ALPINE:

Herbst claims slalom title, Janyk, Cousineau finish strong

March 13, 2010 — SRC Staff Report         

►Photos: Felix Neureuther, above (Agence Zoom); Reinfried Herbst (AZ); home page, Julien Cousineau (AZ)

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GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Reinfried Herbst gave Austria its only men's title of the season when he clinched the slalom crystal globe in the final race Saturday.

Felix Neureuther delighted his hometown crowd by winning the race for his second career victory after Kitzbuehel, Austria.

First-run leader Manfred Pranger of Austria finished second, and Olympic bronze medalist Andre Myhrer of Sweden was third.

Canadian Michael Janyk was fifth and Julien Cousineau sixth, with Brad Spence 18th.

Herbst won the title ahead of Julien Lizeroux of France, who finished fourth. Herbst was only ninth but he had a 43-point lead ahead of the race and took the title with 534 points. Lizeroux finished at 512. The points lead changed hands several times as later starters moved up the standings.

"My nerves were shattered at the end," Herbst said.

"I have to give a very, very big thanks to Felix, his victory win helped me win the title. I was lucky today but if you look over the season I think I deserved it with four wins," the 31-year-old Austrian said.

"It was an important victory for the team," Herbst said.

The Austrian men have struggled throughout the season and went without any medals at the Vancouver Olympics. They also failed to win a downhill race.

Neureuther is the son of former German stars Rosi Mittermeier and Christian Neureuther, who won a slalom race on the same hill 36 years ago.

"I simply felt very well today. The season didn't go the way I wanted but to end it like this is a dream," Neureuther said.

Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli of Italy failed to finish the first run. Ted Ligety of the United States, who clinched the giant slalom title Friday, clipped the first gate of the second run and dropped out.

Neureuther was fifth after the first run but jumped to the top by posting the fastest second heat. He finished in a combined time of one minute, 43.63. Pranger was .29 seconds behind and Myhrer trailed .35.

Cousineau narrowly missed the first World Cup podium of his career, sitting in second place after the opening men's slalom run. Cousineau finished sixth, .35 out of third spot.

"I have never been in that position before. So I was pretty nervous," said the 29-year-old Cousineau, who was just .09 back of the lead after the opening run.

"Second run I skied OK but I think I didn't charge enough. I was pretty nervous so I guess that's probably why," he added. "But it's been a great season and I am looking forward to more good results next season. It's definitely a good step in the right direction."

"It's a good team showing. Obviously, 'Cousi' and I were right up there in the first run and we gave ourselves a chance for the podium and for the win," said Janyk. "It was a very tight race and we're just on the wrong side."

"I think it gives us a lot of confidence to finish the year this strong," he said.

"I am very happy with how I finished. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I wanted more. I was looking for more podiums. On the other side, I was consistently up there, and finished every race but one," added Janyk, who had six top-10 results, including three fifth-place finishes.

In the season slalom standings, Janyk was the top Canadian in ninth with 267 points while Cousineau finished 14th, by far a career-best result.

By virtue of finishing inside the top 10 in the discipline, Janyk also qualifies for the use of a GMC vehicle for a year through a unique promotion with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team. Janyk also qualified last season by virtue of his third-place performance in the slalom at the 2009 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

CBC's GMC Alpine Ski Series has a jam-packed day of ski racing on Saturday starting with the men's slalom under way at 2 p.m. ET. That is followed by the women’s super-G at 3 p.m. ET and the men's super-G won by Erik Guay at 4 p.m. ET.

Radio-Canada is scheduled to have two hours of coverage on its main network Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. ET. They are also expected to have coverage of the men's super-G in their programming.

Rogers Sportsnet has the women’s slalom on at 2 p.m. (Eastern), 3 p.m. (Western and Ontario) 6 p.m. (Pacific).  SRC

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Garmisch-Partenkirchen men’s World Cup slalom results