Chodounsky Leads Americans in Adelboden
ADELBODEN, Switzerland (Jan. 11, 2015)—Another warm and cloudy day at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup in Adelboden had the men struggling for results in slalom. David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO) was the top-finishing U.S. athlete in 11th with Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was 22nd. Italian Stefano Gross took his first ever World Cup win.
Like the previous day’s giant slalom, the slalom course was salted and rough. As much as the course workers tried to keep up with the maintenance, the men quickly beat up the course and the snow broke away underneath their skis while racing. The Americans wrestled with these conditions with only two finishers. Chodounsky—who could almost taste the podium in Zagreb, Croatia before DNFing—fought the weird snow and finished 11th. Ligety had a fast top section of the course, but couldn’t maintain it on the technical steeps. He took 22nd.
After skirting the winner’s spot many times in the last five years, an extremely excited Gross javelined his ski across the finish in celebration when he realized he won his first World Cup. Germany's Fritz Dopfer took second and Austria's Marcel Hirscher added more points to his overall World Cup lead with a third place. Only .03 seconds separated the first three places.
Ted Ligety takes 22nd place in Adelboden, Switzerland. (Getty Images-Agence Zoom/Alexis Boichard)
Tim Kelley (Starksboro, VT) was the only other American man to qualify for a second run, running bullet on his second attempt, before DNFing. Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA), Michael Ankeny (Deephaven, MN), Mark Engel (Truckee, CA) and AJ Ginnis (Waitsfield, VT) did not qualify for a second run.
Next, both tech and speed teams head to famed Wengen, Switzerland.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Two Americans finished the Adelboden slalom—David Chodounsky in 11th and Ted Ligety in 22nd.
- Universal Sports will re-air the event on Sunday, January 11 at 7:30 p.m. EST.
- Hirscher remains in first place in the overall World Cup hunt, with Ligety sitting in seventh.
RESULTS
Official results