WORLD CUP
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KRANJSKA GORA
solute eternity. It was awesome to wit-
ness.
Hirscher, who could have won the
season’s GS title with a race remain-
ing had Ligety not won, said the Ameri-
can was “not from this planet.”
Au contraire. Ligety was one with the
Earth, carving on the granular surface
of this water planet with precision, de-
fying gravity even as he harnessed it.
It was a matter, he said, of “finding the
right intensity.”
Kranjska Gora also hosted a World
Cup slalom, and that had some good
American results as well. Swede An-
dre Myhrer got the win, his first of the
season in a discipline dominated by
two men: Hirscher with five wins and
Ivica Kostelic with three. The result that
had the American camp buzzing was a
career-best sixth place finish from Will
Brandenburg.
“Man, I needed that,” Brandenburg
said. “It’s been a drag of a year.”
That’s a matter of perspective, really.
Brandenburg kicked off his season
with a string of New Zealand podi-
ums in August and won the bulk of the
NorAm slaloms he entered. He also
scored a third in a Europa Cup slalom
in December, but the World Cup starts
(nine slaloms and pair of combineds)
had been measured by the number of
gates passed instead of finish times.
Before Kranjska Gora there was one
completed race for 22nd place, the
Adelboden slalom. It was time to ease
back a bit and finish.
“That was super-solid skiing,” said
tech coach Mike Day, adding, “not
even near his top gear and what he’s
capable of, but the type of step he ab-
solutely needs to make.”
From the 32nd start position he
moved up to 18th in the first run, then
to sixth, taking 16 placings off his per-
sonal best. That the coach says he
has more speed, and a lot of it, under-
scores some of the frustrations Bran-
denburg was voicing.
“We Brandenburgs don’t have a lot
of patience,” he said. “It’s not in our
genes.”
The team also had Ligety in ninth,
putting a capper on his best slalom
season since 2008. Nolan Kasper got
17th and Jimmy Cochran earned his
fourth score of the season in 25th.
Our North American neighbors had
Mike Janyk in 19th and Brad Spence
in 26th, Janyk qualifying for Finals as
a member of the top 25.
The importance of the race took a
turn early in the first run when Hirscher
straddled and skied out, ending his
day. Ivica Kostelic, with a slim lead
over Hirscher for the slalom title and
a knee surgically repaired in February,
managed 16th place to send the de-
termining of the crown to Schladming
and World Cup Finals.
GEPA
