cup holder | PhatzNewsRoom.com News Room and Blog

Alpine Skiing Recap: Maze wins Garmisch downhill and breaks 2,000 points

March 2, 2013 By Admin

2f2e6afc0f2e14fb2da5d23647da3b1c Alpine Skiing Recap: Maze wins Garmisch downhill and breaks 2,000 points

(Reuters) – Slovenia’s Tina Maze became the first skiier to surpass 2,000 points by winning a women’s World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Saturday, according to provisional results.

American Laurenne Ross was second and Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch was third.

Thanks to her victory, Maze brought her points tally in the overall World Cup standings to a record 2,024 points.

(Reporting by Manuele Lang; Editing by Mark Meadows)

Alpine skiing: France’s Theaux overcomes wind and favorites

(Reuters) – France’s Adrien Theaux overcame the wind and the favorites to snatch his second victory in a World Cup downhill in Kvitfjell on Saturday.

The Frenchman, who won a downhill in Lenzerheide two seasons ago, took advantage of the changing conditions to clock the fastest time of one minute 29.10 seconds on a course shortened because of gale-force winds at the top.

“I had a good start with a podium in Lake Louise but otherwise my downhill season had been very frustrating,” the 28-year-old said.

“Luck was on my side today but why not? I had good feelings in training and that’s a course that suits me, on which you have to ski clean.”

Theaux denied local favorite Aksel Lund Svindal his first victory on the downhill course of the 1994 Olympics.

The downhill world champion finished second but is now within 129 points of Austria’s Marcel Hirscher in the overall World Cup standings.

Should he win Sunday’s super-G on home snow, Svindal would be back on Hirscher’s heels with only seven races remaining before the end of the season.

“You can’t talk of bad luck when you’re on the podium. I had the right confidence, the right approach but things like that happen,” he said.

“The most important thing for me was to be ahead of Klaus Kroell for the downhill globe. As for the big globe, I always said Hirscher remained my favorite.”

Kroell, the downhill World Cup holder, was third, half a second adrift.

(Reporting by Patrick Lang; Editing by John Mehaffey)

Alpine Skiing Recap: Maze wins Garmisch downhill and breaks 2,000 points is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Share|

Alpine Skiing Roundup: Tina Maze completes the set with a super-G win

January 13, 2013 By Admin

4de598305c4755b5ac162f4dcb833697 Alpine Skiing Roundup: Tina Maze completes the set with a super G win

(Reuters) – Tina Maze became only the sixth woman to win in all five Alpine ski World Cup disciplines when she took victory in a super-G on Sunday.

The Slovenian’s sixth race win of the season, in one minute 16.55 seconds, completed the set for Maze, who now looks almost certain to win the overall World Cup given her enormous lead over her rivals.

The 29-year-old Maze, who had earned eight podium places in super-G before Sunday, joined Lindsey Vonn, Janica Kostelic, Anja Paerson, Pernilla Wiberg and Petra Kronberger among the women skiers crowned in every discipline.

It was, though, a close call for the giant slalom world champion as she beat local favorite Anna Fenninger by 0.04 seconds on a tough, technical Klaus Schranz piste.

Fenninger, the winner of a giant slalom in Semmering a week ago and third in Saturday’s downhill, will be Austria’s best hope at home in the world championships in Schladming next month.

Swiss Fabienne Suter pushed American Vonn off the podium by 0.01 seconds to take third place.

Four-times World Cup champion Vonn, who was joint sixth on Saturday, finished exactly a second behind Maze.

In the World Cup overall standings, Maze leads nearest rival Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany by 545 points while her total of 1,289 points is more than twice as much as any other skier.

(Editing by Clare Fallon)

eb572372ee9ff6207a5f074999759c22 Alpine Skiing Roundup: Tina Maze completes the set with a super G win

Alpine skiing: Extraordinary Hirscher wins in Adelboden

(Reuters) – Austria’s Marcel Hirscher won his third World Cup slalom in succession on Sunday, fighting back from the disappointment of the previous day.

With a blistering second run, the World Cup holder and leader came back from eighth in the morning leg to win in a combined time of one minute 51.75 seconds.

Beaten in Saturday’s giant slalom after a bad mistake on one of the last gates, Hirscher reasserted his supremacy and increased his lead in the World Cup overall standings to 126 points over Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal.

“Obviously, it’s not the same outcome as yesterday. Sometimes you make the most of the opportunity and sometimes you push too hard,” Hirscher told reporters.

“It has nothing to do with pressure as I handle it well when I’m leading after the first run. It’s just that today’s second run was extraordinary. I’ve surprised myself,” said the Austrian, the first skier to win the Adelboden slalom twice.

