Raich wins Schladming; Americans cry foul; Kostelic blows knee

Raich wins Schladming; Americans cry foul; Kostelic blows kneeBenjamin Raich regained the top spot in the World Cup standings after winning a dramatic floodlit slalom on Tuesday night at Schladming, Austria. Official estimates said the crowd was 41,000 strong.

The Austrian won with a combined time of 1:41.67, after world champion Ivica Kostelic crashed in the second run and was carried off the slope on a stretcher.

Kostelic tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. He was taken to a hospital in Schruns.

It took more than 14 minutes for crews to evacuate Kostelic, who also injured his left shoulder. Ski patrollers moved slowly and gingerly down the slope to Kostelic, clearly unable to negotiate the icy steeps. Meanwhile the only racer left to run the course, Bode Miller, waited in the start. Snow fell on the track, and obscured the groove.

“We called for slippers and they didn´t come,” said men´s head coach Phil McNichol. “They showed up and slipped just the gates around where Kostelic was lying. Those patrols moved so slow. If you´re going to make your arena into an ice rink, then you have to have an evacuation plan.”

“He told me he couldn´t get any grip on the snow,” said Miller´s ski serviceman, Robbie Kristan. “That´s a joke because I prepared the skis the exact same way on both runs. The snow was wet and it was hitting the track and freezing.”

Francois Sedan, the race director for Rossignol, was livid, and complained to the American coaches that they should have protested the race. “Imagine the reverse,” said Sedan. “Imagine if it was an Austrian in the start. There would be slippers and shovels, and they would have moved Kostelic faster.”

Italian Manfred Moelgg was second in 1:42.24 and Finland’s Kalle Palander was third in 1:42.25.

“This is the best day of my season,” said Raich, who takes over from Norway’s Lasse Kjus as overall leader. “It was a super race in front of a great crowd, it was absolutely divine.”

Miller refused to blame the long delay for an unusually cautious second run that cost him a first World Cup slalom victory for two years. “Waiting wasn’t so bad,” he said. “The guys that finished in front of me had great runs.”

Miller also said that Kostelic´s injury should keep things in perspective. “If he gets hurt, they need to take as much time as they can to keep him safe,” said Miller. “He deserves that as a racer. That´s just part of the sport.”

Kostelic injured his left shoulder and suffered ligament damage to his right knee (the same knee in which he suffered meniscus damage in December).

American Tom Rothrock, in ninth, matched his best-ever World Cup finish, for the second time in three days. “I hope I´m in there for World Cup Finals,” he said, joined in the finish area by his fiancee.

Four Vermonters failed to qualify for the second run: Chip Knight, Jesse Marshall and Greg Hardy each slid out on the icy surface. James Cochran finished 32nd, just 0.19 from qualifying.

Hardy, making his World Cup debut, said he was nervous all day. “I usually don´t get butterflies,” he said, “but today I woke up and felt them.”

Italy’s Moelgg had his first-ever podium finish. His previous best was fifth, a level he’d reached twice before this season, both times in slalom.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Slalom (night)

Schladming, Austria

January 27, 2004

1. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:41.67 (50.17/51.50)

2. Manfred Moelgg (Italy) 1:42.24 (50.38/51.86)

3. Kalle Palander (Finland) 1:42.25 (50.50/51.75)

4. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:42.37 (49.15/53.22)

5. Rainer Schoenfelder (Austria) 1:42.42 (50.50/51.92)

6. Alois Vogl (Germany) 1:42.52 (51.06/51.46)

7. Manfred Pranger (Austria) 1:42.63 (50.35/52.28)

8. Giancarlo Bergamelli (Italy) 1:42.65 (50.43/52.22)

9. Tom Rothrock (U.S.) 1:43.11 (50.54/52.57)

10. Johan Brolenius (Sweden) 1:43.21 (50.98/52.23)

11. Mitja Kunc (Slovenia) 1:43.66 (51.18/52.48)

12. Drago Grubelnik (Slovenia) 1:43.79 (51.82/51.97)

13. Andre Myhrer (Sweden) 1:43.80 (51.92/51.88)

14. Andreas Nilsen (Norway) 1:43.89 (51.24/52.65)

15. Mitja Valencic (Slovenia) 1:43.98 (51.99/51.99)

16. Jean-Philippe Roy (Canada) 1:44.25 (51.75/52.50)

17. Akira Sasaki (Japan) 1:44.41 (51.12/53.29)

18. Truls Ove Karlsen (Norway) 1:44.48 (50.64/53.84)

19. Jukka Leino (Finland) 1:44.54 (51.65/52.89)

20. Kilian Albrecht (Austria) 1:44.61 (51.79/52.82)

21. Julien Cousineau (Canada) 1:44.91 (51.55/53.36)

22. Markus Larsson (Sweden) 1:45.04 (50.86/54.18)

23. Felix Neureuther (Germany) 1:47.10 (50.70/56.40)

DNF 2nd: Ivica Kostelic (Croatia), Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland), Thomas Grandi (Canada), Tom Stiansen (Norway), Martin Marinac (Austria), Mitja Dragsic (Slovenia), Edoardo Zardini (Italy)

Other North Americans:

DNQ 2nd: James Cochran (U.S.); Paul Stutz (Canada); Hubertus Von Hohenlohe (Mexico)

DNF 1st: Chip Knight, Jesse Marshall, Jake Zamansky, Greg Hardy (U.S.)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Slalom

Schladming, Austria, January 25, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Raich, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

2 Moelgg, Dynastar/Lange/Look

3 Palander, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

4 Miller, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol

5 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

6 Vogl, Volkl/Lange/Salomon

7 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker

8 Bergamelli, Volkl/Lange/Marker

9 Rothrock, Volkl/Nordica/Marker

10 Brolenius, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia

The 23rd of 38 scheduled men’s races and the seventh of 11 slaloms. …

… It’s the 16th win of the season for Atomic skis, all men’s races.

The 13th career win for Benjamin Raich and eighth in slalom. … It’s his third win of the season, second in slalom. … The third time Raich has won the night slalom at Schladming, the first coming 1/7/99, the second 1/23/01. … Bode Miller won the race 1/22/02, and Kalle Palander last season. … Raich wins by nearly a half second.

The first career podium for Manfred Moelgg. … His second best is fifth, which he has achieved twice, both this season and both in slalom — at Flachau 1/4/04 and in a night race at Madonna 12/15/03. … It is the 11th podium for Kalle Palander, but his first World Cup third-place finish; he has two seconds and eight wins. … He has six podium finishes in nine completed races this season, including four wins.

It’s the 28th time Bode Miller has finished a World Cup event fourth or better, the ninth time this season. … Ninth matches Tom Rothrock’s career best, previously scored at Park City 11/23/03 and Kitzbuehel on Sunday, both in slalom. … It was the first World Cup start for Greg Hardy, who failed to finish the first run. … James Cochran was less than a tenth of a second from qualifying for a second run.

It’s the fourth-best career finish for Jean-Philippe Roy and his best result of the season. … The third scoring finish of the season for Julien Cousineau. … The Canadian men have accumulated 94 DH points compared to 232 slalom points to date this season.

Raich takes the World Cup overall lead 918-824 over Lasse Kjus. … Miller is third at 751. … Raich also takes the slalom lead 382-375 over Palander. … Miller is the top American in 10th at 160.

Austria maintains the Nations Cup lead 11093-3128 over the USA. … Austria leads the men’s standings 6725-1955 over Italy… The U.S. is fourth at 1640 behind Norway’s third place total of 1812.