FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011 – Nations team event

FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2011
Super combined		men		women
Downhill		men		women
Giant slalom		men		women
Slalom		men		women
Super-G		men		women
Team		mixed

The Nations Team Event competition at the 2011 World Championships ran on February 16 at 11:00 local time, the seventh race of the championships. Athletes from the best 16 nations in the FIS Overall Nations Cup ranking competed.

Rules

The 16 best nations in the FIS Overall Nations Cup Ranking were eligible to participate in this event. If one or more nations didn't start, they were not replaced. Each team consisted of 4 to 6 skiers, but at least two female and two male skiers.

The format was a K.O. round competition with the pairings being made according to the Nations Cup Ranking. In each pairing 2 female & 2 male skiers from each team raced a parallel giant slalom in a best-of-4 system. In the event of a tie, the faster cumulated time of the best male and the best female skier decides which team will advance to the next round.^[1]

FIS Overall Nations Cup standing (prior to the World Championships)

Rank	Country	Points
1	Austria	7662
2	Switzerland	4573
3	France	3734
4	Italy	3728
5	United States	3230
6	Germany	3097
7	Sweden	2487
8	Croatia	1424
9	Norway	1346
10	Canada	1280
11	Slovenia	976
12	Finland	804
13	Czech Republic	433
14	Slovakia	257
15	Japan	66
16	Liechtenstein	55
17	Spain	51
18	Moldova	40
19	Great Britain	9
20	Russia	8
21	Poland	4

Participating teams

Country Skiers  Austria Anna Fenninger Michaela Kirchgasser Marlies Schild Romed Baumann Benjamin Raich Philipp Schörghofer   Switzerland Denise Feierabend Wendy Holdener Fabienne Suter Marc Berthod Beat Feuz Justin Murisier  France Taïna Barioz Anémone Marmottan Tessa Worley Thomas Fanara Cyprien Richard Gauthier de Tessières  Italy Federica Brignone Daniela Merighetti Johanna Schnarf Massimiliano Blardone Giovanni Borsotti Christian Deville  United States Julia Mancuso Megan McJames Sarah Schleper Tim Jitloff Ted Ligety Bode Miller  Germany Lena Dürr Veronique Hronek Veronika Staber Fritz Dopfer Stefan Luitz Felix Neureuther

Country Skiers  Sweden Sara Hector Anja Pärson Maria Pietilä-Holmner Axel Bäck Hans Olsson Matts Olsson  Croatia Sofija Novoselić Tea Palić Tin Široki Natko Zrnčić-Dim – –  Canada Marie-Michèle Gagnon Britt Janyk Marie-Pier Préfontaine Michael Janyk Paul Stutz –  Czech Republic Martina Dubovská Katerina Paulathová Andrea Zemanová Ondřej Bank Kryštof Krýzl Adam Zika  Slovakia Jana Gantnerová Kristina Sallová Jaroslav Babušiak Adam Žampa – –

Results bracket

^[2]

	1/8 Final					1/4 Final					1/2 Final					Finals
						1	Austria (f)	2
						8	Croatia	2
	8	Croatia	3
	9	Canada	2
											1	Austria	4
										4	Italy	0
						5	United States	1
						4	Italy	3
																1	Austria	2
																3	France (f)	2
						3	France (f)	2							Third place
						6	Germany	2
	6	Germany	4													4	Italy	0
	11	Slovakia	0													7	Sweden	4
											3	France (f)	2
										7	Sweden	2
	7	Sweden	3
	10	Czech Republic	1
						7	Sweden	4
						2	Switzerland	0

• (f) = In the event of a tie, the faster cumulated time of the best male and the best female skier decides which team will advance to the next round

Results

As Norway, Slovenia, Finland, Japan, and Liechtenstein chose not to participate, the 5 highest-placed teams (Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, United States) in the FIS Overall Nations Cup Ranking received a bye in the qualification round.

1/8 Final

^[2]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Croatia	3–2	Canada
Palić 27.04		B. Janyk 27.04
Široki 26.25		M. Janyk 26.18
Novoselić 26.73		Gagnon 26.78
Zrnčić-Dim 30.31		Stutz 33.77
Germany	4–0	Slovakia
Dürr 27.23		Gantnerová 27.37
Dopfer 25.78		Babušiak 27.01
Hronek 27.08		Saalová 27.67
Neureuther 25.89		Zampa 29.01
Sweden	3–1	Czech Republic
Pärson 26.88		Paulathová 26.98
M. Olsson 26.59		Kryzl 25.44
Pietilä-Holmner 26.46		Zemanová 27.93
H. Olsson 25.80		Zika 25.86

1/4 Final

^[2]

Team 1 Score Team 2 Austria 2–2 Croatia Schild 27.16 Novoselić 26.69 Raich DNF Zrnčić-Dim 26.39 Kirchgasser 26.38 Palić DNF Baumann 25.74 Široki 25.98 United States 1–3 Italy Schleper 27.33 Merighetti 27.26 Miller 25.54 Deville 26.01 Mancuso 26.77 Schnarf 26.64 Ligety 26.72 Blardone 26.33

Team 1 Score Team 2 France 2–2 Germany Barioz 26.91 Dürr 26.89 Fanara 25.84 Dopfer DNF Worley 26.56 Hronek 26.89 Richard 25.99 Neureuther 25.69 Sweden 4–0 Switzerland Pärson 26.96 Holdener 27.24 M. Olsson 25.80 Berthod 26.31 Pietilä-Holmner 26.85 Feierabend DNF H. Olsson 25.81 Feuz 26.26

Semifinals

^[2]

Team 1 Score Team 2 Austria 4–0 Italy Fenninger 26.71 Merighetti 26.88 Schörghofer 25.98 Blardone 26.09 Kirchgasser 26.56 Schnarf 27.38 Baumann 26.02 Deville 26.83

Team 1 Score Team 2 France 2–2 Sweden Barioz 27.21 Pärson 26.66 Fanara 25.69 M. Olsson 25.74 Worley 26.49 Pietilä-Holmner 26.46 Richard 25.54 H. Olsson 25.61

Finals

^[2]

Team 1 Small Final Team 2 Italy 0–4 Sweden Brignone 28.53 Pärson 26.56 Borsotti 25.79 H. Olsson 25.65 Schnarf 26.93 Pietilä-Holmner 26.59 Blardone 25.73 M. Olsson 25.65

Team 1 Final Team 2 Austria 2–2 France Fenninger 26.41 Worley 26.51 Schörghofer 25.86 Richard 25.41 Kirchgasser 26.55 Marmottan 26.54 Baumann 25.69 Fanara 26.08

In the end France won the title with three 2-2 results, always with the faster total time of the best male and the best female racer.

And the final victory was decided by 1/100 of a second: if Kirchgasser had raced 0,01 sec faster (or Marmottan 0,01 sec slower) the result would have been 3:2 for Austria.

References