Svindal, his main rival for the big globe who does not take part in slaloms, acknowledged the exceptional performance by the Austrian when he wrote on his Twitter account: “Wow, Marcel Hirscher!”

Winner in Madonna di Campiglio, Zagreb and Adelboden as well as finishing on the podium of the two other slaloms held this season, Hirscher is now a comfortable leader in the discipline’s World Cup.

Holder Andre Myhrer of Sweden straddled a gate in the second leg for the first time since the same race a year ago.

Veteran Mario Matt, who was in the top three in Zagreb a week ago, finished second, 0.30 seconds adrift.

It was the 33-year-old Austrian’s 36th World Cup podium in a slalom.

“There’s a mix of generations but I wouldn’t say Mario Matt is an old skier, he’s just a very good skier you can never rule out”, said Hirscher.

Italy’s Manfred Moelgg, fastest in the first leg, finished third, 0.62 adrift for his first slalom podium spot in three years.

The men’s circuit remains in Switzerland for next week’s traditional racing weekend in Wengen.

(Reporting by Manuele Lang; Editing by Clare Fallon and Tom Pilcher)

Alpine Skiing Roundup: Tina Maze completes the set with a super-G win is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Share|

Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

January 24, 2012 By Admin

e58de2ce184a2982e55100b41dff8854 Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win
Kirchgasser’s second career World Cup victory on Sunday comes five years after her first triumph in a giant slalom. (Marco Trovati/Associated Press)

(PhatzRadio / CBC Sports) — Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria won a World Cup slalom on Sunday after pre-race favourites Marlies Schild and Maria Hoefl-Riesch skied out on the first run.

Kirchgasser led after the first leg and increased her advantage in the second, finishing in one minute 47.25 seconds, more than sixth-tenths of a second faster than Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen. Veronika Zuzulova of Slovakia was third, 1.34 seconds off the pace. World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn finished seventh.

Erin Mielzynski of Guelph, Ont., finished 18th with a time of 1:51.86.

It is Kirchgasser’s second career World Cup victory and comes five years after her first win in a giant slalom.

“I did pretty good skiing,” Kirchgasser said. “I like it when it’s icy like this and you have to fight from start to finish. It’s a great feeling, it’s unbelievable, it’s a long time since I won.”

World slalom champion Schild had won the previous five World Cup slalom races, while Hoefl-Riesch is the reigning Olympic champion as well as the current World Cup holder. But both skied out after missing the same gate at the top of the difficult Kranjska Gora course.

A women’s World Cup race has only been held on the course twice in the last 21 years, although the men race here regularly.

Schild and Hoefl-Riesch were among 26 competitors who did not finish the first run, while six others failed on the second, including three of the top ten after the first run.

“I don’t know if Marlies would have been faster but I had two good runs and gave all I can do,” Kirchgasser said. “I don’t know if she would have beat me or I would have beat her.”

Vonn struggled at the bottom of the course, as she did in Saturday’s giant slalom, and finished with a time of 1:50.14.

“My second run wasn’t great — again. And I had problems — again. But I fought really hard,” Vonn said. “I gave it my all and pushed all the way but then unfortunately I had problems at the bottom again and I didn’t quite do it. I really tried though, and seventh is my best result all season so I’m happy with it.”

Home favourite Tina Maze, spurred on by a noisy crowd, finished fourth, slightly cutting Vonn’s lead in the overall standings. The American is 282 points ahead of Maze, and is firmly on course for a fourth World Cup title.

“Tina hasn’t closed the gap by much, I’m still nearly almost 300 points ahead of her,” Vonn said. “And my goal this season is to keep winning in the downhill, keep winning in the super G, win in the super combined … stay in the top three in the GS and try to stay with (Maze) in the slalom.

“She’s always top three in the slalom, though not today, so it’s going to be tough,” Vonn said. “But my aim isn’t scoring the big points in slalom but just to keep going and stay with her.”

The 48th Golden Fox event was supposed to be held in Maribor but was moved due to a lack of snow. Last year’s event was also affected by weather and had to be cancelled.

Kathrin Zettel of Austria won the giant slalom and the slalom in 2010. The defending champion finished fifth after a strong second run.

Back in 17th spot after the first run, Zettel was provisional leader with a time of 1:49:53 until overtaken by Maze, the fourth last skier to race.

Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

help Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

009b06f38695de0d0d383c24bf894a9e Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

1df4af0e6e8f900d91267ca68edfd555 Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

7f14bbf0b0c13fca3af83ff82c0b71ca Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

7c7d24e16ce9807a51c9caae4d336d4f Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

Share|

Skiing: Austria’s Kirchgasser capitalizes for slalom win

January 23, 2012 By Admin