Great Britain Steals Show at Kitzbuehel Slalom
KITZBUEHEL, Austria (Jan. 22, 2017) – In a tough day in Kitzbuehel, with no U.S. men finishing the battle at the Hahnenkamm Audi FIS Ski World Cup slalom, a British man stepped onto a surprise podium.
David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO), who was feeling a bit under the weather, struggled with the bottom section of the course on both runs. He was 25th after first run and while he was making up time on second run, he fell before the finish. “I was skiing well,” said Chodounsky. “I just ran out of gas down bottom. I’ve been feeling a little sick. I had cold sweats all last night and I don’t think that helped me out today. You really needed all your strength today.”
David Chodounsky falls in the Kitzbuehel slalom. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Alain Grosclaude)
But the story of the day was Dave Ryding. The Great Britain slalom sensation delighted British fans by winning the first run of slalom in the biggest ski weekend of the season in front of a crowd of more than 25,000 fans. However, Marcel Hirscher of Austria crushed his second run in front of the home crowd—skiing from ninth place to take the lead ahead of Ryding. Although Ryding could not beat last season’s overall World Cup champion, the 30-year-old Brit flung his poles in the air when he saw that he finished in second. He celebrated his first career World Cup podium, ecstatic to show off the British Ski Team to the world. His training partner Alexander Khoroshilov of Russia finished third.
The Americans had a hard time on the slick track with challenging terrain. Robby Kelley (Starksboro, VT), Mark Engel (Truckee, CA), Michael Ankeny (Deephaven, MN) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, VT) did not qualify for second run. AJ Ginnis (Vouliagmeni, Greece) did not finish first run.
Next up is the famous Schladming, Austria night slalom on Tuesday.
HIGHLIGHTS
- No Americans finished the Kitzbuehel slalom.
- Marcel Hirscher of Austria won his 20th World Cup slalom.
- Dave Ryding of Great Britain stepped on his first World Cup podium in second place after leading first run.
- The slalom wrapped the Kitzbuehel weekend, with the men now heading to Schladming for a night slalom on Tuesday.
- Road to Aspen: Hirscher added another 100 points to his overall World Cup lead and overtook the slalom title lead over Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway, who DNFed first run.
QUOTES
David Chodounsky
I felt great. I was skiing well. I just ran out of gas down bottom. I’ve been feeling a little sick. I had cold sweats all last night and I don’t think that helped me out today. You really needed all your strength today. Both times at the bottom, I just ran out of gas unfortunately. People are going for it and it’ll happen on the easiest hill too. It’s pretty difficult, but pretty classic Kitzbuehel slalom.
The skiing is there. I’m really happy with the way I’m skiing. I think I was skiing well up top. First run, I was top 10 until the mistake down bottom. Second run I think I was skiing well again. The skiing’s there but that’s the frustrating part. It’s just not falling in place yet. I just gotta keep plugging away.
AJ Ginnis
This course was so tough. The groove is pretty out there—pretty shelfed. I just went into the flush to make up some time, but instead my tip just caught. I didn’t really expect it to happen. You gotta learn to fight harder. This hill is challenging. I don’t think anyone feels good. I don’t think Dave Ryding’s first run felt good but you have to just keep going and I didn’t do a good job of doing that today.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle
It was a little holey, but you have to expect that running as far back as I did. The snow is actually hard which is nice—if you can ski it right, there’s still a little bit of a chance, but it’s pretty difficult to do that. I felt alright up top—I know my splits were slow, but the skiing was something to be proud of. But overall, it’s such a difficult conditions and course. There’s no huge mistake but little tiny things here and there that add up. You pretty much have to send it full pin and get pretty lucky with making it all the way down to get in there.
I think it’s cool to be able to start every World Cup event now after today and to be able to do it on such a challenging hill. Even making it on down to the finish is something to feel good about. It’s a pretty tough slalom hill, for sure.
BROADCAST & LIVE STREAMING (times EST)
Sunday, Jan. 22
4:00 p.m. – Men’s slalom, Kitzbuehel – NBCSN
Tuesday, Jan. 24
11:30 a.m. - Men's slalom, Schladming - first run - nbcsports.com/live - LIVE STREAM
2:30 p.m. - Men's slalom, Schladming - second run - nbcsports.com/live - LIVE STREAM
10:30 p.m. - Men's slalom, Schladming - NBCSN
RESULTS
Men’s slalom