday, March 18 - Men's Slalom
Sunday, March 18 - Women's Giant Slalom
2005 Season Finale
Lenzerheide also hosted the finals in 2004/05. The winners:
Women
Downhill - Renate Goetschl
Super G - Michaela Dorfmeister
Giant Slalom - Maria Jose Rienda
Slalom - Sarah Schleper
Men
Downhill - Lasse Kjus
Super G - Bode Miller
Giant Slalom - Stephan Goergl
Slalom - Mario Matt
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Downhill Training Runs - March 12
Women
Rank Bib Name Nation Time
1 15 GOETSCHL Renate AUT 1:23.92
2 20 PAERSON Anja SWE 1:24.32
3 16 MANCUSO Julia USA 1:24.44
4 6 HOSP Nicole AUT 1:25.12
5 12 JACQUEMOD Ingrid FRA 1:25.56
6 13 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 1:25.60
7 18 RIESCH Maria GER 1:26.05
8 19 STYGER Nadia SUI 1:26.16
9 1 COOK Stacey J USA 1:26.23
10 23 WEIRATHER Tina LIE 1:26.34
11 10 MEISSNITZER Alexandra AUT 1:26.97
12 9 MARCHAND−ARVIER Marie FRA 1:27.26
13 4 HOLAUS Maria AUT 1:27.28
14 22 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 1:27.41
15 8 BORGHI Catherine SUI 1:27.43
16 24 MERIGHETTI Daniela ITA 1:27.59
17 3 DUMERMUTH Monika SUI 1:28.22
18 7 SCHILD Marlies AUT 1:28.39
19 17 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 1:28.52
20 11 BERTHOD Sylviane SUI 1:29.04
21 2 JANYK Britt CAN 1:29.22
22 14 VANDERBEEK Kelly CAN 1:34.00
5 CLARK Kirsten L USA DNF
21 BRYDON Emily CAN DNF
25 KIRCHGASSER Michaela AUT DNS
| QUOTE | Goetschl paces training
Austrian champion Renate Goetschl set the fastest time on Monday in training for the World Cup's final women's downhill race.
Having wrapped up the downhill and super-G titles already, Goetschl still has a slim chance in the overall cup which will be decided over the next week at Lenzerheide.
"I feel relaxed now, this course is nice and the weather is great so I'm aiming for two good races here this week," she said.
"I've had a great season so far and I achieved more than I thought so I don't worry too much about the general classification. It's already fun to battle with much younger racers and I'll do my best to give them a hard time as long as possible."
The 31-year-old Goetschl, who won the downhill here two years ago, cruised down the 2,553 metres of the challenging course in one minute 23.92, 0.40 seconds faster than Sweden's Anja Paerson.
American Julia Mancuso, who like Goetschl has hopes of winning the overall cup, was second, 0.52 seconds behind.
Austrian Nicole Hosp came in fourth, 1.20 seconds back, and her team mate Marlies Schild was more than four seconds slower than Goetschl in 18th.
Schild leads the overall standings with 1,302 points, just 15 more than Hosp but neither woman is at their best in the speed events. Either Mancuso, who is third on 1,251, or Goetschl (1,200) could take the lead with a good result in Wednesday's downhill.
The men have a training run on Tuesday on the Silvano Beltrametti course, named in honour of the Swiss downhill racer who was paralysed in a race crash in 2001.
