Kunz maintains lead in men’s giant slalom sitting

After winning three out of four giant slalom races at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup, Swiss sit-skier Christoph Kunz is the one to beat in his discipline. 14 Jan 2013

Switzerland's Christoph Kunz took double gold in the men's Giant Slalom Sitting at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in Winter Park, USA.

ⒸMichael Knaus

By IPC

Kunz won in a time of 1:58.20 despite having the fourth-fastest time in the second run.

Switzerland’s Christoph Kunz leads the men’s giant slalom sitting rankings with 380 points after winning again at the 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Monday (14 January).

But his high points do not tell the full story. Kunz by no means dominates the discipline, with the top four skiers all finishing within half a second of each other.

Kunz won in a time of 1:58.20 despite having the fourth-fastest time in the second run. Austria’s Roman Rabl (1:58.23) was just three hundredths of a second behind him, making him second in the rankings with 292 points. Japan’s Taiki Morii (1:58.39) and Germany’s Georg Kreiter finished third and fourth, respectively.

Austria’s Matthias Lanzinger (1:52.03) came back into the game in the men’s standing event after crashing out on Sunday’. Fifteen-year-old Alexey Bugaev of Russia (1:52.16) was close behind him in second place and still leads the rankings with 290 points in the giant slalom., while Lanzinger has 280 points. France’s Vincent Gauthier-Manuel also finished within one second of the Austrian in a time of 1:52.84.

Spain’s Yon Santacana Maiztegui (1:56.57), guided by M Galindo Garces, won the men’s giant slalom visually impaired again, and now dominates the rankings with 380 points. Canada’s Mac Marcoux (1:58.37) came second, guided by Robin Femy, and Russia’s Ivan Frantsev (1:59.85) was in third place with guide German Arganovskii.

After crashing out of Sunday’s race, Slovakia’s Henrieta Farkasova (2:08.22) returned to pole position with guide Natalia Subrtova in the women’s giant slalom visually impaired. Russia’s Alexandra Frantseva (2:11.09) guided by Pavel Zabotin finished second.

Germany’s Andrea Rothfuss had her first taste of glory in the women’s giant slalom standing, after her arch-rival Marie Bochet of France crashed on the second run. Russia’s Mariya Papulova (2:09.84) and her teammate Inga Medvedeva (2:12.81) came second and third, respectively. Rothfuss now leads the rankings with 340 points, with Bochet in second place with 300.

Rothfuss’ teammate, Anna Schaffelhuber, was also able to savour victory after Austria’s Claudia Loesch, who had won the three previous giant slalom World Cup events, crashed on the first run. Schaffelhuber finished in 2:15.09 followed by USA’s Laurie Stephens (2:18.08) and Alana Nichols (2:23.28).

The 2013 IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup continues on Tuesday with the slalom events. For full results, please visit the IPC Alpine Skiing calendar and results page.