Schladming: Matt, Raich set first-run pace
Mario Matt posted the fastest time in the opening leg of a men’s World Cup slalom on Tuesday night, the last race before the World Championships.
Matt raced down the floodlit Planai course in 50.33 seconds. Olympic champion Benjamin Raich was second in 50.40.
Jens Byggmark, the winner of back-to-back slalom races in Kitzbühel last weekend, was next in 50.82.
“After my run I could feel my old back injury,” said Matt, who has five career World Cup slalom victories but hasn’t won since March 2005. “I didn’t take any medication before the run, but the atmosphere made me feel wonderful anyway.”
Bode Miller was trailing by .40 when he got stuck on the tails of his skis and was thrown off his line. He nearly missed the 41st gate.
SCHLADMING, Austria — Mario Matt posted the fastest time in the opening leg of a men’s World Cup slalom on Tuesday night, the last race before the World Championships.
Matt raced down the floodlit Planai course in 50.33 seconds. Olympic champion Benjamin Raich was second in 50.40.
Jens Byggmark, the winner of back-to-back slalom races in Kitzbühel last weekend, was next in 50.82.
“After my run I could feel my old back injury,” said Matt, who has five career World Cup slalom victories but hasn’t won since March 2005. “I didn’t take any medication before the run, but the atmosphere made me feel wonderful anyway.”
Bode Miller was trailing by .40 when he got stuck on the tails of his skis and was thrown off his line. He nearly missed the 41st gate.
It was only the fifth individual slalom run Miller had survived in more than a year.
“I was killing it on top,” Miller said. “I was skiing really aggressive, not perfect, but aggressive. It was really icy in spots and I nailed it up there.”
The second run at Schladming is scheduled for 2:45 ET.
Qualifying for the second leg likely secured Miller a berth in the slalom at next month’s worlds in Are, Sweden. The 29-year-old American wants to become the first skier to collect World Championships gold medals in all five disciplines. He is missing only the slalom gold.
Only four skiers per nation can enter each discipline. Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety and Jimmy Cochran already have locked up the first two berths for the United States.
Miller, Tom Rothrock and Tim Jitloff are vying for the last two spots, but Rothrock and Jitloff failed to finish in the top 30 Tuesday, as was the case with Roger Brown. Rothrock was 41st and 3.68 off the leading pace, while Jitloff was 52nd, trailing by 6.27.
Miller hasn’t completed a World Cup two-run slalom in more than a year — since finishing 18th in Kitzbühel on Jan. 22, 2006.
“Bode qualified for second runs in Adelboden and in Kitzbühel,” U.S. head coach Phil McNichol said. “Tim and Tom have not qualified for second runs yet. That’s clearly something.”
The announcement for the last two spots will come before noon on Wednesday, McNichol said.
Ligety, who has struggled lately, finished in 28th with 3.26 to make up in the second leg.
“I made a mistake up top but it’s kind of flabbergasting how I’m three seconds out,” Ligety said. “It’s something I’ll have to look at and work out. … These things happen I guess. You can’t win every race.”
— The Associated Press
Schladming men's World Cup slalom results — first run
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (PARTIAL)
Rank | Bib | FIS Code | Name | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time | FIS Points |
1 | 1 | 50707 | MATT Mario | 1979 | AUT | 50.33 | 00.00 | 50.33 | |
2 | 6 | 50625 | RAICH Benjamin | 1978 | AUT | 50.40 | 00.00 | 50.40 | |
3 | 2 | 501101 | BYGGMARK Jens | 1985 | SWE | 50.82 | 00.00 | 50.82 | |
4 | 5 | 290478 | ROCCA Giorgio | 1975 | ITA | 50.96 | 00.00 | 50.96 | |
5 | 18 | 292491 | MOELGG Manfred | 1982 | ITA | 50.98 | 00.00 | 50.98 | |
6 | 10 | 501017 | MYHRER Andre | 1983 | SWE | 51.49 | 00.00 | 51.49 | |
7 | 15 | 510997 | BERTHOD Marc | 1983 | SUI | 51.51 | 00.00 | 51.51 | |
8 | 9 | 380260 | KOSTELIC Ivica | 1979 | CRO | 51.65 | 00.00 | 51.65 | |
9 | 14 | 50605 | HERBST Reinfried | 1978 | AUT | 51.69 | 00.00 | 51.69 | |
10 | 19 | 50624 | PRANGER Manfred | 1978 | AUT | 51.70 | 00.00 | 51.70 | |
11 | 17 | 510890 | ZURBRIGGEN Silvan | 1981 | SUI | 51.71 | 00.00 | 51.71 | |
12 | 25 | 192665 | GRANGE Jean-Baptiste | 1984 | FRA | 52.08 | 00.00 | 52.08 | |
13 | 16 | 421328 | SVINDAL Aksel Lund | 1982 | NOR | 52.15 | 00.00 | 52.15 | |
14 | 3 | 500656 | LARSSON Markus | 1979 | SWE | 52.20 | 00.00 | 52.20 | |
15 | 27 | 500499 | BROLENIUS Johan | 1977 | SWE | 52.27 | 00.00 | 52.27 | |
16 | 23 | 291145 | DEVILLE Cristian | 1981 | ITA | 52.32 | 00.00 | 52.32 | |
17 | 37 | 560355 | VALENCIC Mitja | 1978 | SLO | 52.40 | 00.00 | 52.40 | |
18 | 22 | 500124 | HANSSON Martin | 1975 | SWE | 52.53 | 52.53 | ||
19 | 24 | 190915 | BOURGEAT Pierrick | 1976 | FRA | 52.80 | 00.00 | 52.80 | |
20 | 21 | 510993 | ALBRECHT Daniel | 1983 | SUI | 53.06 | 00.00 | 53.06 | |
21 | 31 | 532431 | MILLER Bode | 1977 | USA | 53.13 | 00.00 | 53.13 | |
22 | 40 | 50900 | KOLL Alexander | 1982 | AUT | 53.16 | 00.00 | 53.16 | |
23 | 30 | 534040 | COCHRAN Jimmy | 1981 | USA | 53.21 | 00.00 | 53.21 | |
24 | 34 | 501111 | HARGIN Mattias | 1985 | SWE | 53.27 | 00.00 | 53.27 | |
25 | 28 | 290732 | THALER Patrick | 1978 | ITA | 53.36 | 00.00 | 53.36 | |
26 | 35 | 560425 | VAJDIC Bernard | 1980 | SLO | 53.44 | 00.00 | 53.44 | |
27 | 52 | 501071 | NORDH Fredrik | 1984 | SWE | 53.54 | 00.00 | 53.54 | |
28 | 7 | 534562 | LIGETY Ted | 1984 | USA | 53.59 | 00.00 | 53.59 | |
29 | 38 | 501116 | LAHDENPERAE Anton | 1985 | SWE | 53.64 | 00.00 | 53.64 | |
30 | 57 | 910000 | IMBODEN Urs | 1975 | MDA | 53.66 | 00.00 | 53.66 |