European Report: Doctors confirm Raich is out; Maier may skip Adelboden

European Report: Doctors confirm Raich is out; Maier may skip Adelboden{mosimage}World Cup contender Benjamin Raich will miss this weekend’s giant slalom and slalom events in Adelboden, Switzerland, Austrian team doctors confirmed after further exams Monday.

The Austrian ski star lost the overall lead to compatriot Hermann Maier after crashing in Sunday’s super G at Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany. He suffered a concussion and shoulder injuries and was flown by helicopter to the Innsbruck University Clinic.

“His participation is virtually ruled out to prevent any possibility of further damage,” Austrian team doctor Reinhard Mittermair said after Raich underwent checks in an Innsbruck clinic.

Raich is now second in the overall standings with 918 points, just four behind Maier, and was expected to jump back into the overall lead on his favored terrain in the gates.

“He had a pretty bad concussion,” Dr. Mittermair told Austrian state broadcaster ORF. “It is clear that he was knocked unconscious during the crash because otherwise he would have tried stopping himself with his arms.”

Mittermair said Raich, a specialist in technical disciplines, most likely could return for a slalom in St Anton set for Feb. 15 but had yet to decide whether he would race the downhill at the Austrian resort.

>> Maier might skip Adelboden

World Cup leader Hermann Maier said he might not race this weekend on the challenging courses at Adelboden. Although Maier’s won three times on the Swiss course, Maier’s been struggling with his form in the gates this season and doesn’t want to risk too much in his comeback season.

“I will train two days on the giant slalom course and then decide whether I will start,” Maier told Austrian state broadcaster ORF.

Although Maier leads the overall, he’s struggled in giant slalom this season. In five races, he’s scored points in three, with his season-best at Park City at seventh. He failed to qualify for the second in run in both slaloms he started (Chamonix and Kitzbuehel).

Despite holding the overall lead, Maier said he’s still not publicly talking about taking the globe. “The overall World Cup is still not a topic for me. This comeback season I still see just as training and regaining my strength,” Maier said.

With seven gated events vs. five speed events remaining in the season, Maier said the favorites for the overall remain Benjamin Raich and Bode Miller.

>> Swiss reinvigorated after big weekend

Swiss skiers are back in business after their worst World Cup start in almost 30 years. The ski crazy nation’s pride was restored somewhat over the weekend with three podium finishes.

The men’s team scored its first victory of the season when Didier Cuche won the downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Friday. Tobias Grünenfelder scored a third-place in Sunday’s super-G on the notorious Kandahar run.

The women’s team had something to cheer as Fränzi Aufdenblatten celebrated her first-ever podium finish when she came third in the downhill in the Austrian resort of Haus.

Prior to this weekend, the Swiss had only managed two podium places, prompting much hand-ringing in the Swiss press.

The dismal run of performances was partly blamed on poor ski suit design, reported the Swiss daily Blick.

Just before Christmas, former Swiss skier Steve Locher and super G specialist Didier Défago conducted a series of tests on this season’s ski suit and found it to be “uncompetitive” compared with previous models. The team switched back to last year’s ski suits and team morale has since improved.

>> Miller recounts Kitzbuehel victory

Bode Miller said it was “cool” to win the Kitzbuehel combined title, a victory which revived his hopes for the overall World Cup. Writing in a diary in the Denver Post, Miller recounted his Kitzbuehel victory.

“It’s cool to win a Hahnenkamm title. Even though a lot of people will go, ‘Big deal, it’s a combined,’ I won it in a way that as a racer I can be proud of, being seventh in a downhill and fourth in a slalom at Kitzbuehel. Those are legit results,” Miller said.

“By winning the combined, I picked up 100 points in the battle for the overall title. That’s huge, because of the races I’ve blown out this season, races I let slip through my fingers,” he said. “It was a 150-point day (50 points for fourth in slalom), and I need those. If there are only two combined events a year, I really need to capitalize on them because I do sacrifice training time and focus by racing four events.”

>> Racing today: Men’s and women’s snowboard, parallel GS, Maribor, Slovenia.