Challenging Snow in Kranjska Gora
KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (Mar. 15, 2015)—Tough spring conditions got the best of the American athletes in Kranjska Gora in the last Audi FIS Ski World Cup race before the World Cup Finals. But it didn’t hold back the top guys, who were in the hunt for World Cup points to pad their crystal globe missions. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway put down a beautiful run in the soft snow, taking the win and moving him up to third in the slalom standings. Giuliano Razzoli of Italy took second and Mattias Hargin of Sweden third.
Just 20 years old, Kristoffersen celebrated in the finish—loving being back on the top of the podium. He had won the first slalom race of the season in Levi and has been a one-two punch throughout the season—a solid threat in both slalom and giant slalom. Earlier this week, the youngster also successfully defended his World Junior Championships slalom and GS titles, winning the slalom by 1.55 seconds and the GS by 0.96 seconds.
With athletes Felix Neureuther of Germany and Marcel Hirscher of Austria eyeing the crystal globe, the day was an adventure for the determined athletes. Hirscher finished 19th first run after a bobble—way behind his expected result. But he threw down second run, gunning for the podium and the globe, and sat in first for 12 racers. He finished sixth. Neureuther finished ninth, maintaining his lead in the slalom standings by only 55 points heading into the World Cup Finals in Meribel.
David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) was the only U.S. athlete to qualify for a second run, but after a season of racing World Cup, was out of gas. Finishing 28th, he was disappointed in the finish, but now has turned his eyes toward shredding in Meribel. He’ll just sneak in the top 25 athletes that qualify for Finals, in 24th. Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) put it all out there in the first run—skiing on the edge in the straight set and almost going out at the bottom. He missed second run, taking 35th place.
Rounding out the American men, rookie AJ Ginnis (Waitsfield, VT)—who was third in the Junior World Championships slalom on Monday, behind Kristoffersen—was 53rd. Robby Kelley (Starksboro, VT) was 59th. Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA) raced in what was probably his last World Cup and DNFed. Mark Engel (Truckee, CA) also DNFed.
Next up, the men will head to Meribel, France for the World Cup Finals. The tech events begin on Friday, with the men's GS and the women's slalom.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Marcel Hirscher has never won a slalom race in Kranjska Gora.
- Felix Neureuther and Marcel Hirscher have each won two slalom World Cup races this season
- This was Giuliano Razzoli’s first World Cup podium since 2011.
- Slalom ranking going into World Cup Finals: Felix Neureuther first, Marcel Hirscher second, Henrik Kristoffersen third, and Fritz Dopfer of Germany and Alexander Khoroshilov of Russia tied for fourth.
- Universal Sports will air the slalom at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET on Sunday and 3:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET on Monday.
QUOTES
Sasha Rearick
Disappointing day in terms of results and the skiing that was done by all the guys. In general, we were flat today and kind of flat all weekend. It’s been a long season—World Championships grind and then skiing NorAms and different programs the different guys are on—we came in flat. That’s something we have to look at as a staff and go, ‘What do we need to do to bring the energy up and keep the energy flowing right through the last race of the season?’
For Dave [Chodounsky] to hang on and head to World Cup Finals is a big accomplishment for him. Congrats to David. At the same time, we know he has more speed than that. We have to figure out how we can get him to ski with confidence—to trust himself to go. That’s not what he showed today. He didn’t trust himself to keep the skis in the fall line and go. That’s going to be a critical component we have to figure out as a staff and work with David together to put together a plan.
In general, this season in slalom it was nice to see young guys step it up—AJ [Ginnis] started the seasons [starting] in the 90s in Europa Cups and now he got in the top seven. Also winning a medal at World Juniors—a big step by AJ. Mark Engel getting on the podium in a Europa Cup slalom. Those are all good steps. Those guys were far, far from that at the beginning of the year. They made good progress, nice to see.
Losing Nolan Kasper to an injury, hopefully we can get him back here soon. We are going to take some steps to make sure he comes back in the right way. He’s had a bunch of injuries. It’s going to take some time to get him back.
Tommy Ford coming back from a major injury—two seasons away from the sport, not being able to ski at all until September and really returning to training in mid-November. I thought the coaching staff did a good job and Tommy did a good job. Just keeping things in perspective, working him one step at a time. Thank you to Head for coming in and picking him up mid-season. It was good faith by those guys. Tommy is progressing well. GS first runs at the last three big events—World Champs, Garmisch and here—outstanding execution. It was clear that second run he didn’t quite have the gas to make the same kind of execution. He’s shown he can compete and get back to this level. We’re committed to Tommy and Tommy has got to commit to the conditioning. It’s going to be a big summer—a lot of days in the gym and training in the field for Tommy.
RESULTS
Men's slalom results