. bg ski news : Innerhofer edges Neureuther for Cup win - 26 Февруари 2011 - 14:58
WORLD CUP BANSKO. Put a few medals in a guys pocket and nothing phases him. Christof Innerhofer faced an unusual slalom first combined on a track the men had never seen before at Bansko, Bulgaria today (Feb. 26). Instead of anticipated fog (the reason for going slalom first) they got sugary snow and none of it seemed to matter to the Italian triple medal winner.
When you're hot, you're hot. Innerhofer seemed oblivious to the conditions or surface and eked out a .01 of a second margin over Felix Neureuther, no doubt seething a bit from the World Championship on his home hill where he couldn't get it going. Frenchman Thomas Mermillod Blondin was third and Ted Ligety fourth matching his career best Cup result in the discipline from 2006 - the same year he won the gold medal in combined at the Olympics.
"When you are on a roll, keep rolling," said Innerhofer. He could only explain his new found success by saying he was in the same frame of mind as he was at Garmisch for the World Championships."I don't know how long this will go on, but I'm thrilled."
Ligety said he was pleased with his super G leg, but felt he could have done more with the slalom course, set by U.S. coach Mike Kenney. "I didn't feel like I had the greatest slalom in the world, but by super G run was pretty good. It was a pretty GS friendly super G hill, so that worked out well for me."
A stunningly strong result was put up by Tim Jitloff in eighth. It is just his second combined result, just his second top 10 finish and his best in two years.
"Jitloff did a hell of a job in the first run," said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick, "skied clean and moved with the terrain well. It was a rough course. It held up but was rough with changing snow conditions."
The coach said he was also pleased with the effort of Colby Granstrom, the 31st finisher. He said he was particularly good from the midsection down. "I'm stoked to see him come out and execute that level of skiing in a World Cup."
Granstrom was 15th in the slalom leg, then experienced back spasms. He gutted out the super G leg and nearly scored despite what he called "a 360" on the super G course.
Ivica Kostelic - the winner of the other three combineds this season and already the title winner, was fifth. He now appears to have clear sailing to the overall title as his three top competitors didn't play. Didier Cuche had thumb surgery last week and Silvan Zurbriggen was also a no-show. There was no reported injury but he did fail to finish the last race at World Championships, the slalom. Askel Lund Svindal also elected not to travel to Bansko.
Kostelic now owns a 569pt lead over Cuche and 581pt lead over Svindal and a 591 advantage over Zurbriggen with a maximum of 10 races remaining.
The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Men's World Cup combined, Bansko, Bulgaria, Feb. 26, 2011
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Neureuther, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Mermillod Blondin, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Ligety, Head/Head/Head
5 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
6 Bank, Elan/Nordica/Elan
7 Sieber, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Jitloff, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
Men's World Cup combined, Bansko, Bulgaria, Feb. 26, 2011. ... It is a super G/slalom combined. ... It is the 29th race of the men's 39 race 2011 World Cup schedule with one cancellation. ... It is the fourth and final combined on the schedule. ... It is the first of two at Bansko with a slalom scheduled tomorrow. ... It is the fourth Cup race to be held at Bansko and the first for men, the women holding three races in 2009.
It is the second career World Cup win for Christof Innerhofer, the other in DH at Bormio Dec. 28, 2008. ... It is his second podium result in World Cup combined having placed third at Sestriere Feb. 22, 2009. ... It is his second win of the season having claimed gold in the World Championship super G. ... It is his fifth podium of the season with three championship medals and a third in DH at Bormio Dec. 29.
It is the ninth career World Cup podium for Felix Neureuther, the first not in slalom. ... His next best combined result is 22nd from Beaver Creek Dec. 4, 2009. ... It is his first podium finish of the season, a fourth in the Munich parallel the next best result.
It is the first career World Cup podium result for Thomas Mermillod Blondin and his first top 10 finish. ... His best previous combined result was 14th at Beaver Creek Dec. 4, 2009. ... His best previous finish this season - of four scoring finishes - was 17th in combined at Chamonix Jan. 30.
It is the 33rd time Ted Ligety has placed fourth or better in a World Cup race. ... and matches his career best Cup combined result from Reiteralm Dec. 10, 2006. ... It is his best finish this season that was not a victory. ... It is the second best career Cup result for Tim Jitloff, bested only by a fifth in GS at Sestriere Feb. 21, 2009. ... It is his only top 10 finish of the season the next best a 14th in combined at World Championships.
Ivica Kostelic (5th in race) leads the World Cup overall standings 1294-725 over Didier Cuche (did not race). ... Aksel Lund Svindal is third with 713. ... Ligety in the top American overall in ninth place with 514pts. ... Erik Guay the top Canadian in 35th with 157pts. ... The combined title belongs to Kostelic 345-219 over Innerhofer. ... Kjetil Jansrud is third at 145pts. ... Austria leads the men's Nations Cup standings 4412-3072 over Switzerland. ... Italy is third at 2404. ... The USA ranks seventh with 1243pts and Canada ninth with 888pts.
