Marcel Hirscher adds slalom globe to World Cup overall title

By Nick ZaccardiMar 16, 2014, 7:26 AM EDT

Austrian Marcel Hirscher won the World Cup Finals slalom and with it the 2013-14 discipline title in the last race of the season Sunday.

Hirscher came into the finale with a five-point lead on German Felix Neureuther, whose giant slalom finish Saturday denied Hirscher the season title in that discipline. American Ted Ligety won the giant slalom crystal globe instead.

On Sunday, Hirscher led Neureuther by .06 of a second after the first of two runs on a course deemed unfair by the German team director and “ridiculous” by Ligety, according to The Associated Press.

Hirscher would go last in the second run on the Lenzerheide, Switzerland, course. Neureuther went right before him and laid down the fastest two-run time. Hirscher needed to beat Neureuther to win his second straight slalom crystal globe.

“Maybe 10 seconds before I was starting out of the starting gate, I asked my physio about Felix, was he in front,” Hirscher said. “Yeah, he is.”

Hirscher lost his lead and was dead even with Neureuther after the final split but picked up .76 of a second over the final 20 seconds. He won comfortably.

The Austrian crossed the finish line and dipped into a sitting position over his skis, wagging both index fingers in the air. Despite that, he said he wasn’t totally confident during his run.

“I never expect that I am that fast,” Hirscher said. “I made a lot of mistakes. … It was a big surprise for me.”

Hirscher’s victory meant that all five crystal globes went to the same men as last year. Hirscher also won the overall title for the third straight year, becoming only the fourth man to do so.

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the downhill and super-G titles again. Ligety won his fifth giant slalom title in seven years.

Hirscher, who won Olympic slalom silver, enters next season with a great chance to become the first man to win four straight World Cup overall titles.

He’s only 25, perhaps not having reached his peak yet. His closest competition in the overall, Svindal, is 31 and had a poor finish to this season. Svindal won no medals at the Olympics.

Ligety finished 12th Sunday and fourth in the overall standings after taking third last season. He’s said he wished his slalom was better this year, giving him something to work on before next fall.

Lenzerheide Slalom
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) 2:07.74
2. Felix Neureuther (GER) 2:08.50
3. Mario Matt (AUT) 2:08.82
4. Stefano Gross (ITA) 2:09.64
5. Markus Larsson (SWE) 2:09.96
6. Axel Baeck (SWE) 2:10.02
7. Manfred Moelgg (ITA) 2:10.20
8. Patrick Thaler (ITA) 2:10.23
9. Alexis Pinturault (FRA) 2:10.51
10. Ivica Kostelic (CRO) 2:10.64
12. Ted Ligety (USA) 2:10.89
18. David Chodounsky (USA) 2:13.14
DNF. Bode Miller (USA)

Final World Cup Slalom Standings
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) — 565
2. Felix Neureuther (GER) — 550
3. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) — 454

Final World Cup Overall Standings
1. Marcel Hirscher (AUT) — 1,222
2. Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR) — 1,091
3. Alexis Pinturault (FRA) — 1,028
4. Ted Ligety (USA) — 991
5. Felix Neureuther (GER) — 813
6. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR) — 657
7. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) — 639
8. Bode Miller (USA) — 633
9. Matthias Mayer (AUT) — 602
10. Patrick Kueng (SUI) — 562

Video: Ligety wins GS season title in dramatic fashion

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French Open: Daniil Medvedev stunned by 172nd-ranked qualifier

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 1:43 PM EDT

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No. 2 seed Daniil Medvedev was eliminated by 172nd-ranked Brazilian qualifier Thiago Seyboth Wild at the French Open, the first time a top-two men’s seed lost in the first round of a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild, a 23-year-old in his second-ever Grand Slam main draw match, prevailed 7-6 (5), 6-7 (8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in more than four hours on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

“I’ve watched Daniil play for, like, my entire junior career until today, and I’ve always dreamed about playing on this court, playing these kind of players,” he said. “In my best dreams, I’ve beaten them, so it’s a dream come true.”

Seyboth Wild overcame the ranking disparity, the experience deficit (it was his first five-set match) and cramps. He began feeling them in the second set, and it affected his serve. Medvedev’s serve was affected by windy conditions. He had 15 double faults.

“I’m not going to look at it back on TV, but my feeling was that he played well,” he said. “I don’t think I played that bad, but he played well.”

FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule

Seyboth Wild, who had strictly played in qualifying and lower-level Challenger events dating to February 2022, became the first man to take out a top-two seed at a Slam since Ivo Karlovic upset Lleyton Hewitt at 2003 Wimbledon, which ended up being the first major won by a member of the Big Three.

The last time it happened at the French Open was in 2000, when Mark Philippoussis ousted No. 2 Pete Sampras.

It’s the most seismic win by a Brazilian at the French Open — and perhaps any major — since the nation’s most successful man, Gustavo Kuerten, won his third Roland Garros title in 2001.

Tuesday marked the 26th anniversary of Kuerten’s first big splash in Paris, a third-round win over 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster en route to his first Roland Garros title.

As a junior, Seyboth Wild won the 2018 U.S. Open and reached a best ranking of eighth in the world. Since, he played eight Grand Slam qualifying tournaments with a 1-8 record before advancing through qualifying last week.

The 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev entered the French Open having won the first clay tournament title of his career at the Italian Open, the last top-level event before Roland Garros.

“Because wind, dry court, I had a mouthful of clay since probably third game of the match, and I don’t like it,” he said. “I don’t know if people like to eat clay, to have clay in their bags, in their shoes, the socks, white socks, you can throw them to garbage after clay season. Maybe some people like it. I don’t.”

Medvedev’s defeat leaves no major champions in the bottom half of the men’s draw. The top seeds left are No. 4 Casper Ruud, last year’s French Open and U.S. Open runner-up, and No. 6 Holger Rune. No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 3 Novak Djokovic play their second-round matches in the top half on Wednesday.

Women’s seeds to advance Tuesday included No. 6 Coco Gauff, who rallied past 71st-ranked Spaniard Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, plus No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Ons Jabeur in straight sets.

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Olympians, Paralympians star on Top Chef World All-Stars in Paris

By OlympicTalkMay 30, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls get a taste of Paris in this week’s episode of Top Chef World All-Stars, premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Olympic medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Suni Lee and Paralympic medalists Mallory Weggemann and Hunter Woodhall team up with contestants for a cooking challenge in front of the Eiffel Tower, one year before the French capital hosts the Games.

Olympians have appeared on Top Chef before.

A 2020 episode set at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Coliseum included Diana Taurasi, Rai Benjamin, Nastia Liukin, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Christian Coleman and Kerri Walsh Jennings.

A January 2018 episode featured figure skater Meryl Davis, freeskier Gus Kenworthy and skeleton slider John Daly, one month before the PyeongChang Winter Games.

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