ally skied some sections really well,” said coach Rearick. “
Unfortunately he wasn’t fast because he blew the turns coming out of Gun Barrel.”
That left him short on momentum entering a critical flat.
The Canadians got what was called “a miracle run” from Jan Hudec,
obviously fired up after a couple of seasons on the injured reserved
list. He posted a tie for 11th with Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who was
two hundredths behind him. Erik Guay got some points in 24th while
Robbie Dixon finished 31st and out of the points.
The Austrians didn’t let up in the super G, claiming a third of the top-
15 positions. But the Swiss had half of the top 10 including first from an
unusual source. In his 180th World Cup start, at age 33 and one day,
Tobias Gruenenfelder collected his first World Cup win; he is the oldest
in history to do so.
“It was sometimes not easy to believe in it,” Gruenenfelder said. “I’ve
had many injuries, almost every year something, but I knew I have
it in me, that I have the technical skills and the talent to win and the
coaches tell me that, and so ... now at 33, finally.”
Carlo Janka, the best skier of last season by almost any measurement,
placed second and said the snow conditions had changed enough
overnight to allow him success. “Yesterday’s downhill was not perfect,
it was solid but no more,” said Janka. “I like North American snow. It is
very aggressive. It’s my type of snow.”
The super G may not have been complete redemption for the U.S.
team, but it was a better team showing. Bode Miller had trouble right
out of the start, then skied exceptionally well, making up a large percentage of the time lost. He loaded up on risks, and not all paid off as
he faded back to finish 12th, again the top North American result.
Easily the most exciting U.S. result at the Lake Louise super G came
from Travis Ganong. In bib 46, he charged to 20th, the youngest at
22 in that elite grouping. “The run was just solid the whole way, just
pushing it,” he said. “Marco [Sullivan] radioed up saying it was in good
shape and that was just perfect. I changed my game plan to charge all
the way. And it worked.”
It was just his second World Cup scoring result, but it was his second
straight in Cup super G, as he scored his first points at the end of last
season at Kvitfjell.
Ted Ligety got 23rd with a solid effort, and the Canadians could take
some solace in Osborne-Paradis in 15th, Guay in 16th and Dixon in
17th.
