Kitzbuehel, Austria – Ski racing’s Super Bowl, the annual Hahnenkamm Weekend, is now complete for 2016 following a super G and combined on Friday, downhill on Saturday and slalom on Sunday ruled by Norway’s ski racing elite, but also marred by crashes and injuries.
Super G and Combined
Lake Placid, N.Y.’s Andrew Weibrecht grabbed his second, and most prestigious, super G podium result of his career finishing second in Friday’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup on the classic Hahnenkamm track.
“I couldn’t be happier. It’s awesome,” said Weibrecht. “Growing up everybody thinks about getting on the podium at Kitzbuehel. Today is a dream come true.”
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the race, and scored his 15th career World Cup super G victory. Austria’s Hannes Reichelt was third. Friday’s super G also served as the first leg of the alpine combined, followed with an afternoon slalom race.
“I thought I was close today, but Aksel skied a great run,” Weibrecht said. ”I’m a little disappointed that he beat me, but it’s an amazing feeling. This is a dream come true to take home one of the Kitzbuehel trophies.”
Weibrecht dedicated his performance to 1994 Olympic Downhill Champion Bill Johnson, who passed away at the age of 55 on Thursday afternoon.
“He really jump-started American downhill racing,” Weibrecht said of Johnson. “Nothing really happened up until 1984 when Bill came and put down that fantastic run in Sarajevo. He really revitalized the sport and paved the way for guys like Tommy Moe, AJ Kitt and Kyle Rasmussen … and those guys paved the way for our generation. It’s really important to recognize where we have come from as a country in this sport, and Bill was a big part of that.”
France swept the Friday afternoon combined podium, with Frenchmen Alexis Pinturault, Victor Muffat-Jeandet and Thomas Mermillod-Blondin going one-two-three. Pinurault also won the combined event at Kitzbuehel last season.
Austria’s Marcel Hirscher was looking to make up ground on Svindal, the overall World Cup leader, but was disqualified for missing a gate in the slalom. Svindal also went out second run after straddling and losing his ski.
“It’s just awesome to be here … this is the biggest one, definitely a cool weekend,” said Duffy, who is planning to return to the NorAm and Europa Cup circuits and then off to Russia for the World Junior Championships for the remainder of the season. “I don’t know if I was more scared for the super G or the slalom. There were definitely some nerves, but I’m definitely excited on how I’m skiing.”
Downhill
Thirty racers started a fast, dark and bumpy Hahnenkamm downhill on a shortened Streif track on Saturday, but only 24 made it to the finish line.
The race, which started from a lower start position due to weather conditions, was officially cancelled after bib 30 crossed the line. U.S. Ski Team head coach Sasha Rearick said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision to stop the race. Italy’s Peter Fill was declared the official winner, with Switzerland’s Beat Fuez and Carlo Janka in second and third respectively.
The story of the day was the challenging conditions that saw overall World Cup leader Svindal, and three members of the Austrian team crash in spectacular fashion. A detailed medical examination in Innsbruck confirmed that Svindal tore his right knee’s ACL and he underwent surgery later in the day. Svindal will be out for the rest of the season.
“I messed up my knee a little and about to go into surgery,” Svindal wrote on Facebook. “Kinda sucks in the middle of the winter, but thats life. Ups and downs and just gotta deal with whatever comes.”
“It’s been a wild ride watching this today,” said Utah’s Steven Nyman, who also went down but was OK. “Hannes (Reichelt) going down, (Georg) Streitberger going down, Austria has lost five guys on this course this week. So I’m glad to just be in one piece.”
Streitberger, 35, also suffered a season-ending torn ACL and underwent surgery immediately on Saturday. Reichelt, the 11-time World Cup winner and World Champion suffered a severe bone bruise on his left leg. He’s now uncertain for Garmisch-Partenkirchen, but is expected to be back in two to three weeks.
In training earlier in the week, Austria’s Florian Scheiber and Max Franz also suffered season-ending torn ACLs and meniscii, and underwent surgery.
Weibrecht led a trio of surviving Americans, finishing 13th. Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.) was 18th and Marco Sullivan (also Squaw Valley) 22nd.
Slalom
Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen won Sunday’s Hahnenkamm slalom race in brilliant form. After finishing in an uncharacteristic 12th place first run, Kristoffersen attacked the second run to post an overall time no one could beat. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher was second, and moved into the virtual World Cup lead behind Svindal, who is out for the remainder of the season. Germany’s Fritz Dopfer was third. Kristoffersen leads the overall World Cup slalom standings with five slalom victories so far this season.
“I think this is one of the best second runs I’ve had in my entire life. That was insane,” said Kristoffersen. “I’m the first one to win Adelboden, Wengen and Kitzbuehel in the same season, and this is really unbelievable for me. This is really cool!”
David Chodounsky, of Crested Butte, Colo., led the way for the Americans, finishing 11th. Michael Ankeny (Deephaven, Minn.) posted a career-best World Cup finish in 19th, and Tim Kelley (Starksboro, Vt.) was 21st.