Source: Reuters |
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| Andrew |
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Men's Downhill Training Run - March 13
Rank Bib Name Nation Time
1 19 BUECHEL Marco LIE 1:19.96
2 20 CUCHE Didier SUI 1:19.99 Gate 8 Rule 629.3
3 15 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 1:20.13 Gate 13 Rule 629.3
4 1 ALBRECHT Daniel SUI 1:20.78 Gate 21 Rule 629.3
5 24 STROBL Fritz AUT 1:20.79
6 16 DALCIN Pierre−Emmanuel FRA 1:20.98
7 29 GRUBER Christoph AUT 1:21.07
8 2 MAIER Hermann AUT 1:21.22
9 17 SCHEIBER Mario AUT 1:21.30
10 21 FILL Peter ITA 1:21.31 Gate 11 Rule 629.3
11 14 HOFFMANN Ambrosi SUI 1:21.41
12 23 MILLER Bode USA 1:21.57
13 22 WALCHHOFER Michael AUT 1:21.68
14 7 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan SUI 1:21.76
15 9 BERTRAND Yannick FRA 1:21.79
16 3 GRUGGER Hans AUT 1:21.93
17 27 KROELL Klaus AUT 1:22.14
18 28 BUDER Andreas AUT 1:22.32
19 30 LIGETY Ted USA 1:23.11
20 13 KERNEN Bruno SUI 1:23.14
DNF 26 OSBORNE−PARADIS Manuel CAN 1:23.87
DQ 25 JERMAN Andrej SLO DNF
DQ 4 SULZENBACHER Kurt ITA DQ
DQ 5 RAICH Benjamin AUT DQ
DQ 6 SULLIVAN Marco USA DQ
DQ 8 STAUDACHER Patrick ITA DQ Gate 8 Rule 629.3
DQ 10 FEUZ Beat SUI DQ Gate 13 Rule 629.3
DQ 11 DEFAGO Didier SUI DQ Gate 20 Rule 629.3
DQ 12 NYMAN Steven USA DQ
DQ 18 GUAY Erik CAN DQ Gate 13 Rule 629.3
| QUOTE | Buechel, Cuche on top
Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel and Swiss World Cup downhill champion Didier Cuche dominated downhill training in Lenzerheide on Tuesday.
Buechel clocked 1:19.96 with Cuche 0.03 seconds behind. Norway's world champion Aksel Lund Svindal came in third in 1:20.13.
Raich was 21st in the last downhill at Kvitfjell -- which would not be a high enough position to win any points at the World Cup finals, with only the top 15 scoring.
The Austrian has not excelled in the speed events this season and may have a hard time beating the specialists.
He leads Cuche, who won the downhill at Kvitfjell and was third in the Super-G, by 92 points in the overall standings and Svindal by 103.
"The course is short yet very demanding," Cuche said. "You have to fight all the time to achieve clean turns. It will be an interesting competition for us. It's a fun situation for me, far beyond my wildest dreams," added the 32-year-old.
Slovenia's Andrej Jerman, who injured his right shoulder at Kvitfjell was unable to complete his run. Winner in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Jerman may skip the race if he is still in pain.
Source: Reuters |
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
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Women's Downhill Training Run - March 13
Rank Bib Name Nation Time
1 7 SCHILD Marlies AUT 1:23.20
2 20 GOETSCHL Renate AUT 1:23.58
3 18 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 1:23.78
4 13 RIESCH Maria GER 1:23.87
5 6 HOSP Nicole AUT 1:24.76
6 14 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 1:24.94
7 15 JACQUEMOD Ingrid FRA 1:24.99
8 8 BORGHI Catherine SUI 1:25.07
9 10 MARCHAND−ARVIER Marie FRA 1:25.12
10 9 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 1:25.21
11 17 STYGER Nadia SUI 1:25.22
12 5 MERIGHETTI Daniela ITA 1:25.42
13 11 MEISSNITZER Alexandra AUT 1:25.48
14 2 HOLAUS Maria AUT 1:25.57
15 23 COOK Stacey J USA 1:25.67
16 1 JANYK Britt CAN 1:26.72
17 19 BERTHOD Sylviane SUI 1:28.65
18 21 VANDERBEEK Kelly CAN 1:30.05
DQ 12 BRYDON Emily CAN Gate 20 Rule 629.3
DQ 16 MANCUSO Julia USA Gate 20 Rule 629.3
DQ 22 PAERSON Anja SWE Gate 20 Rule 629.3
DNS 3 CLARK Kirsten L USA DNS
DNF 4 DUMERMUTH Monika SUI DNF
DNF 24 WEIRATHER Tina LIE
| QUOTE | Schild surprises in training
Austrian slalom specialist Marlies Schild and was quickest in training for Wednesday's final World Cup downhill races of the season at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Women's overall World Cup leader Schild clocked one minute 23.20 seconds on the 'Silvano Beltrametti' course on Tuesday, 0.38 faster than team mate and downhill champion Renate Goetschl.