SkiRacing.com
February 26, 2011
Place Bansko (BUL) Discipline Super Combined
Date 26.02.2011 Category FIS World Cup
Race codex 0226 Gender M
Valid for FIS Points YES TD Name Petit Dominique (FRA)
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
1 5 293006 INNERHOFER Christof 1984 ITA 1:01.12 1:22.75 2:23.87 0.00
2 27 201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER 59.92 1:23.96 2:23.88 0.08
3 17 192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas 1984 FRA 1:01.68 1:22.52 2:24.20 2.59
4 11 534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA 1:00.99 1:23.38 2:24.37 3.93
5 6 380260 KOSTELIC Ivica 1979 CRO 1:00.25 1:24.17 2:24.42 4.32
6 2 150398 BANK Ondrej 1980 CZE 1:00.69 1:23.78 2:24.47 4.71
7 14 53853 SIEBER Bjoern 1989 AUT 1:02.36 1:22.16 2:24.52 5.11
8 18 534959 JITLOFF Tim 1985 USA 1:00.93 1:23.85 2:24.78 7.15
9 21 292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA 1:00.01 1:24.86 2:24.87 7.85
10 3 51215 BAUMANN Romed 1986 AUT 1:01.80 1:23.14 2:24.94 8.40
11 31 194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA 1:01.82 1:23.37 2:25.19 10.37
12 35 511908 SCHMIDIGER Reto 1992 SUI 1:01.76 1:23.52 2:25.28 11.07
13 8 421400 MYHRE Lars Elton 1984 NOR 1:01.56 1:23.75 2:25.31 11.31
14 20 51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp 1983 AUT 1:02.26 1:23.07 2:25.33 11.47
15 4 380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO 1:00.47 1:25.47 2:25.94 16.26
16 37 510997 BERTHOD Marc 1983 SUI 1:02.51 1:23.57 2:26.08 17.36
17 29 194495 FAIVRE Mathieu 1992 FRA 1:02.58 1:23.52 2:26.10 17.52
18 7 421483 JANSRUD Kjetil 1985 NOR 1:02.35 1:23.95 2:26.30 19.09
19 43 561117 KUERNER Miha 1987 SLO 1:01.99 1:24.57 2:26.56 21.13
20 28 51395 DIGRUBER Marc 1988 AUT 1:01.46 1:25.23 2:26.69 22.15
21 19 90131 GEORGIEV Georgi 1987 BUL 1:01.72 1:25.05 2:26.77 22.78
22 40 501324 OLSSON Matts 1988 SWE 1:02.72 1:24.76 2:27.48 28.35
23 36 193347 TISSOT Maxime 1986 FRA 1:00.72 1:26.90 2:27.62 29.45
24 26 480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS 1:01.78 1:26.00 2:27.78 30.71
25 10 51327 PUCHNER Joachim 1987 AUT 1:03.25 1:24.84 2:28.09 33.15
26 9 291459 PARIS Dominik 1989 ITA 1:02.80 1:25.50 2:28.30 34.79
27 13 293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo 1985 ITA 1:02.62 1:25.84 2:28.46 36.05
28 1 292455 FILL Peter 1982 ITA 1:03.96 1:24.85 2:28.81 38.80
29 12 511383 FEUZ Beat 1987 SUI 1:04.06 1:24.82 2:28.88 39.35
30 38 53968 BERTHOLD Frederic 1991 AUT 1:02.84 1:26.50 2:29.34 42.96
31 34 930105 GRANSTROM Colby 1990 USA 1:01.68 1:27.71 2:29.39 43.36
32 24 380298 SIROKI Tin 1987 CRO 1:03.85 1:27.25 2:31.10 56.79
33 42 92534 CHONGAROV Nikola 1989 BUL 1:04.34 1:27.18 2:31.52 60.09
Disqualified 1st run
46 92570 GEORGIEV Svetoslav 1991 BUL
Did not start 2nd run
41 150594 TREJBAL Filip 1985 CZE
39 102435 JANYK Michael 1982 CAN
25 50547 SCHOENFELDER Rainer 1977 AUT
22 530165 BRANDENBURG Will 1987 USA
Did not finish 2nd run
33 511896 MURISIER Justin 1992 SUI
32 53922 WIESER Manuel 1990 AUT
16 192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA
Did not finish 1st run
47 291145 DEVILLE Cristian 1981 ITA
45 700868 FALAT Matej 1993 SVK
44 532138 KASPER Nolan 1989 USA
30 50824 DREIER Christoph 1981 AUT
23 150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE
15 294904 PANGRAZZI Paolo 1988 ITA