International sports, skiing
Kranjska Gora, Slovenia (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka won the Giant Slalom at Kranyska Gora, Saturday 6 March, just 10 days after being operated on for irregular heartbeats (cardiac dysrhythmia). Janka had suffered from rapid heartbeats following his previous races, up to 160 per minute even a half hour after racing. The skier from Graubunden commented that he should have had the medical procedure earlier so that he could have been more competitive this season.
Lindsey Vonn picked up her third trophy for the season when she took the super-G title to add to the downhill and super-combined she had already won. The American star is currently second to German skier Maria Reisch in the race for the overall title.
International sports, skiing
Wengen, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Austrian Klaus Kroell pushed Didier Cuche into second place at the classic Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Saturday 15 January. It was the third time that the veteran Neuchatel skier had placed second on the famous run. Carlo Janka came in third, following his second place in the super-combined on Friday. The Austrian beat Cuche by just 0.14 seconds. Silvan Zurbriggen was 13th, the third Swiss. Bode Miller could only manage eighth place but was still the top American.
Garmisch, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka has become the first Swiss in 18 year to win the overall World Cup ski award for the most points in a season, the coveted Crystal Globe. Friday he won the giant slalom in Garmisch, and with only one race (worth 100 points) left, he has a 106-point lead over Austrian Benjamin Raich. The 23-year-old from Graubuenden will duplicate the feat of Swiss skier Paul Accola in 1992.
Carlo Janka (photo: Swiss Ski)
Garmisch, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka has taken the lead in World Cup ski standings, with a total of 1,073 points after he won the downhill in Garmisch 10 March, by a hair. He came in at 1:58:45 but second place Mario Scheiber of Austria clocked 1:58:47 and Canada’s Eric Guay and Switzerland’s Patrick Kueng shared third at 1:58:52 in a remarkably close race.
Whistler, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka swept to victory in the giant slalom, comfortably winning the first run and then managing to maintain his lead in the second. Norwegians Kjetil Jansrud and Aksel Svindal took silver and bronze. Janka, a 23-year-old from Graubunden, is considered the rising star of Swiss skiing but had appeared out of form this Olympics. Earlier in the season he scored a rare triple, winning the downhill, giant and super combined the same weekend at Beaver Creek.
Switzerland then qualified for the quarter-finals of the ice hockey by beating Belorussia on penalties after being held 2-2 in the match. The Swiss will play the USA in the knockout game.
Switzerland now has six gold medals, only one behind Germany and the USA. Norway and Canada also have six.
Links to other sites:Vancouver 2010, tsrsport
Kitzbuehel, Austria (GenevaLunch) - Swiss veteran Didier Cuche completed a rare double when he won the downhill on the classic Streif course Saturday 23 January, perhaps the most prestigious of the World Cup skiing circuit. The 35-year-old Neuchatel racer had won the Super G the day before. Cuche beat Slovenian slalom specialist Andrej Sporn by 0.28 seconds with Italian Werner Heel next. It was his third downhill victory at Kitzbuehel, following on from 1998 and 2008. The other Swiss stars, Carlo Janka and Didier Defago were well back. The race was the last before the Vancouver Olympics, which start 12 February.
Links to other sites: Swissinfo
Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA (GenevaLunch) - Swiss Graubuenden skier Carl Janka pulled off the unusual feat of winning three events in one weekend at Beaver Creek, adding the giant slalom event Sunday to his Friday and Saturday downhill and super combined wins. The 23-year-old was bowed to by the last man to take three World Cup races in a row, Aksel Lund Svindal, who did it 2.5 years ago.
Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka completed a winning double by taking first place in the super combined at Beaver Creek on Friday 4 December and then doing the same in the downhill on Saturday. Swiss skiers took second place in both races, Didier Défago in the combined and veteran Didier Cuche in the downhill. Janka has been on the podium in four of his five races this season. He missed much of the early training due to a viral infection.
Simon Ammann set a new record of 146 metres in Lillehammer, Norway, where he was back in winning form, taking the ski jumping title after a slow start to the season.
Links to other sites: Didier Défago, TSR (Fre)
Links to other sites: Swissinfo
Rettenbach, Austria (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, the current World Cup giant slalom champion, made a fine start to the ski season with a win in the opening race, a giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier. American skier Ted Ligety was second andCuche’s Swiss teammate Carlo Janka was third.
Val d’Isere, France (GenevaLunch) – Carlo Janka added another gold medal to the Swiss collection when he dominated the Giant Slalom today.
Carlo Janka, upcoming Swiss skier
Val d’Isère, France (GenevaLunch) - Canadian John Kucera won the men’s downhill on Saturday, but two Swiss skiers, Didier Cuche and Carlo Janka, took the next two medals. Eleven of the 38 competitors did not complete the bumpy, winding, and sometimes foggy course. Didier Défago, winner at Wengen and Kitzbuehl, posted the best intermediate time but then crashed out. Details, swissinfo and swiss-ski (Fre)
