NORWEGIANS FINISH 1-2 IN PARALLEL GIANT SLALOM
With Norwegian standouts Kje
til Jansrud and Aksel Lund Svindal taking the top two spots, the new head-to-head event of parallel giant slalom made a positive debut on the World Cup circuit at the Alta Badia resort on Monday in La Villa, Italy. Taking advantage of the seemingly faster blue course, Jansrud beat Svindal by 0.22 seconds in the final run of about 20 seconds, then the teammates embraced in the finish area. “No one knew what today would be like, so we just attacked and we ended up with a 100% Norwegian final and with the downhill team,” Svindal said. “This was very unexpected — and a lot of fun.” Andre Myhrer of Sweden beat Dominik Schwaig
er of Germany for third. Topseeded Marcel Hirscher was eliminated in the first round by Italy’s Riccardo Tonetti after the Austrian skier failed to land a jump correctly and plowed through a gate on his second run. Tonetti was the overall champion of the second-tier Europa Cup last season. Only the first round in the 32-man tennis-like tournament featured two runs. From the Round of 16 on it was direct elimination after only one run. The made-for-TV event lasted only 75 minutes and featured constant action. The race was held under artificial lights and a crowd of about 10,000 spectators showed up. American Olympic giant slalom champion Ted Ligety, the second seed, was eliminated in the first round by Cyprien
Richard of France. “I just had trouble getting to the ground on all the rolls,” Ligety said. “It’s all about getting to the ground fast. Guys like Aksel and Jansrud have been very, very good GS skiers, and these are like half GS turns. It’s good for them.”