Olympic Games - Vancouver - Swiss Janka expected in the Super Combined

THE  Super-combined and a discipline in itself because the competitors must compete in both events on the same day. The ranking is determined with the sum of the times of the two rounds. This event highlights versatile skiers, fast downhill, and skillful and technical in slalom.

Result

Final ranking
1. Bode Miller USA 2’44″92
2. Ivica Kostelic CRO + 0″33
3. Silvan Zurbriggen SUI 0″40
4. Carlo Janka SUI 0″62
5. Ted Ligety USA 0″90
6. Benjamin Raich AUT 1″21
7. Ondrej Bank CZE 1″27
8. Christof Innerhofer ITA 1″53
9. Kjetil Jansrud NOR 1″58
10. Will Brandenburg USA 2″14
11. Andrew Weibrecht USA 2″66
12. Adrien Theaux FRA 3″05
13. Dominik Paris ITA 3″07
14. Sandro Viletta SUI 3″27
15. Ryan Semple CAN 3″34

Ranking after the descent: 1. Aksel Lund Svindal (No) 1’53»15. 2. Dominik Paris (It) at 0»39. 3. Carlo Janka (S) at 0»50. 4. Didier Défago (S) at 0»54. 5. Hans Olsson (Su) at 0»68. 6. Silvan Zurbriggen (S) at 0»73. Then: 21. Sandro Viletta (S) at 2»57. Notably eliminated: Romed Baumann.

Eliminated in the slalom: Didier Défago SUI, Aksel Lund Svindal NOR, Lars Elton Myhre NOR, Andrej Sporn SLO, Peter Fill ITA, Hans Olsson SWE.

A little historyThe super combined event was contested for the first time at the 1932 Alpine World Ski Championships. Previously, only the downhill-slalom combination counted, then the combined events were separated from the individual events. So we had the downhill, the slalom, and again these two events contested for the combined event.

The event begins with the downhill at 10 am (19:00 Swiss time), followed by the slalom at 1:30 pm (10:30 pm).

Altitude at the start of the descent: 1,440 m
Descent finish altitude: 825 m
Elevation gain: 625 m

Altitude of the start of the slalom: 1.005 m
Arrival altitude: 825 m
Elevation gain: 180 m

The Favorites

Of all the Swiss, Carlo Janka seems to be our best chance of winning the Super Combined. At 23, Carlo from Obersaxen is a very talented and versatile skier. Bronze medallist in the downhill at the 2006 Junior World Championships, he exploded onto the scene in 2009. That year, he took two World Cup victories, in the giant at Val d'Isère and especially in the combined at Wengen. He finished the World Cup with a little globe for it first place in the super combined rankingDuring the 2009 World Championships he won the giant slalom and bronze in the downhill. Carlo Janka symbolizes the new generation of alpine skiing.
Carlo has won major victories in both slalom and downhill, and topped the World Cup standings in the super-combined in 2009. Didier Cuche says of him:  «...But with this Carlo Janka, there was nothing to be done. He's disconcertingly relaxed and talented...»

THE French Julien Lizeroux can also do well in this event, thanks to his mastery of technical disciplines. He was 3rd in the Slalom at the 2009 World Cup, with two wins, and 7th in the Combined. Above all, he was silver medallist at the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère, in the Super Combined and Slalom.

We must not forget the American champion Bode Miller who is also the favourite. With an impressive list of 68 podium finishes, including 32 World Cup victories, the American won the combined classification in 2003, 2004 and 2008. His most recent overall victory came on 15 January, when he beat Carlo Janka in Wengen. He explained to journalists: « I don't want to sound arrogant, but the super-combined is pretty easy for me. If I'm skiing at my level, it's rare that I'm not on the podium. There aren't many racers who win both the slalom and the downhill." . Third in the downhill yesterday, there is no doubt that Miller will be even more motivated to do well to stay in contention for the Olympic title..

Last but not least, the Austrian Benjamin Raich and Croatian Ivica Kostelic forming with Janka the current top three in the Super Combined World Cup standings.

But all predictions are possible. Indeed, nine different skiers made it onto the podium during the three combined events of this World Cup season, including the Swiss Silvan Zurbriggen, Didier Défago, and our favorite Janka.