СВЕТОВНА КУПА БАНСКО, СЛАЛОМ МЪЖЕ. Австриецът Марсел Хиршер заслужено може да вземе българско гражданство, след като днес, за втори пореден ден, спечели кристалния трофей на Световната купа в Банско, този път в слалома.

Марсел Хиршер, Австрия

Освен дубъла на Хиршер, състезанието предложи голям екшън, достоен само за Световна купа. След брилянтни спускания на всички колоси в съвременния слалом, подиумът в Банско се оформи с второ място за "банскалията" с австрийски корен Супер Марио Мат и трето за шведа Андре Мирер. Но изненадата дойде минути преди официалното награждаване, когато от видео контрола на Световната купа сервираха неприятната за Марио новина, че ще бъде дисквалифициран за настъпен кол по време на втория манш. Силно разочарован, той отстъпи място на подиума за четвъртия в класирането - италианецът Стефано Грос. По тази причина церемонията по награждаването леко се проточи, защото Стефано вече беше отпрашил с кабинката за Банско и трябваше да бъде доведен обратно. За да се ускори процеса, беше вдигнат един от хеликоптерите, който за миг пренесе Грос "направо" въху стълбичката. Щастливите победители бяха наградени с кристалните купи и марково шампанско от Министъра на икономката, енергетиката и туризма г-н Трайчо Трайков, Министъра на вътрешните работи г-н Цветан Цветанов, Министъра на младежта и спорта г-н Свилен Нейков, Председателя на БФСки г-н Цеко Минев и ски звездата Алберто Томба.

Днешният старт гарантирано може да определим като най-големия успех в историята на организираните алпийски ски състезания в България. Опитът на екипите от БФСки, заедно с труда на всеки човек в организацията на Световната купа в Банско, даде такъв зашеметителен резултат, от който всички присъстващи бяха възхитени. Суперлативите не са достатъчни да опишат обстановката и настроението преди и по време на двата манша. Състезатели и треньори не спираха да дават най-високи оценки на поддръжката и цялостното излъчване на събитието. А ние от SKI.BG направихме перфектна уникална фотография, част от която сега предоставяме на вашето внимание!

Подробности и още фотография тук!

Марсел Хиршер, Австрия

Мирер, Хиршер, Грос

Бенямин Райх, Австрия

Андре Мирер, Швеция

Кристоф Крижъл, Чехия

Марио Мат, Австрия

Наоки Юаса, Япония

Стефано Грос, Италия

Драма за Австрия

Георги Гергиев-Гого, България

Поглед от старта

Стартът на Феликс Нойройтер, Германия

Алберто Томба

Алексис Пинтуро, Франция

г-н Цеко Минев

Марсел Хиршер и г-н Цеко Минев

Никола Чонгаров, България

Арената

Hirscher on a roll, sweeps Bansko tech races

BANSKO, Bulgaria—Eight, that's the number of victories Marcel Hirscher has this season. He added one today, that's two days in a row. Giant slalom, check. Slalom, check. He's leading the GS title race after Saturday's win here, and now just 35 points behind injured Ivica Kostelic for the slalom hunt. But he's even closer to the overall now—only 18 points behind Kostelic.

He's so cool about it, not adding fuel to the fire regarding that question on everyone's mind, “You going to start pursuing the overall or what and get into some speed races?”

Breathing heavily after his speedy second slalom run, he said: “I don't know, at the moment I'm pretty tired. But we will see. Today I'm going to travel over to Moscow and I have things to do. I don't know if I'll race super G or not, it really doesn't matter to me.”

He just wants the technical event titles for now, and said he will decide whether to race super G after Moscow and to actually give the overall a shot. About the slalom title, he said: “It's so close, I can grab it and feel it, but there are many races left to go in the season.”

