Hirscher on World Cup Winning Streak

Overcoming limited visibility in foggy conditions, Marcel Hirscher of Austria maintained his winning streak as he claimed his third victory in succession in the slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, on 8 January 2012, bringing his total wins for the season to five. With a combined time of one minute 58.66 seconds, Hirscher made history as the first skier to win both classic World Cup races in a weekend at the Adelboden Resort. The 22-year old skier beat defending champion Ivica Kostelic by a mere 0.27 seconds, with Stefano Gross of Italy taking third place on the podium.

In a post-race interview, Hirscher expressed his surprise at his success, noting that the weather conditions made the race like a rodeo and had him rocking all over the place. Having recovered from an injury suffered at the end of last season, Hirscher had not been expecting the success he has achieved in the current season. He was reported as saying that he has achieved the goals he set for himself this season, and was having fun with each race, enjoying his winning streak for as long as it lasts. He also noted, however, that he is glad for the break before the slalom set to take place in Wengen on January 15.

Kostelic conceded that he had been more cautious than usual in the manner in which he tackled the race, explaining that he has a history with the last ten gates on the Adelboden Chuenisbargli course where he has made mistakes in the past. Hirscher did not let anything hold him back as he took the victory. Both skiers agreed that weather conditions had been extremely difficult to deal with.

Although Ivica Kostelic of Croatia is 230 points behind Marcel Hirscher in the men’s World Cup championship, he has made it known that he is up for the challenge. He noted that what he likes about alpine skiing is that each race has skiers starting from scratch and he anticipated that Wengen will provide plenty of excitement, and Hirscher will have to show what he’s worth in speed events. Marcel Hirscher plans to skip the Super-Combined race scheduled for Friday and concentrate his efforts on Sunday’s Slalom.

New Teams Have 2014 Sochi Olympics as Goal

With the winter sport season well under way in the northern hemisphere, the official announcement of the 2011-2012 US Snowboarding Halfpipe and Slopestyle team members has generated plenty of excitement. Adding to the excitement and competitive atmosphere is the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include these events in the program for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The participating athletes were named by the US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) at recently at the Sprint US Grand Prix held at Copper Mountain.

The first UD Slopestyle Snowboarding Pro Team includes some well-known names, such as Scotty Lago of Seabrook, NH, and Chas Guldemond of Reno, NV. The coach for the slopestyle 2012 team will be Bill Enos, former US Snowboarding athlete. Jeremy Forster, Director of US Snowboarding and US Freesking, was reported as saying that naming this team was a natural step in view of the event’s inclusion in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. We went on to endorse the skill of the athletes saying that they all have Olympic medal potential and are an amazing group of riders. As one of the most recent additions to the Olympic program, slopestyle snowboarding makes use of a stylized course with rails, boxes, kickers and other exciting freestyle features to be negotiated by riders.

The US Snowboarding Halfpipe Pro Team will include no less than four Olympic medalists, Greg Bretz, Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter. Kelly Clark made a name for herself last season, claiming all the major titles in the sport and fans will no doubt be following her career closely as a member of the new team. The team also includes 2010 Euro X champion Kaitlyn Farrington, Matt Ladley and Olympian Elena Hight. The early opening of Copper’s 22-foot pipe gave halfpipe athletes the opportunity to get in a good amount of training ahead of the Sprint US Grand Prix opening event in Mammoth Mountain.

The Rookie Team will be led by Benji Farrow, and the women’s Rookie Team will be led by Maddy Schaffrick. Spencer Tamblyn will coach the Rookies. The US Snowboarding Snowboardcross Team is due to be named at Telluride next week, ahead of the USANA Snowboardcross Cup.

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