"The course is very bumpy and technically demanding, but I feel good about it," Schild told reporters. "I'm happy to have been so fast today, I had my problems yesterday so I wanted to get going today," added the 25-year-old slalom and super-combined World Cup champion, who was seventh in a downhill at Tarvisio two weeks ago.
Austrian Andrea Fischbacher had the third fastest time of 1:23.78, ahead of Germany's Maria Riesch and Nicole Hosp, who is second in the overall standings, 15 points adrift of Schild.
Julia Mancuso, aiming to become the first American woman since Tamara McKinney in 1983 to win the overall title, unofficially clocked the fourth best time but missed one of the last gates.
Junior world champion Tina Weirather, daughter of Liechtenstein's 1980 double Olympic champion Hanni Wenzel, and Swiss Monika Dumermuth both crashed in training and were taken to hospital.
Source: Reuters |
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MEN'S DOWNHILL AKSEL LUND SVINDAL  Rank Bib Name YoB Nation Time Behind 1 19 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR 1:18.97 2 2 ALBRECHT Daniel 1983 SUI 1:19.02 0.05 3 13 GRUBER Christoph 1976 AUT 1:19.04 0.07 4 3 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA 1:19.06 0.09 5 30 CUCHE Didier 1974 SUI 1:19.07 0.10 5 8 MAIER Hermann 1972 AUT 1:19.07 0.10 7 11 BUDER Andreas 1979 AUT 1:19.30 0.33 8 29 BUECHEL Marco 1971 LIE 1:19.34 0.37 9 24 MILLER Bode 1977 USA 1:19.46 0.49 10 16 HOFFMANN Ambrosi 1977 SUI 1:19.48 0.51 11 26 WALCHHOFER Michael 1975 AUT 1:19.49 0.52 11 5 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 1981 SUI 1:19.49 0.52 13 4 RAICH Benjamin 1978 AUT 1:19.75 0.78 14 1 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI 1:19.80 0.83 15 21 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA 1:19.86 0.89 16 23 SCHEIBER Mario 1983 AUT 1:19.92 0.95 16 6 BERTRAND Yannick 1980 FRA 1:19.92 0.95 18 15 DEFAGO Didier 1977 SUI 1:20.09 1.12 19 27 FILL Peter 1982 ITA 1:20.21 1.24 20 18 STROBL Fritz 1972 AUT 1:20.23 1.26 21 28 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN 1:20.28 1.31 22 9 SULZENBACHER Kurt 1976 ITA 1:20.42 1.45 23 22 OSBORNE−PARADIS Manuel 1984 CAN 1:20.88 1.91 24 12 STAUDACHER Patrick 1980 ITA 1:21.23 2.26 DID NOT START: 25 JERMAN Andrej 1978 SLO DID NOT FINISH: 7 SULLIVAN Marco 1980 USA 10 KROELL Klaus 1980 AUT 14 GRUGGER Hans 1981 AUT 17 KERNEN Bruno 1972 SUI 20 DALCIN Pierre−Emmanuel 1977 FRA Final Downhill Standings1 CUCHE Didier SUI 652 2 BUECHEL Marco LIE 471 3 GUAY Erik CAN 393 4 FILL Peter ITA 382 5 WALCHHOFER Michael AUT 370 6 JERMAN Andrej SLO 339 7 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 321 8 MILLER Bode USA 318 9 SCHEIBER Mario AUT 254 10 NYMAN Steven USA 250
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Svindal takes downhill
Aksel Lund Svindal put himself in prime position to win the overall World Cup with a narrow victory in an incident-packed final men's downhill of the Alpine ski season in Lenzerheide.
The Norwegian blazed down a treacherous course in between two spectacular crashes that resulted in Swiss Bruno Kernen and Frenchman Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin being taken off the mountain by helicopter.
Svindal, who began the day in third place in the race for the overall crown, clocked one minute 18.97 seconds to bag 100 points and close the gap on Austrian reigning champion and leader Benjamin Raich, who finished 13th, to a slender 23 points.
Swiss Didier Cuche, already assured of the downhill title, finished in fifth place to leave him third in the overall standings, 67 points behind.
American Bode Miller, the 2005 overall champion, was a disappointing ninth, meaning his slim hopes of a grandstand finish to what has been a disappointing season were ended as he can no longer overhaul Raich.
