Schladming: Matt, Raich set first-run pace

By Published On: January 30th, 2007Comments Off on 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)

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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

 

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