Are: Matt nabs SL gold; U.S. men shut out

Austrian Mario Matt won his third career World Championships medal Saturday — and second gold in slalom — surviving a daunting men's course for the final individual gold of the Are festival.
    It was a stunningly dismal day for the American men, who will leave Sweden without an individual medal. Bode Miller, Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran all did not finish the first run, while Tim Jitloff, in his first worlds experience, was forced to hike up the course twice during his second run but managed to finish. Jitloff finished in 25th — last place — on a day when nearly 50 skiers failed to finish the race.
    “I’m more than simply disappointed, but in many ways this was a summary of our World Championships,” U.S. men’s coach Phil McNichol said. “It’s been a difficult World Championships run for us … and this was pretty devastating. I thought maybe we’d find some luck, but it didn't happen.”
    Matt won with a two-run time of 1 minute, 57.33 seconds, with Italian Manfred Moelgg taking silver, 1.81 back, and France's Jean-Baptiste Grange 2.21 back to nip Benni Raich for bronze.
    Miller tweaked his left knee during his run. As Ski Racing reported Friday, Miller had already opted to skip Sunday's team event that wraps up the World Championships.

ARE, Sweden — Austrian Mario Matt won his third career World Championships medal Saturday — and second gold in slalom — surviving a daunting men's course for the final individual gold of the Are festival.
    It was a stunningly dismal day for the American men, who will leave Sweden without an individual medal. Bode Miller, Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran all did not finish the first run, while Tim Jitloff, in his first worlds experience, was forced to hike up the course twice during his second run but managed to finish. Jitloff finished in 25th — last place — on a day when nearly 50 skiers failed to finish the race.
    “I’m more than simply disappointed, but in many ways this was a summary of our World Championships,” U.S. men’s coach Phil McNichol said. “It’s been a difficult World Championships run for us … and this was pretty devastating. I thought maybe we’d find some luck, but it didn't happen.”
    Matt won with a two-run time of 1 minute, 57.33 seconds, with Italian Manfred Moelgg taking silver, 1.81 back, and France's Jean-Baptiste Grange 2.21 back to nip Benni Raich for bronze.
    Miller tweaked his left knee during his run. As Ski Racing reported Friday, Miller had already opted to skip Sunday's team event that wraps up the World Championships.
    Matt, 27, was the slalom champ at the 2001 St. Anton World Championships and was second there in combined. He has one World Cup win and five podiums this seasons, taking first in the Wengen super combined a month ago. He has been second in slalom twice (both at Kitzbühel) and third twice (Adelboden, Schladming) and stands third in the season slalom standings behind Byggmark and Raich.
    Matt suffered a serious shoulder injury in 2002 and missed the better part of the next two seasons. Upon his return to the World Cup, Matt said he struggled with his equipment setup and the new shorter-length slalom skis. He looked plenty comfortable on Saturday, clocking the only time under 1 minute — 59.22 — in the first run and taking a whopping 1.14-second lead.
    “It was a very demanding slalom regarding the visibility, especially in the first run,” Matt said. “I wasn’t surprised to be in the lead. I had a very clean run in the morning, but in the afternoon I wasn’t gambling in all the parts of the course. I took off some speed and didn’t risk as much, so I was pretty surprised to again have the fastest time in the second run.”
    Racers battled flat light, but the course lights were turned on for both runs.
    “You couldn’t see anything out there, the terrain or anything up there,” Jitloff said. “It was so flat, the light. But it is what it is, you just have to make the best of it.”
    Grange was fifth in the first run, Moelgg sixth, but Raich struggled in the second run and Germany's Felix Neureuther, second behind Matt in run one, DNFed in round two.
    Grange won the first medal for France at these World Championships in the final individual event, a fitting touch because Val d’Isere will host the next worlds in 2009.
    “I was very nervous in the second run. The first run was really treacherous,” Grange said. “I did mistakes in the seocnd run but not too bad. To finish on the podium in this competition is incredible.”
    Moelgg, with finished on the podium (third) in a World Cup slalom at Kitzbuhel in January, said he has been battling a bad back but it calmed down in time for his runs on Saturday.
    “I had an OK first run, but the second run I was able to attack and find the right rhythm,”said Moelgg, who nailed the tricky bottom section of the course to help secure a medal. “I had a spectacular second run.”
    Miller, seeking to become the first male skier with World Championship titles in all five disciplines, ran 31st in the first run and skied out on the lower half, one starter after teammate Cochran crashed hard. Ligety, meanwhile, started early in run one but lost his balance, got spun around and ended up facing up the hill.
    “Ted’s been looking for a medal, he just missed it in GS,” Jitloff said of Ligety’s fourth-place result. “He was like, “All right, this is my last shot at getting one for an individual.’ And he looked good. … I know Jimmy and Ted are bummed out. They definitely wanted to throw something in there.”
    Neither Miller nor Ligety spoke to reporters after failing to finish.
    The U.S. contingent won six medals at the 2005 Bormio worlds but is stuck on three at Are and will likely not medal in Sunday's team event with Miller opting out and Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow also not competing. Like the Torino Olympic Games, Are has been a disappointment for the Americans, who have been enjoying one of their best World Cup seasons ever.
Italian Giorgio Rocca made a major mistake on the first run and finished a whopping 18.59 seconds back. Canadian Thomas Grandi also was a DNF.
    The major players started in the top 10 in the first run. Matt, skiing third, finished with the only time below a minute, clocking 59.22 seconds. Germany's Felix Neureuther was second, but a distant 1.14 back, Austrian Manfred Pranger third, 1.19 back, and Raich fourth, 1.23 back.
      The DNF list was a star-studded one from the first run. In addition to Ligety, Miller and Grandi, others failing to finish the first run included Aksel Lund Svindal, Marc Berthod, Rainer Schoenfelder, Akira Sasaki and Reinfried Herbst.
    Austria placed three in the top five, Norway had three in the top 10 and Canada had two in the top 10 and of the final results Saturday. Despite getting flack for failin
g to win gold at Are until well in the championships, Austria will leave with the highest total medal count. Matt's win put the Austrian tally at eight medals (two golds).
    The World Championships conclude Sunday with the nations team event.

