• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Hirscher wins from the front

Marcel Hirscher had the best of the conditions on the first run and then had the worst of the conditions for the second run. The race ran into brutal conditions as the course deteriorated and it gave later runners precious little chance of making the cut for the second run. Yet for the second run it looked as if the course would hold up. Felix Neureuther rode his luck in the lower section of the second run to take second with local hero Ivica Kostelic in third.

The race was held in brutal conditions and as the first run panned out it looked as if the running order would be the finishing order. Only JB Grange’s demise upset the uniform finish order from the start order for the first five runners. As the race wore on while the distance from first to thirtieth was over three and half seconds, the highest start number to make the second run was number 36. Soft snow, breaking snow and fading light all played their part in this. Despite the great atmosphere generated by the reputed 18,000 crowd, this was a race that was affected by the conditions and later numbers had no chance. With this in mind, the hopes for the second run being similarly affected played on the minds of many.

A good run from the early numbers was vital many felt and Alexis Pinturault put in a time that held the lead for a while. No sooner had Patrick Thaler grabbed the lead off him then Steve Missillier stripped him of the lead. Missillier held the lead for what seemed an eternity and when Ligety struggled on the top of the course, it looked as though he could go all the way and win.

Christian Deville had a lead of over two seconds (2.10 seconds) on Missillier after the first run and while it evaporated at each split, by the time he crossed the line at the bottom, Deville had the green light and was leading, he was only the fourth person to lead the race all day.

Neureuther had just enough in the tank to push Deville off the lead and grabbed the lead and when Ivica Kostelic was unable to take the lead and went into second, Neureuther may have been excused to think that he was about to add to his tally of World Cup wins. Defending champion of Zagreb, Andre Myhrer struggled with the conditions and had to fight to stay in the course on the second run

With 3.61 seconds separating the 31 that headed to the start for the second run (30^th place was a tie), Hirscher could have been excused for feeling a little concerned at the state of the second run. He admitted that when he had heard that Kostelic had only gone into second, he felt that it may not be his day. In the end he had the courage to attack and was rewarded with victory.

FIS Results