Palander preparing for 2010 return

By Published On: April 19th, 2009Comments Off on Palander preparing for 2010 return

After sustaining a stress fracture that prematurely ended his 2008 season and kept him off the World Cup through the 2009 season, Finnish great Kalle Palander will return to the circuit in 2010. April 18 he signed a new two year deal with Fischer, a deal which assures he will regain his favored serviceman, Manfred Brunner.After sustaining a stress fracture that prematurely ended his 2008 season and kept him off the World Cup through the 2009 season, Finnish great Kalle Palander will return to the circuit in 2010. April 18 he signed a new two year deal with Fischer, a deal which assures he will regain his favored serviceman, Manfred Brunner.

“I’m really happy with the signing,” Palander said. “For a racer the material is the most important thing of all. But for me the question was the service guy. I wanted to have Manfred Brunner beside me again. And, once we’d fixed this, it was clear for me that I was going to stay with Fischer.”

Palander said in a brief interview he said he was skiing pain free, expected to compete in a late April event in Finland and had been exceptionally motivated in his recent training.

Asked what fans might expect of him he said, “I need to be realistic. I need to be settled in when I go into the first races. I’ll have bad start numbers to begin with, which is why I’m training hard to make sure I see the finish line in the first races. We’ll be able to say more after a few races.” He added that a medal, preferably gold, at the Olympics would be “a big goal.”

Palander has 14 World Cup wins and a World Championship in slalom (’99). He won the Cup slalom title in 2003.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh