Wengen, Switzerland – Defending Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall champion Ivica Kostelic of Croatia moved closer current overall leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria with victory in a technical and challenging Wengen slalom on Sunday as Hirscher was disqualified for straddling a gate.
It was Kostelic’s second win of the weekend after opening the 82nd Lauberhorn with victory in super combined. Kostelic now trails Hirscher by 30 points in the overall chase.
No American men made the second run. Colby Granstrom of Lake Stevens, Wash., Keene, N.H.’s Jimmy Cochran, Will Brandenburg of Spokane, Wash., Nolan Kasper of Warren, Vt., and Park City, Utah’s Ted Ligety all failed to finish their first run. Bode Miller, of Franconia, N.H., failed to qualify for the first run.
Ligety is nonetheless fourth and Miller sixth in the overall standings.
Canada’s slalom skiers didn’t get the results they were hoping for, either. British Columbia’s Mike Janyk changed his setup for the second run after finishing 26th in the first run and was able to move up to 19th.
“Today was a pretty disappointing day,” Janyk said. “I’ve got to let today (sink) in, learn from it and see what I can take from it. I’m more frustrated than anyone (about) doing this thing of doing one bad run, one good run, so I’ve got to change that now.”
Brad Spence, of Calgary, Alberta, recovered from a disappointing first run, in which he finished 30th. A series of mishaps resulted in four other Canadians not finishing their first run – Calgary’s Trevor White, Paul Stutz, of Banff, Alberta, Pat Biggs, of Ottawa, Ontario, and Sasha Zaitsoff, of Queen’s Bay, British Columbia, who was making his second World Cup start.
“I just came in on that last pitch and I was a little bit late, tried to (make) a turn and flew out and landed on my butt,” Zaitsoff said. “But skiing here was a great experience. My parents came to watch and it was awesome for them to see this.”
The men’s World Cup tour now moves to fabled Kitzbuehel, Austira for the Hahnenkamm featuring super G, downhill, slalom and a traditional combined.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Lauberhorn Weekend – Wengen, Switzerland – Jan. 15, 2012
Men’s Slalom
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
| 1 | 3 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 53.67 | 52.00 | 1:45.67 | 0.00 |
| 2 | 7 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 53.99 | 52.53 | 1:46.52 | 4.91 |
| 3 | 23 | DOPFER Fritz | 1987 | GER | 54.31 | 52.24 | 1:46.55 | 5.08 |
| 4 | 2 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 53.64 | 52.95 | 1:46.59 | 5.31 |
| 5 | 4 | NEUREUTHER Felix | 1984 | GER | 54.21 | 52.39 | 1:46.60 | 5.37 |
| 6 | 1 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | 53.66 | 53.21 | 1:46.87 | 6.93 |
| 7 | 20 | GROSS Stefano | 1986 | ITA | 54.46 | 52.55 | 1:47.01 | 7.74 |
| 8 | 29 | PINTURAULT Alexis | 1991 | FRA | 54.78 | 52.26 | 1:47.04 | 7.91 |
| 9 | 34 | MYHRE Lars Elton | 1984 | NOR | 54.09 | 52.98 | 1:47.07 | 8.08 |
| 10 | 12 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 54.80 | 52.43 | 1:47.23 | 9.01 |