Svindal, gold medallist in downhill at last month's world championships in Are, had previously managed only one World Cup victory in the speed discipline, also in the Swedish resort at last season's finals.
"This victory is very important for me because I've not been so excellent in downhill this season," said 24-year-old Svindal, who also won gold in giant slalom in Are. "To win the final race is exciting, not for the World Cup points but for the victory.
"I had no problem with the long wait, that's all part of the sport. But it was a tricky downhill and I feel sorry for the guys who were injured."
Cuche finished just one tenth of a second behind Svindal and fears that such small margins could prove vital at the end of the week as he tries to become the first Swiss man to be overall champion since Paul Accola in 1992.
"I managed to get my focus back after the long wait but the course was not in such great shape when I went down, " Cuche said. "I could have won this race and I may miss these points that I lost today."
Raich, who was suffering with a cold, said he was satisfied with his 20 points from his weakest event and said they might prove "precious" in the overall standings.
Many skiers struggled with the tight, narrow turns and Kernen's accident, in particular, drew gasps from the home fans in the finishing area.
The 34-year-old lost control in the lower section, clipped a gate with his arm and careered through two layers of safety fencing.
He was treated for some 30 minutes on the course and eventually taken away by helicopter to nearby Chur with neck and right knee injuries.
On the restart there was barely time for Svindal to lay down his winning run before Dalcin became the second victim of a course named after Swiss racer Silvano Beltrametti who was paralysed after a racing accident in France in 2001.
Dalcin disappeared under a safety fence after crashing off in the upper section and was air-lifted off the course with a suspected dislocated shoulder.
The top three places were completed by Swiss Daniel Albrecht and Austrian Christoph Gruber who, like Svindal, had not even managed to finish on the podium in downhill this season.
The men have three more races in Lenzerheide this week to decide the overall cup.
Source: Reuters
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| Andrew |
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WOMEN'S DOWNHILL RENATE GOETSCHL  Rank Bib Name YoB Nation Time Behind 1 22 GOETSCHL Renate 1975 AUT 1:22.73 2 7 SCHILD Marlies 1981 AUT 1:23.31 0.58 3 10 MARCHAND−ARVIER Marie 1985 FRA 1:23.40 0.67 4 13 RIESCH Maria 1984 GER 1:23.76 1.03 5 21 MANCUSO Julia 1984 USA 1:23.78 1.05 6 6 HOSP Nicole 1983 AUT 1:23.81 1.08 7 20 PAERSON Anja 1981 SWE 1:23.97 1.24 8 19 JACQUEMOD Ingrid 1978 FRA 1:24.17 1.44 9 12 BRYDON Emily 1980 CAN 1:24.32 1.59 9 9 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi 1981 SUI 1:24.32 1.59 11 11 MEISSNITZER Alexandra 1973 AUT 1:24.75 2.02 12 17 STYGER Nadia 1978 SUI 1:24.77 2.04 13 5 HOLAUS Maria 1983 AUT 1:25.40 2.67 14 2 COOK Stacey J 1984 USA 1:25.46 2.73 15 16 FISCHBACHER Andrea 1985 AUT 1:25.77 3.04 16 1 JANYK Britt 1980 CAN 1:25.79 3.06 17 14 BERTHOD Sylviane 1977 SUI 1:28.75 6.02 DID NOT START: 3 CLARK Kirsten L 1977 USA 18 VANDERBEEK Kelly 1983 CAN DID NOT FINISH: 4 MERIGHETTI Daniela 1981 ITA 8 BORGHI Catherine 1976 SUI 15 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT Final Downhill Standings1 GOETSCHL Renate AUT 705 2 MANCUSO Julia USA 536 3 KILDOW Lindsey C USA 390 4 PAERSON Anja SWE 293 5 JACQUEMOD Ingrid FRA 264 6 STYGER Nadia SUI 229 7 RIESCH Maria GER 225 8 VANDERBEEK Kelly CAN 218 9 MARCHAND−ARVIER Marie FRA 215 10 GISIN Dominique SUI 210
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
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Goetschl wins final downhill
Renate Goetschl once again proved her mastery of Alpine skiing's downhill discipline but it was her young Austrian team mate Marlies Schild who stole the show on a gloriously sunny day in the Swiss Alps.
