Jitloff scores points in GS at Beaver Creek

By USSA

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – It was a heartbreaker for the American fans at Beaver Creek on Sunday, as expected winner Ted Ligety (Park City) fell on his first run and did not finish. However, Tim Jitloff (Reno) took a solid top-15 finish in 14th place and David Chodounsky (Crested Butte, Colo.) skied from bib 51 to 16th place.

In a first run that had its fair share of crashes, Ligety—who had won the Beaver Creek GS five times in the previous five years—was skiing strong, leading at each interval until he uncharacteristically pinched off the line over Harrier Jump, booted out and slid out on his side, crashing through a gate and ending his day prematurely.

With Ligety and French aces Alexis Pinturault and Thomas Fanara out in the first run, it left room for Austrian Marcel Hirscher to redeem his World Championships GS second place to Ligety’s gold at the same venue.

Hirscher crossed the line 0.98 seconds ahead of Frenchman Victor Muffat-Jeandet, with Norwegian wunderkind Henrik Kristoffersen rounding out the podium in third, 1.31 seconds behind.

It was the 15th time Hirscher stood atop a World Cup GS podium, surpassing Herman Maier and Benjamin Raich for the all-time GS win record for Austrian men. Hirscher now sits one victory shy of tying Annemarie Moser-Proell’s all-time Austrian record of 16 career GS wins.

“It’s nice to always be in the points, but I’m looking for a little more than 14th place,” Jitloff admitted. “I skied really good today, solid first run. I think I just could have cleaned it up a little on that first run. In the second run I felt like I skied really well … I was pushing it toward the bottom, had a mistake there on the final pitch. The snow was super, super aggressive. I’m a guy that likes to push hard on the ski, so that’s not necessarily my forte. I’ll do better at places like Alta Badia where it’s a little bit icy.”