Croatian Sits in Catbird Seat Halfway Through the Super Combined
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - The super combined is the combination of a morning downhill run and an afternoon slalom run, and few racers in the field are spectacular at both. The event becomes a balancing act: survive your weakness and make the most of your strength.
With that in mind, Ivica Kostelic of Croatia managed the first half of the competition best on Friday. Kostelic, who has 15 World Cup slalom victories and won the silver medal in both the slalom and the super combined in the 2010 Olympics, was in seventh place after the downhill portion of the race, just 0.93 seconds behind the leader, Kjetil Jansrud of Norway.
Kostelic will also be racing Friday afternoon down a slalom course set by his father and coach, Ante Kostelic, which is a subtle but not insignificant advantage. And Ante Kostelic has set a dicey, challenging slalom for Friday afternoon.
In general, a second or more is not much for a slalom specialist to make up on a leaderboard filled mostly with downhill skiers.
The American Ted Ligety, who is 1.93 seconds out of the lead, said he thought two seconds was not too much to make up, 'on the downhill guys.'
Added Ligety: 'Especially since Ante tends to set a tough course. I still have a chance.'
Ligety did add that he was not in ideal position, because he was trailing Kostelic by a second.
The biggest surprise of Friday's downhill may have been the subpar finish of Alexis Pinturault of France. One of the pre-race favorites, Pinturault is 2.44 seconds behind Jansrud and 1.51 seconds behind Kostelic. Pinturault could move up to be in medal contention, but he has spotted Kostelic an enormous edge.
An overlooked contender could be Ondrej Bank of the Czech Republic, who was second after the morning downhill. Bank has struggled mightily with slalom for the last two years but he did break through with an 11th place finish in the super combined at last year's world championships.
Bode Miller had a poor downhill run, finishing 12th, 1.43 seconds back. Four years ago at the Vancouver Olympics, he made up 0.76 seconds in the slalom to win the gold medal in this event.
But as Miller said late Friday morning: 'I have a tough relationship with slalom right now. I love it and I hate it. It's going to take my best. But it's going to be a fight.'
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