While the experienced Goetschl won the final downhill of the season by more than half a second in one minute 22.73 seconds, the 25-year-old Schild's career-best showing in the event makes her the overwhelming favourite to be crowned the overall World Cup champion for the first time at the weekend.
Schild's second place - her previous best was seventh - extended her advantage at the top of the standings to 55 points over fellow Austrian Nicole Hosp. With her strongest events still to come this week she is the favourite to take Janica Kostelic's crown after the Croatian all rounder opted to skip the season.
"I got really charged up for this after my fast time in training yesterday," said Schild, who has won a record-equalling seven slalom races in a season of Austrian dominance that looks like ending on Sunday in their first clean sweep of World Cup honours since 1999. Austrian women have won 21 of this season's World Cup races, a national record.
"I don't mind losing to Goetschl because she has been so good this year in downhill but this is a big result for me in terms of the overall and my first downhill podium so I'm really enjoying it."
Goetschl, who clocked up her eighth victory of the season and 46th of her career, came to Switzerland already assured of the downhill and super-G titles and still secretly harbouring hopes of a repeat of her overall title in 2000.
However with an 82-point gap to Schild and only Thursday's super-G realistically left to score heavily she was content to revel in another podium-topping performance.
"This was the biggest win of my winter especially as I started at the back with the course getting softer," said the 31-year-old.
"My partner made a bet with me last year that I would win nine races this season and I thought he was mad but now I have the chance to do it tomorrow. Each podium for me is still special."
Julia Mancuso's dreams of becoming the first American woman to win the World Cup since Tamara McKinney in 1983 are still alive after she finished fifth.
The bubbly Californian is 86 points behind Schild but can feature strongly in the super-G and the giant slalom here.
"Today was difficult because I couldn't attack the way I wanted to," she said. "There were crashes earlier and that was in the back of mind so I just wanted to make a clean run and we'll see what happens the rest of the week. I wasn't thinking about the points."
Marie Marchand-Arvier of France completed the season's final downhill podium, matching her third place in Cortina in January.
Austria's Elisabeth Goergl escaped injury after a spectacular crash into the safety fence.
Source: Reuters
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World Champion
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Team  News | QUOTE | Brydon 9, Guay 21in DH; Guay finishes third in World Rankings
Erik Guay finishes the DH season third in standings, best season ever
LENZERHEIDE, SUI – March 14, 2007 – The 2007 FIS World Cup Finals took off with the presentation of the downhill events for both the Men and the Ladies Wednesday.
Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) concluded the Downhill season in third place in the World Standings, a best ever season results for the 25-year-old skier from Mont-Tremblant.
Emily Brydon (Fernie, BC) was the overall best Canadian, placing in 9th position. She stopped the clock of the last downhill event of the season at one minute and 24.32 seconds. Brydon was followed by Britt Janyk (Whistler, BC) who came in 16th position.
Kelly VanderBeek (Kitchener, ON) did not start the race.
“Emily really stepped it up after her training run yesterday. She went fast, but the conditions weren’t clean as our race followed the men’s race,” said Rob Boyd, World Cup Coach on the Ladies’ team.
“Britt raced a little faster than in the training. Starting first, she might have been affected by the start delays. We know she can regroup and rebound in tomorrow’s Super G,” added Boyd.
Austrian Renate Goetschl clocked the fastest time of all Ladies, winning the event. She completed the Silvano Beltrametti course in one minute and 22.73 seconds. Her Team-mate Marlies Schild came in second while French skier Marie Marchand-Arvier placed third.
In the Men’s run, Guaycame in 21st while team-mate Manuel Osborne Paradis (Vancouver, BC) followed him closely in 23rd position.
Guay completed the 2.553-kilometre course in one minute 20.28 seconds, 1.31 seconds behind the winning time. Osborne-Paradis took one minute 20.88 to complete the course.
“Cuche showed it was possible to have a fast run. There two major course hold which slowed the race down quite a lot,” said Paul Kristofic, Head Coach the Men’s team.
“To have a fast time, you have to take lots of risks. Manny had some good split times because he took those risks, but the mistake he made at the bottom proved costly,” continued Kristofic.
