SANTA CATERINA, Italy (Jan. 6, 2016) – USA struggled in Wednesday’s rescheduled Audi FIS Ski World Cup slalom in Santa Caterina, Italy, with no American skiers making the flip. Austrian Marcel Hirscher took the win, catapulting himself into the World Cup overall lead.
There’s something about Austrians and new World Cup venues that just works. Perhaps it’s a sign that the force is strong or it’s something in their training. Whatever the magic “it” is, it has put them at the top of the podium at all of the last three venue debuts on the men’s World Cup slalom circuit.
Hirscher kept that streak alive, adding win number four by beating out slalom points leader Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway and Alexander Khoroshilov of Russia in the first ever men’s World Cup slalom race at the venue.
The victory marked Hirscher’s first slalom win of the season and his 17th career World Cup slalom win, putting him in third place for all-time career slalom wins behind legends Alberto Tomba—who had 35—and Ingemar Stenmark—who had 40.
While the ski forces were strong for the Europeans, North American skiers failed to find their mojo on the slope. Not a single one made the second run flip. David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, CO), who has had a solid season so far, was a DNF after getting dangerously in the back seat.
“It was really tough,” he explained. “The hill was really good. Course was great. I felt like I skied well up top. Snow was good and hard, and then it kind of changed in the middle and got a little grippy, and I was just in the backseat at the wrong time, and it caught my skis.”
Head Men’s Coach Sasha Rearick sees room for improvement for the whole team and opportunity to have some new focuses.
“Today was extremely disappointing,” Rearick said. “It was one of those days where we really have to look at what we’ve done to get ready for today. I mean today was a huge opportunity and an absolutely a missed opportunity.”
But Rearick also put a good spin on the day’s unfortunate results. “But it’s an opportunity as a staff to regroup and say where we’re going to put the focus and energy right now,” said Rearick. “I kind of look forward to these days because it’s an opportunity to really set the tone on where we need to go. We have a big month of slalom ahead of us with not a lot of days of training, so when we do train—for example tomorrow, we’ll train slalom here on this race hill—we’ve got to have our game plan set in stone.”
The men’s World Cup excitement continues with giant slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland on January 9, where Marcel Hirscher is the defending winner and Chodounsky looks for redemption.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The Santa Caterina slalom was a make-up race from Zagreb, Croatia, which was canceled due to lack of snow.
- It was the first men’s World Cup slalom to be held at Santa Caterina.
- No Americans qualified for a second run: Tim Kelley (Starksboro, VT) and Robby Kelley (Starkboro, VT) did not qualify for a second run, while David Chodounsky, Michael Ankeny (Deephaven, MN), Hig Roberts (Steamboat Springs, CO) DNFed. Mark Engel (Truckee, CA) was disqualified.
- It was Marcel Hirscher’s 17th World Cup slalom win. He took the lead of the overall World Cup lead.
- Watch the men’s slalom air on Universal Sports at 5:30 p.m. ET.
QUOTES
David Chodounsky
It was really tough. The hill was really good. Course was great. I still felt like I skied well up top. Snow was good and hard, and then it kind of changed in the middle and got a little grippy, and I was just in the backseat at the wrong time, and it kinda caught my skis and hooked up and I couldn’t pull it back in. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I know I’m still skiing well. We have a race in a couple days now, so it’s OK. I was training GS this week and that was going really well, so I’m excited for this weekend.
Sasha Rearick, Head Men’s Coach
Today was extremely disappointing. It was one of those days where we really have to look at what we’ve done to get ready for today. Today was a huge opportunity and an absolutely a missed opportunity. Guys going out on the second gate, guys not skiing fast. Daver was in the game, but got hooked up on his ski. We’ve got to look at why that occurred. But it’s an opportunity as a staff to regroup and say where we’re going to put the focus and energy right now. I kind of look forward to these days because it’s an opportunity to really set the tone on where we need to go. We have a big month of slalom ahead of us with not a lot of days of training, so when we do train—for example tomorrow, we’ll train slalom here on this race hill—we’ve got to have our game plan set in stone.
RESULTS
Men’s slalom results
On-site reporting provided by Ski Racing.