Can Hirscher be beat? The racers continue to try. Hirscher won the slalom today with a total time of 1 minute, 52.64 seconds. Andre Myhrer was 0.57 back in second. Of course it isn't a slalom this season without any drama. Mario Matt was announced the second place winner, but just before the flower ceremony, officials ruled that he had straddled a gate. Stefano Gross, already half way down the hill—skiing back to the hotel—got intercepted and snowmobiled up to the awards ceremony. He was 0.90 seconds behind Hirscher in the competition to secure his second career podium this season.

The competition for the podium was nonetheless tough today, like a round of musical chairs for the leader box. It started with American's Nolan Kasper—in the 20th position after the second run—he put down the second fastest time in the final run to place him in the leader box until Naoki Yuasa topped him. Then Fritz Dopfer jumped in the box, followed by Stefano Gross, and Mario Matt—but they all were to be usurped by Hirscher in the end.

“He's skiing very consistent at the moment,” Myhrer, who got is third 2nd place of the season today, said about Hirscher. “He's hard to beat, very stable. He's really pushing hard every time. You really need to have two clean runs, otherwise he will beat you.”

Nolan finished sixth, Yuasa fifth, Dopfer fourth.

The conditions turned from lowlight visibility this morning, as the sun cast a shadow on the Alberto Tomba track—a 215 meter vertical dr­op—to a course baking in the sun for the final run. Cooler morning temperatures went to outright warm afternoon conditions. The course held up, though. “They did a great job,” Myhrer said about the Bansko team of course workers.

The non-icy track does make for constant changes at each gate the racers said. Nothing is consistent. Most racers said they prefer injected courses. “Injected holds up better for everyone,” Kasper said, “and gives you something more to push on. If it's injected and gnarly, that's the best for me.”

Yet earlier in the day, Austrian Marc Girardelli, Bansko Ambassador and five-time overall World Cup champion said it's good to mix it up with natural courses. “It's not that icy as other resorts, but despite this, late numbers have a chance to place in front. We saw it yesterday with Marcel Mathis. I don't think it's the solution to make every course an ice rink which harms the joints of the racers. I think we need to go back a little to the natural snow conditions.”

Up next on the men's schedule is the Moscow City Race, which is Monday, The man to beat is Hirscher of course. “For the moment for sure, he is the best skier at least from the technical side,” Girardelli said. “It's interesting, he has a very aggressive technique. He has similarity with Jean-Baptiste Grange when he skied so strong a few years ago. You know, it can change, but now he is on the top and has a chance to win the World Cup."

See what Andre Myhrer had to say about the race today, Matt straddling, and rocking out with his guitar:

By Vanessa Pierce
FISalpine.com
Sunday 19 February 2012

OFFICIAL RESULTS
19.02.2012
Race codex: 0241
Valid for FIS Points : YES
Bansko (BUL)
FIS World Cup
Men's Slalom
TD FIS GAYRAUD BERNARD GRE
Referee G. HUJARA FIS
Chief of Race V. STEFANOV BUL
Technical Data
Start Altitude 1825 m
Finish Altitude 1610 m
Vertical Drop 215
Homologation Number 5390/11/04
Run 1
Course Setter M. PIRCHER AUT
Number of Gates 68