Despite good start numbers, both Canadians were clearly disadvantaged by the deteriorating conditions of the Silvano Beltrametti course in Lenzerheide, where the temperature rose to 14 degrees.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal captured the highest honours, stopping the clock at 1:18.97, followed by Switzerland’s Daniel Albrecth and Austrian Christoph Gruber.
According to Eurosport.com, Swiss Bruno Kernen and Frenchman Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin were both involved in serious crashes. Kernen suffered neck and knee injuries while Dalcin sustained a shoulder injury. Both were air-lifted to hospital by helicopter.
The Crystal Globes for the Dowhnill event were awarded to Didier Cuche (SUI) on the Men’s side and Renate Goetschl (AUT) on the Ladies’ side.
The 2007 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals is the last event of the current Alpine skiing season. Throughout the event, overall and discipline champions will be crowned in four official alpine skiing disciplines.
Tomorrow, the Super G will be the featured event at these World Cup Finals. Canada’s John Kucera (Calgary, AB) sits in second position in the World rankings and could still win the Crystal Globe.
Source: canski.org |
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| Andrew |
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Team  News | QUOTE | Ligety Rockets to 4th in Finals Downhill
Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was a surprise fourth-place finisher in a crash-marred downhill Wednesday at World Cup Finals as the top six skiers were just one-tenth of a second apart. Bode Miller (Bretton Woods, NH) was ninth in the race won by DH world champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.
Svindal closed ground on World Cup overall leader Benjamin Raich of Austria as he won with a time of 1:18.97 over the 2.55K Beltrametti speed run. Swiss Daniel Albrecht was second in 1:19.02, Austrian Christoph Gruber third (1:19.04) and Ligety fourth in 1:19.06 while Didier Cuche of Switzerland, who was crowned World Cup downhill champion last weekend in Norway, tied with Austrian great Hermann Maier for fifth place (1:19.07).
Miller's time was 1:19.46 and Steven Nyman (Provo, UT) finished 15th in 1:19.86 on a sunny day with temperatures in the mid-30s.
Svindal earned 100 points for winning and got an extra boost when Raich finished 13th, giving him just 18 points. With three races remaining, but two of them tech events where Raich is a standout, Raich has 1,075 points to 1,052 for Svindal. Cuche is third (1,008) Miller, the 2005 overall champion, is fourth overall with 772.
"It went pretty well," Ligety said. "It's a turner's downhill course, so that bodes well for me. But it's also one of the most challenging downhill courses I've skied."
DH Head Coach Chris Brigham agreed. "It's a good course for Ted. We started from the women's start, which was our super G start two years ago when Bode and 'D' [Daron Rahlves] tied for the super G win. It turns all the way down, which plays to Ted's technical strengths."
The downhill also served as a nice warmup for Miller, who looks to hold onto his super G points lead. With only Thursday's SG remaining, he has 254 points with Canadian John Kucera second at 178 and Austrian Mario Scheiber No. 3 at 170.
"He skied well and this should have been a good help for Bode. He's doing well and tomorrow should be quite a race," Brigham said.
There were two crashes, which caused long course holds. Swiss Bruno Kernen, running No. 17, went down and was helicoptered off the montain; Svindal skied 19th and took the lead and Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin of France, No. 20, crashed, causing another long hold - this one with Nyman in the start gate. Dalcin also was choppered off the hill; there was no immediate word on either injury but officials said they were not life-threatening.
The men ski first again Thursday for their super G. Brigham said that also should help Miller "because the course is hard and fast early on; it gets extremely warm in the afternoons - +11 C.[about 51 F.] yesterday - but they've done a really good job of preparing the course." |
| QUOTE | Women's Overall Race Tight After DH
Austrian Marlies Schild put some distance on two of her three challengers for the women's overall World Cup title Wednesday, finishing second behind World Cup champion Renate Goetschl of Austria in a downhill with Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) fifth and Austrian Nicole Hosp sixth.
"I got a little nervous today, which I normally don't do," she conceded. "The course was a lot easier than I expected, and I definitely could have pushed it a little more.
