The Kitzbuehel Slalom down the traditional Ganslern slope is the highlight of the Slalom year for many of the slalom skiers. The way the slope weaves its way down the undulating slope with changes in terrain and steepness make this the slalom that every slalom racer wants to win. For French star, Julien Lizeroux, this was an emotionally charged race. After a disappointing first run Lizeroux’s coach told him “relax, just go for it and you will be fast.” With many of the favoured later runners, including the top three Austrians all crashing out, Lizeroux became the second French winner in a row following JB Grange’s win last year.

Lizeroux was down in seventh place after the first run and dislodged Italian Patrick Thaler from the leader’s enclosure with his powerful and determined second run. The hard and icy conditions caused many of the racers to struggle, including pre-race favourites for the Combined Benni Raich and Bode Miller; neither finished the first run. With Lizeroux firmly in place at the top of the leader board, the only thing he could do was wait. While Slovenian Bernard Vajdic could not better the Frenchman’s time, neither Mario Matt nor Manfred Pranger, winner in Wengen, could make it down the course, much to the large crowd’s disbelief and dismay. Next up was Ivica Kostelic from Croatia: The Croatian was aware of the trouble racers were having and with the Overall World Cup on his mind as well as the Combined, Kostelic decided to ski safe rather than take too many risks, he admitted afterwards. The Croatian felt that it was mission accomplished as, while he slid down a few places in the Slalom race, he scored enough points to leap ahead of Raich and Miller in the Overall race. “This is something I am not used to,” declared Kostelic, “but there is still a long way to go until the end of the season.” Lizeroux had already begun to think of his first podium with Kostelic down. This would be his first podium on the World Cup and an especially emotional one after the death of his brother over the summer.

Jean-Baptiste Grange, teammate and good friend of Lizeroux, was next up, second after the first run. As defending Champion, Grange was keen to keep hold of his title. The two French racers had spent time relaxing after Wengen in the South of France, away from all the media glare of Kitzbuehel during the week. Surely Grange’s lead of exactly a second would be enough to go into the lead ahead of his team mate? With the changing weather conditions starting to take effect on the snow, Grange lost a bit here and a bit there and by the time he crossed the line, it was Lizeroux who still held the lead. Grange was delighted for his teammate and good friend and immediately went to congratulate him. Now the wait was on to see what the Austrian Reinfried Herbst could do. Would the support of partisan crowd lift the winner in Adelboden and runner up in Wengen and bring him home to win?

Just as the crowd were starting to raise the noise a few decibels to encourage Herbst even further, the Austrian made an uncharacteristic mistake and was out: France had the top two spots on the podium! With Lizeroux’s parents in the crowd, this was a moment that twenty nine year old from Albertville would treasure for the rest of his life; this was, he explained afterwards, for his brother.

While the French celebrated a unique double on the podium, Italy’s unheralded Patrick Thaler was coming to terms with the first World Cup podium of his career. The thirty year old was delighted with his performance after having had to battle back onto the Italian team a few years ago. Even when Herbst still had to come down and he was placed in third, the Italian was living in dream land as he savoured the unique atmosphere that is Kitzbuehel.

With all the racers in the Slalom race down, it was now time to see how the Combined race would pan out. Following the slalom, it was already known that Switzerland’s Silvan Zurbriggan had taken his first World Cup win as well, following a strong Downhill and a safe Slalom. Kostelic had the runners up spot through his thoughtful tactics. Yet it was his teammate, Natko Zrncic Dim, who came through ahead of many other, more favoured racers to take his second World Cup podium in Combined.

Kitzbuehel: It is not just about the Alpine Nations

The appeal of Kitzbuehel is world-renowned and news of the legendary slopes of the Ganslern (the Slalom hill) and the Streif (the downhill course) goes all around the world. From Russia, Alexander Horoshilov took part in all the events, though not with the success that he craved, finishing ninth in the Combined for his best result. The Japanese team of four slalom skiers came looking for a reversal of fortune yet their lead skier, Akira Sasaki, injured himself a few days before the race; it was going to be a hard call. Sasaki admitted that he loves the slope and that there was no way that he would miss the race! Sadly none of the Japanese team made the second run.

RESULTS, Hahnenkamm Slalom 2009
1. Julien Lizeroux (FRA) 1:33.83
2. Jean-Baptise Grange (FRA) 1:33.91
3. Patrick Thaler (ITA) 1:34.50
4. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) 1:34.59
5. Bernard Vajdic (SLO) 1:35.05

RESULTS, Hahnenkamm Combined 2009
1. Silvan Zurbriggen (SUI) 3:33.38
2. Ivica Kostelic (CRO) 3:33.87
3. Natko Zrncic-Dim (CRO) 3:36.36
4. Carlo Janka (SUI) 3:37.68
5. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) 3:37.70

Flash Quotes from the Winners
Julien Lizeroux:
"This is crazy, I can't believe it, winning my first World Cup race ever in Kitzbьhel on one of the most famous slopes of the entire tour is just amazing. I made a big mistake at the top of my first run, yet I kept on fighting hard and pushing so I didn't lose too much time at the end. In the second run, I gave all what I had in me, I had nothing to lose anymore and I just went for it. The course was pretty rough and it was tough to make it through without too many mistakes, but I still managed to clock the fastest time at the end of my run. It was exciting to wait on the other skiers at the leader's board, I was quite excited too."
"The other skiers ran into more difficulties after me, I guess the course was getting rougher for them. I was happy to see that I remained in the lead after the arrival of last year's winner, my friend Jean-Baptiste Grange. Then the last Austrian also went out and suddenly I was the winner. It was a shock! It means so much to me to finally get onto the podium and win such a big thing. There are only a handful of French skiers having excelled here in the past 40 years."
"Life is strange. My brother died last summer while base-jumping in Switzerland at Interlaken, near Wengen, so I tried hard to win there last week but I failed. Fortunately, it's part of my character to never give up, to keep on trying hard and coming back. So I tried again today and it worked out. It's wonderful!

Jean-Babtiste Grange:
"It's nice to be back on the podium, it has been a while since Zagreb. I was very focused and motivated for this race, I took a nice break with Julien after Wengen so we were full of energy coming here. I won on another course last year but this one is the classical one so it's pretty exciting to also be on the podium here. I reached my first top-10 place here a few years ago so I really like this treacherous slope."
"After my great win at Zagreb I sort of lost my rhythm and my concentration, yet I still managed to gain many points so I was not really concerned about my form, it was just a matter of putting two strong runs together. After Wengen, Julien and myself took a nice break at Boulouris, in the south of France, and it help us a lot to find back all our momentum. Today I achieved two sold runs and it's great to be back on the podium and reinforce my lead in the slalom World Cup which is my main goal this winter." "The second run was pretty choppy and I had a few problems. When I saw that I was 2nd, at only 8/100 from the leader, I was first unhappy but when I saw that it was my friend Julien standing in the leader's box, I was immediately happy. At that point it was sure that both of us would be on the podium, something that we had hoped for a long time. He is a great fighter and a hard worker too, so he fully deserves that huge success."
"I'm now looking forward for the next big event, the slalom at Schladming, which is the highlight for the slalom specialists with the big crowd and special atmosphere. We both aim for another big fight."

January 25, 2009
Hahnenkamm-Race
Kitzbuehel, Austria
January 23 - 25, 2009