Sunday's FIS World Cup giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado saw Swiss young gun Carlo Janka win again, his third Word Cup victory in as many races (he also won the super combined and downhill). The last time a skier grabbed three straight World Cup wins it was Aksel Lund Svindal in the 2007 World Cup finals at Lenzerheide. The win gave the 23-year old Janka five victories for his career, puts a target on his back for the rest of this season and has many wondering if taking a huge amount of time off over the summer might not have some major benefits. Janka's combined time after two runs was 2:29.44.
"I can't believe I won three here," said Janka. "The most important thing is for me to be able to carry this success to the European circuit."
Austria's Benjamin Raich joined Janka on the podium in second with a combined time of 2:29.91. Norwegian Svindal took third, his second podium of the weekend, with a combined time of 2:30.37.
"He is really strong, he's in perfect shape and has a lot of self-confidence, you can see today he is hard to beat," said Benjamin Raich of Janka's perfect Beaver Creek run. "The first run was a make or break, if I didn't make the mistakes in the first run, those are the things that made me miss it today."
"It was good day for me," continued Raich. "I like this hill, I'm happy to be on the podium."
Svindal was happy with his result as he is returning from an injury (leg bruise) suffered in October. "Beaver Creek, for me, went as well as I could possibly hope for," said Svindal. "If I continue to step it up it's going to be a good season. I think the most important thing is to feel ready for the challenges that are ahead in the season."
"He is a couple of heads ahead of me at least, " said Svindal of Janka. "It's good that he is making a name for himself, you need guys like that in the sport. When you look at him ski he doesn't look extreme. He is very efficient, he does exactly what he needs to do to be fast."
What was ideal weather for the first two races here turned sour today as steady snowfall made visibility tough for all but the first five racers of the first run. Visibility and a rutted course caused 15 racers to not finish the first run on the Birds of Prey course.
Janka, however, wasn't fazed by the challenging conditions. "When things come together it doesn't matter when that it is snowy and cold."
The race started in a light snowfall that got progressively heavier as the run played out making visibility much more difficult for later racers. Just one skier starting past 20 made the top 10, that being Gauther DeTessieres of France who made it to tenth in the first run.
Janka made his mark early, putting down the fastest first-run time with a time of 1:15.18. The 23-year old Swiss was holding a quarter of a second lead over Raich and three-quarters of a second over teammate Didier Defago, who finished seventh today.
American Ted Ligety held his fourth place position from the first run as the conditions improved and the heavy snowfall from the first run broke and bits of blue sky could be seen over the valley. "Fourth place isn't so bad I guess," admitted Ligety. "Both courses were really fast, which isn't my specialty for sure."
Ligety was also impressed with Janka's sweep. "Janka's skiing has been pretty incredible. It's crazy to see how he did here," he said. "He's a strong kid and doesn't make mistakes."
A race highlight was a spectacular crash from Frenchman Thomas Fanara, who took out a panel, loaded up his ski and launched an estimated 12 feet into the air completely upside down, landing on his helmet and shoulder and sliding into the fencing. He disengaged himself from the netting and appeared relatively unscathed.
The men's Audi FIS Alpine World Cup now shifts to Val d'Isere, France for a super combined, super-G and giant slalom Dec. 11-13.
-Eric Williams and Hank McKee/ Ski Racing Magazine
