A four time medallist at the World Junior Championships in 2006, Romed Baumann proved to his Austrian coaches he has now arrived in the big leagues, claiming his first World Cup win in a super G/slalom combined at Sestriere, Italy Sunday.

Baumann won the super G leg but found himself looking up at double World Championship silver medal winner Julien Lizeroux when he took his slalom run. The Frenchman had been sixth after the speed leg and had smoked the slalom leg, as usual, to hold the lead. Baumann shrugged off the pressure and skied smoothly to the win.

Tying in third were Carlo Janka and Christof Innerhofer, both .68 of a second back of Baumann's combined run time. Jean-Baptiste Grange used the fastest slalom time on the day to claim a tie for fifth with Marcel Hirscher, who had the second fastest slalom leg of the day.

World Cup overall standings leader Ivica Kostelic skied conservatively to post seventh but leads the standings 802-771 over Grange. Benjamin Raich finished ninth on the day and slipped to third in the standings with 769.

Janka claimed the combined title edging Silvan Zurbriggen 242-231. Baumann finished third.

Baumann said he had been struggling with expectations over the past few seasons and finally had enough. "I have been fighting too much," he told reporters. "Was probably too tense. Now I just tried to takie it easy and it worked. I lot has been expected of me. ... I hope this is going to loberate me and that I'm now on my way."

Janka seemed surprised with his combined title. "I never really focused on winning a World Cup discipline, but it is great to take a crystal globe home."

By Hank McKee    
Sunday, 22 February 2009 
SkiRacing.com

Equipment
Men's super combined, Sestriere, Italy, Feb. 22, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Baumann, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2 Lizeroux, Dynastar/Lange/Look
3 Janka, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Innerhofer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Hirscher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 Myhrer, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

***

The SCOOP

Men's super combined, Sestriere, Italy, Feb. 22, 2009. … It is the 28th race of the men's 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth of four scheduled combineds. … It is the second of two events at Sestriere this weekend. … It is the 58th World Cup at Sestriere including a knock-out slalom for each gender (2002) and a combined split with Val d'Isere in 1985. … It is just the third World Cup combined (and first men's) held at Sestriere including the split event in '85. … Eric Hess won both of them, one Dec. 14, 1983 and the shared event Dec. 12, 1985. …It is a super G/slalom combined.

It is the first career World Cup win for Romed Baumann. … He had been second in combined at Reiteralm Dec. 10, 2006 for his only other Cup podium. … His previous best this season was fourth in GS at Sestriere yesterday.

It is the second career World Cup podium for Julien Lizeroux. … The other was a win in slalom at Kitzbuehel Jan. 25. … It is his fourth podium of the season including two silver medals (combined and slalom) at the World Championships. … He has been first or second in four of his last five completed races.

It is the fourth career World Cup podium for Carlo Janka all of them coming this season. … It is his second podium in a World Cup combined having won at Wengen Jan. 16. …Add to his podium totals this season a gold medal in GS and a bronze in DH at Worlds.

It is the second career World Cup podium for Christof Innerhofer. … He won the DH at Bormio Dec. 28. … It is his career best combined result replacing a seventh place finish at Chamonix Jan. 27, 2008.

It is the best combined placing of the season for Ted Ligety. … and his 17th scoring result. … It is the 15th scoring result of the season for John Kucera and his third best combined result of three.

Ivica Kostelic (7th in race) maintains the World Cup overall standings lead 802-771 over Jean-Baptiste Grange. … Benjamin Raich (9th in race) drops to third overall with 769pts. … Bode Miller (did not race) is the top American on the overall list in eighth with 517pts. … Carlo Janka claims the combined title 242-231 over Silvan Zurbriggen (10th in race). … Baumann finished in third with 169pts moving past Kostelic (166). … John Kucera is the top North American on that list in 13th with 77pts. … Top U.S. skier is Ted Ligety in 44th with six points.

Austria leads the Nations Cup 7974-5841 over Switzerland. … Italy is third at 4556 and the U.S. fourth at 3395. … Canada is eighth at 1815.