— Sam Flickinger and Don Cameron contributed to this report

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's slalom, Are, Sweden, Feb. 17, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
2 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
6 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Karlsen, Blizzard/Nordica/
8 Buraas, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Biggs, Volkl/Nordica/Marker
10 Myhre, Nordica/Nordica/Marker

Men's slalom, Are, Sweden, Feb. 17, 2007. … It is the 10th and final individual race of the 2007 FIS Alpine World Championships. … A team event remains on the schedule. … It is the 59th slalom held in a World Championship.
    It is the second time Mario Matt has claimed a world championship in slalom, having also won the title in 2001. … It is his third World championships medal, having won a bronze medal in combined in 2001. … It is his first slalom victory since a World Cup March 13, 2005, at Lenzerheide. … He won the Wengen super combined earlier this season and was second in both Kitzbühel slaloms and third in Cup slaloms at Adelboden and Schladming. … It is the first gold medal for Austrian men at the 2007 World Championships. … It is the largest margin of victory in a World Championship men's slalom since Stein Eriksen topped Beni Obermuller by 5.77 seconds in 1954.
    It is the first World Championship medal for Manfred Moelgg. … He had not been closer that 13th previously, in GS in 2005. … He has never won a World Cup race, but had been second in slalom at Schladming in 2004 and was third in the second Kitzbühel slalom this season.
    It is the first World Championships medal for Jean-Baptiste Grange. … His only other title meet results a 14th in combined at Are and 13th in combined in the 2006 Olympics. … His career-best World Cup result is seventh in combined at Beaver Creek Nov. 30. … He has been eighth in slalom twice, both times this season, at Alta Badia Dec. 18 and Schladming Jan. 30.
    Michaael Janyk matches the second-best Canadian slalom result in World Championship competition, tying Thomas Grandi's placing from 2005. … The better result was fifth from Ernie McCullough in 1950. … Janyk has never won a World Cup slalom, but did place second at Beaver Creek early this season. … Patrick Biggs matches his career-best World Championships placing, having also finish ninth in slalom in 2005. … It is a placing better than his career best in World Cup. … His only other scoring result this season was 19th in slalom at Levi Nov. 12. … It is the second career World Championships result for Tim Jitloff, having previously finished 18th in GS at Are. … He has no World Cup scoring results. … Winning margin is 1.81 seconds. … The bronze-medal winner is 2.21 seconds back.

Medal standings
AUT 8 (2 g, 3 s, 3 b)
SWE 6 (3 g, 1 s, 2 b)
SUI 5 (1 g, 1 s, 3 b)
ITA 3 (1 g, 1 s, 1 b)
USA 3 s
NOR 2 g
CZE 1 g
CAN 1 s
FRA 1 b

Are World Championships men's slalom results

Did not start 2nd run:
ROCCA Giorgio (ITA)

Did not finish 1st run:
STEVENS Hugh (AUS), VIDOSA Roger (AND), ZAGORSKI Wojciech (POL), KONOVALOV Anton (RUS), STEVENS Bryce (AUS), ZUEV Stepan (RUS), BABUSIAK Jaroslav (SVK), VUKOVIC Zelimir (SRB), MOLLIN Bart (BEL), ROUX Christophe (MDA), VAN DEN BOGAERT Jeroen (BEL), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), GORZA Ales (SLO), BAXTER Alain (GBR), LEINO Jukka (FIN), BANK Ondrej (CZE), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), THALER Patrick (ITA), MILLER Bode (USA), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), GINI Marc (SUI), VOGL Alois (GER), ALBRECHT Daniel (SUI), ZURBRIGGEN Silvan (SUI), SVINDAL Aksel Lund (NOR), SCHOENFELDER Rainer (AUT), SASAKI Akira (JPN), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), HERBST Reinfried (AUT), GRANDI Thomas (CAN), LIGETY Ted (USA), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE)

Did not finish 2nd run:
GRIFFIN Benjamin (NZE), LUBELLAN Peter (SVK), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), KAUKONIEMI Tuukka (FIN), STUTZ Paul (CAN), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), BOURGEAT Pierrick (FRA), DEVILLE Cristian (ITA), KOSTELIC Ivica (CRO), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER), LARSSON Markus (SWE), PALANDER Kalle (FIN)

Disqualified 1st run:
VRABLIK Martin (CZE), DRAGSIC Mitja (SLO)