Goetschl, the World Cup speed queen with both the DH and super G titles this winter, collected her eighth win of the season, 46th of her career, with a time of 1:22.73. Schild, the slalom champion, was timed in 1:23.31 as she gained points on Mancuso and Hosp, who were behind her.
Mancuso: "I could have pushed it harder..."
Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) was 14th in 1:25.46 to finish her season on an up-note while veteran Kirsten Clark (Raymond, ME), who won a World Cup downhill at Lenzerheide in 2001, did not start after a training crash Monday. "Kirsten wanted to go, but I'm glad she used her head and didn't race," Head Coach Patrick Riml said.
With three races left, Schild has 1,382 points to 1,327 for Hosp with Goetschl up to 1,300 and Mancuso fourth at 1,296.
"I'm psyched with the way I skied but I could have pushed it harder," Mancuso said. "I wasn't on my skis. The snow was grippy and faster, but easier, too...and I wasn't quite prepared for that."
Although Schild is noted primarily for her gate-running, Mancuso was quick to point out she skied well in Tarvisio, Italy, earlier this month when she was seventh in a downhill, which Mancuso won. "She's skiing well. This wasn't a big surprise for me," she said.
Snow changed during course delays
Missing a gate Tuesday in the second downhill training run affected Mancuso a bit, Riml said, "and it seemed she just showed the course too much respect. She wasn't pushing the line the way she normally does, but fifth is good. The snow changed a little bit with the delays [including a lengthy hold replacing safety meeting when Austrian Elisabeth Goergl went off course], so it got softer and that made things easier...and Jules got caught there.
"You know, it's easy to get a little spoiled sometimes when you've had the success we've had this year, but it's been a great season...and we haven't had Lindsey [Kildow - Vail, CO; out with a knee injury] for the last month, so I'm psyched for these girls. We always want the podium, but Jules has three more chances. She's not done yet." |
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World Champion
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MEN'S SUPER G AKSEL LUND SVINDAL Rank Bib Name YoB Nation Time Behind 1 14 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 1982 NOR 1:17.94 2 10 RAICH Benjamin 1978 AUT 1:18.07 0.13 3 12 GUAY Erik 1981 CAN 1:18.29 0.35 4 27 MILLER Bode 1977 USA 1:18.33 0.39 4 18 BUECHEL Marco 1971 LIE 1:18.33 0.39 6 24 CUCHE Didier 1974 SUI 1:18.46 0.52 7 20 STREITBERGER Georg 1981 AUT 1:18.62 0.68 8 21 GRUBER Christoph 1976 AUT 1:18.71 0.77 9 4 LANZINGER Matthias 1980 AUT 1:18.80 0.86 10 5 BOURQUE Francois 1984 CAN 1:19.09 1.15 11 19 GRUGGER Hans 1981 AUT 1:19.32 1.38 12 23 MAIER Hermann 1972 AUT 1:19.36 1.42 13 25 SCHEIBER Mario 1983 AUT 1:19.39 1.45 14 15 DEFAGO Didier 1977 SUI 1:19.48 1.54 15 26 KUCERA John 1984 CAN 1:19.50 1.56 16 22 FILL Peter 1982 ITA 1:19.66 1.72 17 3 NYMAN Steven 1982 USA 1:19.96 2.02 18 7 KEPPLER Stephan 1983 GER 1:20.14 2.20 19 13 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 1981 SUI 1:20.19 2.25 20 16 DENERIAZ Antoine 1976 FRA 1:20.20 2.26 21 8 JAERBYN Patrik 1969 SWE 1:20.33 2.39 22 1 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI 1:21.59 3.65 23 17 STROBL Fritz 1972 AUT 2:10.16 52.22 DID NOT FINISH: 2 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA 6 REICHELT Hannes 1980 AUT 9 BERTHOD Marc 1983 SUI 11 WALCHHOFER Michael 1975 AUT Final Super G Standings1 MILLER Bode USA 304 2 CUCHE Didier SUI 208 3 KUCERA John CAN 194 4 SCHEIBER Mario AUT 190 5 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 181 6 MAIER Hermann AUT 177 7 GRUBER Christoph AUT 153 8 BUECHEL Marco LIE 146 9 FILL Peter ITA 143 10 GUAY Erik CAN 136 10 STREITBERGER Georg AUT 136
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