Second Training: Norway in a class of it’s Own
The only two Norwegians starting in today’s second training on the Saslong have set themselves apart from the rest of the crowd. Kjetil Jansrud clocked the fastest time of 1:58.45 minutes on an icy course in Gardena/Gröden followed by Aksel Lund Svindal with 0.07 seconds delay on second place. Respectable results also for Klaus Kröll (AUT; +0.45 seconds) and Erik Guay (CAN; +0.46 seconds) on rank 3 and 4, respectively.
Kjetil Jansrud has never even competed in a World Cup Downhill race on the Saslong but he is no stranger here having placed 3rd in last year’s Super-G which makes him somewhat of a defending champion as Beat Feuz (SUI) and Bode Miller (USA) who ranked gold and silver, respectively, are out due to injuries. In a Norwegian duel for first place, Jansrud edged out 2nd placed Svindal by 0.07 seconds. Svindal was yesterday’s lead and today proved once again that he is in top form: so far he reached the podium in all four speed events this season. We think that he will definitely be THE contender for Saturday’s Downhill. Also Klaus Kröll and Erik Guay have proven their intent to place on the podium. Both skied in the top 3 yesterday followed by a close rank 3 and 4 today with less than 0.5 second delay.
Dominik Paris (ITA), Adrien Theaux (FRA), Werner Heel, Siegmar Klotz (both from ITA) and Marco Sullivan (USA) all placed within a second from the leading duo. There will probably be no surprise placings matching yesterday’s events apart from Heel’s top 10 result with bib 56. The Italian team in general performed well with three placings within the top eight.
But luckily we also didn’t have any falls today. Yesterday was different with Patrick Schweiger (AUT) rupturing his ACL and Andy Plank (South Tyrol) dislocating his shoulder.
The program continues here in Gardena/Gröden with tomorrow’s Super-G. Start is at 12:15 pm.
