Page 21 - atoday

SPORTS A21
Wednesday 30 December

‘Like a parachute’: Innerhofer battles gate in wild downhill

France’s Adrien Theaux speeds down the course during a men’s World Cup downhill in Santa 1.04-second advantage release and not wreck the
Caterina Valfurva, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. over Hannes Reichelt of athlete.”
Austria. It was the French- Either way, there was no
(AP Photo/Marco Trovati) man’s third career win. stopping Innerhofer.
David Poisson of France “What he did today was
ANDREW DAMPF down the course with a loud cheers from the home came third, 1.15 behind — unbelievable — going 145
AP Sports Writer gate attached to him. crowd. the first podium result in the kph with his goggles cover-
SANTA CATERINA VALFUR- About a minute into his “Bode Miller’s no longer 33-year-old’s World Cup ing his eyes,” Svindal said.
VA, Italy (AP) — With Bode run, the Italian got his left around so there needs to career. “I wouldn’t have finished
Miller taking this season arm wrapped around a be another crazy guy,” In- Innerhofer missed the po- fourth — there’s no way.
off, Christof Innerhofer has gate and the bright fluo- nerhofer said. “It was really dium by just 0.07 and Ak- That was ridiculous.”
taken over the reigns of the rescent orange panel and at the limit and very dan- sel Lund Svindal finished Ten of the 56 starters didn’t
World Cup circuit’s most long pole caught onto his gerous. I couldn’t see and I seventh, ending his run of make it to the finish, includ-
daring skier. equipment. was carrying the pole and three straight downhill wins. ing several racers who lost
In a wild downhill that After about 30 seconds, the panel. ... It felt like a “This is not my style of a ski on the challenging
Adrien Theaux won by a Innerhofer rid himself of parachute behind me.” downhill,” Svindal said. course. Of the first six rac-
large margin Tuesday, In- the pole but he carried Theaux won in 1 minute, “This is Innerhofer’s style.” ers, only three completed
nerhofer grabbed most of the panel to the finish at 47.29 seconds on the Still, the Norwegian re- their runs.
the attention by finishing speeds above 120 kph (75 dark and steep Deborah claimed the overall World Defending champion Tra-
fourth after skiing halfway mph) — earning the Italian Compagnoni course for a Cup lead from Marcel vis Ganong of the United
Hirscher, who doesn’t race States finished 17th.
downhill. Svindal moved “It’s really difficult and you
15 points ahead of his Aus- had to have the legs,”
trian rival in the overall and Theaux said. “I just tried to
maintained his lead in the ski relaxed. If you push too
downhill standings. much you go off line and
International Ski Federa- break your legs. I like this
tion technical operations kind of course where it’s
manager Mike Kertesz difficult and there are a lot
explained that the gates of turns. The difficult part is
contain one fixed pole and you don’t see anything.”
one that is designed to re- Poisson took the bronze
lease in case of contact. medal in downhill at the
“Probably what happened 2013 world championships
is the gate panel came off but had never had success
the fixed pole but the out- on the regular World Cup
side of the two poles isn’t circuit. “This is a big result
fixed so it came with it,” for me,” he said. “It was a
Kertesz said. “It’s made to long time.”q

Hansdotter edges Holdener to win women’s World Cup slalom

LIENZ, Austria (AP) — Frida combined time of 1 min- had a solid first run but I felt steep part I struggled a The Olympic champion
Hansdotter held on to her ute, 47.02 seconds on the I had more to give.” bit.” from the United States,
first-run lead to win a wom- Schlossberg course to Carrying a slim 0.11-sec- Although it was only her who won the World Cup
en’s World Cup slalom on edge Wendy Holdener of ond lead into her second third win and first of the slalom title the past three
Tuesday, making her the Switzerland by 0.07. Vlho- run, Hansdotter avoided season, the slalom special- years and also took the
main candidate to take va, who won the previous mistakes and lost just four- ist is one of the most con- first two races this season,
over the discipline title slalom in Are, Sweden, two hundredths of her advan- sistent performers on the is out for an indefinite time
from the injured Mikaela weeks ago, posted the tage, denying Holdener a circuit with 19 podium fin- after hurting her right knee
Shiffrin. fastest second-run time first World Cup slalom vic- ishes. She came runner-up in a warmup crash for the
The Swede’s third ca- and finished 0.43 behind in tory for a Swiss female skier in 14 slalom races, a wom- Dec. 12 giant slalom in Are.
reer win helped extend third. in 13 years. en’s World Cup record she The women’s World Cup
her lead in the discipline Michaela Kirchgasser of “It was amazing,” said shares with Swedish great continues with another sla-
standings to 100 points Austria, who was 0.39 back Hansdotter, who raised Pernilla Wiberg. lom in Santa Caterina, Ita-
over Petra Vlhova of Slo- in third after the opening both arms in celebration Seven times Hansdotter ly, next Tuesday. That race
vakia. She is the only skier leg, failed to finish her final after crossing the finish. “I came second to Shiffrin, has been moved from Za-
to reach the podium in all run. knew it was close. In the who also beat the Swede greb because of a lack
four slaloms this season. “It was a really nice race upper part I had the feel- to retain her world title last of snow in the Croatian
Hansdotter finished in a today,” Hansdotter said. “I ing it was good but on the February. resort.q