For Chodounsky, he skied a solid fist run, finishing eighth, out of the 18th start position. However, he lost time on the top part of the course during the second run and slipped back to 11th.
“The result is actually not too bad – 11th, which is nice to get more points,” Chodounsky said. “But I’m not that stoked for today. First run felt really good … I was a little out of whack second run.”
Up next, the men are off to Schladming, Austria for an evening slalom Tuesday, then Garmisch for downhill and giant slalom Jan. 30-31.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Hahnenkamm Weekend – Kitzbuehel, Austria
Men’s Super G – Jan. 22, 2016
| Rank | Nation | Name | Time | Diff. |
| 1 | NOR | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1:11.79 | |
| 2 | USA | WEIBRECHT Andrew | 1:12.10 | +0.31 |
| 3 | AUT | REICHELT Hannes | 1:12.21 | +0.42 |
| 4 | NOR | JANSRUD Kjetil | 1:12.32 | +0.53 |
| 5 | ITA | PARIS Dominik | 1:12.51 | +0.72 |
| 6 | ITA | FILL Peter | 1:12.62 | +0.83 |
| 7 | ITA | CASSE Mattia | 1:12.64 | +0.85 |
| 8 | AUT | BAUMANN Romed | 1:12.71 | +0.92 |
| 9 | SUI | JANKA Carlo | 1:12.74 | +0.95 |
| 10 | GER | SANDER Andreas | 1:12.90 | +1.11 |
Men’s Combined – Jan. 22, 2016
| Rank | Nation | Name | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | Diff. |
| 1 | FRA | PINTURAULT Alexis | 1:13.01 | 50.69 | 2:03.70 | |
| 2 | FRA | MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor | 1:13.91 | 50.68 | 2:04.59 | +0.89 |
| 3 | FRA | MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas | 1:13.44 | 51.18 | 2:04.62 | +0.92 |
| 4 | SUI | JANKA Carlo | 1:12.74 | 51.96 | 2:04.70 | +1.00 |
| 5 | SVK | ZAMPA Adam | 1:14.06 | 50.72 | 2:04.78 | +1.08 |
| 6 | AUT | BAUMANN Romed | 1:12.71 | 52.84 | 2:05.55 | +1.85 |
| 7 | ITA | PARIS Dominik | 1:12.51 | 53.35 | 2:05.86 | +2.16 |
| 8 | AUT | KRIECHMAYR Vincent | 1:12.98 | 53.03 | 2:06.01 | +2.31 |
| 9 | USA | BENNETT Bryce | 1:14.06 | 52.14 | 2:06.20 | +2.50 |
| 10 | ITA | TONETTI Riccardo | 1:14.60 | 51.81 | 2:06.41 | +2.71 |
Men’s Downhill – Jan. 23, 2016
| Rank | Nation | Name | Time | Diff. |
| 1 | ITA | FILL Peter | 1:52.37 | |
| 2 | SUI | FEUZ Beat | 1:52.74 | +0.37 |
| 3 | SUI | JANKA Carlo | 1:53.02 | +0.65 |
| 4 | FRA | CLAREY Johan | 1:53.17 | +0.80 |
| 5 | SUI | GISIN Marc | 1:53.43 | +1.06 |
| 6 | NOR | KILDE Aleksander Aamodt | 1:53.59 | +1.22 |
| 7 | AUT | KRIECHMAYR Vincent | 1:53.63 | +1.26 |
| 8 | FRA | THEAUX Adrien | 1:53.77 | +1.40 |
| 9 | FRA | POISSON David | 1:53.81 | +1.44 |
| 10 | AUT | STRIEDINGER Otmar | 1:53.83 | +1.46 |
Men’s Slalom – Jan. 24, 2016
| Rank | Nation | Name | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | Diff. |
| 1 | NOR | KRISTOFFERSEN Henrik | 50.97 | 52.99 | 1:43.96 | |
| 2 | AUT | HIRSCHER Marcel | 50.48 | 53.51 | 1:43.99 | +0.03 |
| 3 | GER | DOPFER Fritz | 50.14 | 54.27 | 1:44.41 | +0.45 |
| 4 | SWE | HARGIN Mattias | 50.32 | 54.43 | 1:44.75 | +0.79 |
| 5 | ITA | THALER Patrick | 51.09 | 54.12 | 1:45.21 | +1.25 |
| 6 | NOR | NORDBOTTEN Jonathan | 51.60 | 53.84 | 1:45.44 | +1.48 |
| 7 | AUT | HIRSCHBUEHL Christian | 51.32 | 54.20 | 1:45.52 | +1.56 |
| 7 | GER | NEUREUTHER Felix | 50.88 | 54.64 | 1:45.52 | +1.56 |
| 9 | AUT | SCHWARZ Marco | 50.47 | 55.10 | 1:45.57 | +1.61 |
| 10 | ITA | MOELGG Manfred | 50.79 | 54.98 | 1:45.77 | +1.81 |