Adelboden, Switzerland – It was a warm day at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup in Adelboden on Saturday, following a night of heavy rain. And even with the race crew working around the clock, the conditions were rough for the giant slalom won by Austria’s Marcel Hirscher.

“Yesterday had perfect ice and hard snow. Today got softer, but they did a good job with the salt,” explained U.S. Ski Team men’s head coach Sasha Rearick. “It was an easy course set and fun to watch. People were going out because of the snow would break down, which made it harder for the later guys to put in fast times.”

Hirscher grabbed his sixth victory this season and his third in a row, beating the field by over a second. The Frenchman Alex Pinturault—with “Je Suis Charlie” written on his helmet—took second, and Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway was third.

In the last 10 men’s GS World Cups, Hirscher has won five races, Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety four, and Felix Neureuther of Germany, who finished in fifth place on Saturday, has won one.

Fighting against the bumpy, salted course, Ligety took seventh and Tim Jitloff, of Reno, Nev. was 14^th.

Although spectators could see many patches of green next to the course, the race did not meet the same fate as the simultaneously scheduled women’s races in Bad Kleinkirchheim and spectators turned out in droves. After a fun public bib draw the night before—in which the men entered the stage on a zipline—the men were excited for the race.

With a fifth place first run, Ligety was poised for the podium, but the bumpy conditions slowed him down in the second run. Jitloff had a great morning in Adelboden, finishing in 13^th first run, but had a wild ride second run with plenty of bobbles on the tough snow. The run sat him in 14^th place overall, leaving his quest for a top-10 GS finish for another day.

“Jitloff did a good job—more relaxed, more the way he does in training,” said Rearick. “He could have pushed a little harder to be clean at the top of the turn, but in general I’m really pleased with how he’s skiing.

Of Ligety, Rearick added, “Ted needs to trust himself. He’s one of the best GS skiers in the world. He needs to express himself on skis the way he knows he can do it.”

Brennan Rubie (Salt Lake City, Utah), Mark Engel (Truckee, Calif.), Kieffer Christianson (Anchorage, Alaska) and David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) did not qualify for the second run.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Adelboden, Switzerland – Jan. 10, 2015
Men’s Giant Slalom