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
1 7 53831 HIRSCHER Marcel 1989 AUT 54.61 58.03 1:52.64 0.00
2 3 501017 MYHRER Andre 1983 SWE 54.67 58.54 1:53.21 3.09
3 6 293797 GROSS Stefano 1986 ITA 55.29 58.25 1:53.54 4.87
4 12 202462 DOPFER Fritz 1987 GER 55.66 58.28 1:53.94 7.04
5 23 301709 YUASA Naoki 1983 JPN 56.00 58.07 1:54.07 7.74
6 20 532138 KASPER Nolan 1989 USA 56.44 57.66 1:54.10 7.91
7 16 534562 LIGETY Ted 1984 USA 56.04 58.21 1:54.25 8.72
7 15 501111 HARGIN Mattias 1985 SWE 56.67 57.58 1:54.25 8.72
9 18 292491 MOELGG Manfred 1982 ITA 55.88 58.41 1:54.29 8.94
10 14 293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano 1984 ITA 55.61 58.86 1:54.47 9.91
11 8 50624 PRANGER Manfred 1978 AUT 55.49 59.05 1:54.54 10.29
12 10 50625 RAICH Benjamin 1978 AUT 55.80 58.77 1:54.57 10.45
13 24 500656 LARSSON Markus 1979 SWE 55.94 58.66 1:54.60 10.61
14 13 192665 GRANGE Jean-Baptiste 1984 FRA 55.86 58.79 1:54.65 10.89
15 11 192506 MISSILLIER Steve 1984 FRA 55.85 58.91 1:54.76 11.48
16 26 194364 PINTURAULT Alexis 1991 FRA 56.29 58.49 1:54.78 11.59
17 25 102912 SPENCE Brad 1984 CAN 55.83 59.04 1:54.87 12.08
18 21 50605 HERBST Reinfried 1978 AUT 56.39 58.93 1:55.32 14.51
19 30 50981 HOERL Wolfgang 1983 AUT 56.23 59.14 1:55.37 14.78
20 35 150644 KRYZL Krystof 1986 CZE 57.03 58.40 1:55.43 15.11
21 28 511174 VOGEL Markus 1984 SUI 56.23 59.51 1:55.74 16.79
22 34 193334 RIVAS Gabriel 1986 FRA 57.08 59.06 1:56.14 18.95
23 22 501223 BAECK Axel 1987 SWE 56.81 59.37 1:56.18 19.17
24 44 561148 SKUBE Matic 1988 SLO 56.52 59.69 1:56.21 19.33
24 41 201891 SCHMID Philipp 1986 GER 57.04 59.17 1:56.21 19.33
26 27 421400 MYHRE Lars Elton 1984 NOR 56.43 59.84 1:56.27 19.66
27 32 534040 COCHRAN Jimmy 1981 USA 56.93 1:03.14 2:00.07 40.24
Disqualified 2nd run
4 50707 MATT Mario 1979 AUT
Did not start 1st run
45 102922 WHITE Trevor 1984 CAN
Did not qualify for 2nd run
59 750088 RISTEVSKI Antonio 1989 MKD
58 90109 TODOROV Dean 1983 BUL
55 30149 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier 1980 ARG
54 90131 GEORGIEV Georgi 1987 BUL
53 561117 KUERNER Miha 1987 SLO
52 380292 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 1986 CRO
50 990048 BORSOTTI Giovanni 1990 ITA
49 380290 SAMSAL Dalibor 1985 CRO
48 501116 LAHDENPERAE Anton 1985 SWE
47 301312 SASAKI Akira 1981 JPN
46 51395 DIGRUBER Marc 1988 AUT
43 193347 TISSOT Maxime 1986 FRA
42 421669 HAUGEN Leif Kristian 1987 NOR
40 150594 TREJBAL Filip 1985 CZE
39 192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas 1984 FRA
38 480736 KHOROSHILOV Alexander 1984 RUS
36 50547 SCHOENFELDER Rainer 1977 AUT
33 421849 JOHANSEN Truls 1989 NOR
Did not finish 2nd run
5 501101 BYGGMARK Jens 1985 SWE
2 201702 NEUREUTHER Felix 1984 GER
Did not finish 1st run
57 92562 PRISADOV Stefan 1990 BUL
56 92534 CHONGAROV Nikola 1989 BUL
51 531799 FORD Tommy 1989 USA
37 102727 STUTZ Paul 1983 CAN
31 530165 BRANDENBURG Will 1987 USA
29 50824 DREIER Christoph 1981 AUT
19 102435 JANYK Michael 1982 CAN
17 560355 VALENCIC Mitja 1978 SLO
9 290732 THALER Patrick 1978 ITA
1 291145 DEVILLE Cristian 1981 ITA