By Hank McKee
SkiRacing.com
Sunday, 22 February 2009

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  9  51215 BAUMANN Romed  1986  AUT   1:35.23  50.50  2:25.73  0.00
 2  8  191459 LIZEROUX Julien  1979  FRA   1:36.44  49.61  2:26.05  2.72
 3  21  511313 JANKA Carlo  1986  SUI   1:36.51  49.90  2:26.41  5.79
 3  11  293006 INNERHOFER Christof  1984  ITA   1:35.64  50.77  2:26.41  5.79
 5  10  192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  1984  FRA   1:37.55  49.07  2:26.62  7.57
 5  4  53831 HIRSCHER Marcel  1989  AUT   1:37.37  49.25  2:26.62  7.57
 7  17  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   1:36.76  50.16  2:26.92  10.13
 8  5  421400 MYHRE Lars Elton  1984  NOR   1:37.12  49.84  2:26.96  10.47
 9  18  50625 RAICH Benjamin  1978  AUT   1:37.12  49.93  2:27.05  11.23
 10  20  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   1:37.66  49.54  2:27.20  12.51
 11  16  421328 SVINDAL Aksel Lund  1982  NOR   1:36.73  50.93  2:27.66  16.42
 12  12  511352 VILETTA Sandro  1986  SUI   1:38.02  49.71  2:27.73  17.02
 13  13  480736 HOROSHILOV Alexandr  1984  RUS   1:38.61  49.26  2:27.87  18.21
 14  32  510030 CUCHE Didier  1974  SUI   1:35.58  52.73  2:28.31  21.95
 15  1  290998 STAUDACHER Patrick  1980  ITA   1:35.79  52.81  2:28.60  24.42
 16  67  191778 PICHOT Sebastien  1981  FRA   1:38.50  50.32  2:28.82  26.29
 17  29  510727 DEFAGO Didier  1977  SUI   1:37.14  51.74  2:28.88  26.80
 18  33  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   1:39.06  49.86  2:28.92  27.14
 18  7  191462 PAQUIN Pierre  1979  FRA   1:37.58  51.34  2:28.92  27.14
 20  64  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   1:39.33  49.67  2:29.00  27.82
 21  22  292455 FILL Peter  1982  ITA   1:37.10  52.07  2:29.17  29.27
 22  31  292514 HEEL Werner  1982  ITA   1:37.33  51.91  2:29.24  29.87
 23  26  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA   1:38.51  50.79  2:29.30  30.38
 24  24  501026 RAINER Niklas  1983  SWE   1:38.07  51.32  2:29.39  31.14
 25  30  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   1:39.40  50.11  2:29.51  32.16
 26  23  192746 THEAUX Adrien  1984  FRA   1:38.46  51.36  2:29.82  34.80
 27  60  180534 SANDELL Marcus  1987  FIN   1:38.70  51.28  2:29.98  36.16
 28  15  102873 KUCERA John  1984  CAN   1:36.96  53.07  2:30.03  36.59
 29  41  51007 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp  1983  AUT   1:38.75  51.32  2:30.07  36.93
 30  3  560332 JERMAN Andrej  1978  SLO   1:36.98  53.15  2:30.13  37.44
 31  40  51332 SCHEIBER Florian  1987  AUT   1:38.38  51.91  2:30.29  38.80
 32  39  293550 MARSAGLIA Matteo  1985  ITA   1:38.80  51.54  2:30.34  39.23
 33  68  420148 KARLSEN Truls Ove  1975  NOR   1:38.86  51.58  2:30.44  40.08
 34  43  51401 GRAF Bernhard  1988  AUT   1:39.08  51.40  2:30.48  40.42
 35  50  51159 NOESIG Christoph  1985  AUT   1:38.84  52.14  2:30.98  44.67
 36  19  380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko  1986  CRO   1:39.54  52.19  2:31.73  51.05
 37  42  511139 KUENG Patrick  1984  SUI   1:38.66  53.25  2:31.91  52.58
 38  2  380291 RATKIC Ivan  1986  CRO   1:38.78  53.25  2:32.03  53.61
 39  35  294277 KLOTZ Siegmar  1987  ITA   1:40.87  51.54  2:32.41  56.84
 40  52  102239 COUSINEAU Julien  1981  CAN   1:41.12  51.36  2:32.48  57.43
 41  55  102727 STUTZ Paul  1983  CAN   1:40.96  51.77  2:32.73  59.56
 42  57  30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier  1980  ARG   1:41.17  52.78  2:33.95  69.94
 43  53  53902 MAYER Matthias  1990  AUT   1:40.92  54.07  2:34.99  78.79
 44  49  481006 ZUEV Stepan  1988  RUS   1:41.74  55.85  2:37.59  100.92
 45  61  370022 JENOT Olivier  1988  MON   1:42.45  1:41.27  3:23.72  493.43
Disqualified 2nd run
   63  201702 NEUREUTHER Felix  1984  GER         
Did not start 2nd run
   66  510747 GRUENENFELDER Tobias  1977  SUI         
Did not start 1st run
   51  501101 BYGGMARK Jens  1985  SWE         
Did not finish 2nd run
   59  534040 COCHRAN Jimmy  1981  USA         
   48  561117 KUERNER Miha  1987  SLO         
   47  501324 OLSSON Matts  1988  SWE         
   45  294911 PATSCHEIDER Hagen  1988  ITA         
   37  510997 BERTHOD Marc  1983  SUI         
   36  50919 STRUGER Peter  1982  AUT         
   28  380298 SIROKI Tin  1987  CRO         
   25  292291 THANEI Stefan  1981  ITA         
   6  421483 JANSRUD Kjetil  1985  NOR         
Did not finish 1st run
   65  534959 JITLOFF Tim  1985  USA         
   62  102435 JANYK Michael  1982  CAN         
   58  561087 MARKIC Gasper  1986  SLO         
   56  410198 HOWDEN Angus  1981  NZE         
   54  150594 TREJBAL Filip  1985  CZE         
   46  192932 FAYED Guillermo  1985  FRA         
   44  201900 WAGNER Hannes  1986  GER         
   38  561085 KRIZAJ Andrej  1986  SLO         
   34  501076 OLSSON Hans  1984  SWE         
   27  560406 GORZA Ales  1980  SLO         
   14  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZