Miller wins, Ligety fifth in Kombi!
Wengen Slalom, the best slalom hill on the World Cup.
I know, Schladming will cry about that statement, as will Kitzbuhel. But ask the skiers, really. Away from their home press or home town, and they will tell you, Wengen is the best. It has all the elements plus more. It is the perfect length in number of turns versus vertical drop. When the FIS changed the setting rules for slalom to 30-35% of vertical from 55 absolute minimum, it made no difference in Wengen. The slalom hill is 194 meters and the Kombi is 188 (it finishes just a touch higher to keep the DH finish area safe). That is 58 turns for the regular slalom and 56 for the Kombi. I have set 4 World Cups (2 regular and 2 Kombi) on the Jungfrau slalom hill and some were with 55 minimum rules and some at the new procedures. It was no difference. I set 59 in both regular slaloms and 58 in both Kombis and was at 11 to 12 meters the whole way. I never worried about it, although I was right on the minimum. But it shows you, Wengen is the classic hill and you can set out at a consistent 12 meters and make minimum no problem. You can also set 10.5 meters and stay under maximum. But you cannot set 10 the whole way and stay under max. It is the perfect hill.
You roll out of the start just below the Allmend train station and restaurant. The top, flatter section has small twists in the hill left and right with at least 20 rolls giving fall-away turns and tough visual looks. There is a slight bend to the left at the first hay barn and then it rolls into a short steep pitch, then immediately bends right and flattens completely. It goes just slightly uphill before breaking over a tremendously steep section, if only for eight to ten turns. With an injected surface and no other way down, it is very funny watching the coaches and service guys on coaching boots and dull skis trying to get down this pitch. Everyone lined up taking turns in a high-speed slide-slip. I once watched USST service-man, Dave Coombs slide all the way down this pitch on his butt with Rothrock's race skis on his shoulder.
Then the hill flattens suddenly and bends to the left. The flat goes for a few turns and then breaks over again with another hay barn smack in the middle of the hill. It sharply rolls for 2 or 3 turns hits a compression, goes uphill a little and bends left and then breaks over and bends back to the right to the finish. The bottom is like a roller coaster, tremendously fun to watch and a great hill to get to set.
It finishes in a bowl in a shared finish with the Lauberhorn Downhill and usually draws a very large crowd that lines most of the hill and fills the bowl at the bottom. If you have a good day, it is an exhilarating rush.
So, big news out of Wengen this morning: Bode won the Kombi and Ted finished 5th. Janka second and Zurbriggen was 3rd. Benni Raich squeezed into 4th. I want to believe, and I do believe. Bode obviously must be shaking off his ankle injury. The other thing I know after having been there many times with him is that he truly cares about this race. It is important to him to win these legendary events. I would now place him as the favorite the Downhill too. I also was very happy to see Ted get a solid Kombi score and even more importantly, a good slalom run down that hill. He has been very sarcastic in his tweets lately so I was concerned about his mental state. Does this make Bode the favorite for the Kombi at Whistler? I don’t think so but the slalom hill in Whistler is much easier than Wengen which helps him a bit.
Great job boys! Good luck tomorrow and Sunday!
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