Palander tops in GS at Adelboden; Rahlves leads U.S. in 12th; Miller DNF

Palander tops in GS at Adelboden; Rahlves leads U.S. in 12th; Miller DNFFinland’s Kalle Palander held on for a giant slalom win Saturday at Adelboden, beating a tough field, soggy weather and a deteriorating course for his second GS win of the season.

Palander, who nearly quit giant slalom in favor of full-time slalom specialization last year, has said that giant slalom is the most difficult event, and that athletes respect giant slalom skiers more than anyone else.

He won by holding on through a heavy rainstorm that caused several race delays.

“Obviously they had no options,” said American head coach Phil McNichol, explaining why the race, delayed because of rain, wasn’t cancelled. “I don’t think they could put this race anywhere else. There was a lot of pressure to get this race off. To run a race in the rain is really pushing the limit.”

Palander finished with a total time of 2:32.15, with Massimiliano Blardone of Italy second, 0.74 behind. Austrians Christoph Gruber and Heinz Schilchegger tied for third, 1.12 back.

With his win, Palander moved ahead of American Bode Miller to the top of the World Cup GS standings. Miller, in second behind Palander after the first run, skied out early in the second.

Miller caught his inside ski. He hiked, but then blew out again. He bypassed the finish area completely, declining to speak to reporters.

“If I’m coming into a turn and I can’t see, I just put my feet out in front of me and tip them up,” explained Miller later. “Nothing really happens at the top of the turn. I have to resist with my legs, and it’s really hard, but I can hit anything like that and I don’t blow out.”

“There’s not many courses where several guys blow out on the third or fourth gate,” said Miller, explaining why Adelboden is known as the hardest giant slalom course on the tour. “They set it tough as hell too. There’s all the fallaways and roads. Your right leg is just tired. You almost feel like you’re climbing back up the hill on every gate. After fifteen of those in a row. It just gets old after awhile.”

Miller’s teammates Daron Rahlves and Dane Spencer both wound up in the top 15, finishing 12th and 13th, respectively, just over two seconds out. Rahlves had the fourth-fastest second run and picked up his best-ever finish in a World Cup GS. His previous best was 17th, at Val d’Isere, France, in December 2000.

“It rained so much,” said Rahlves, laughing. “It’s good to have a background in water sports.”

Rahlves wants to crack the top-30 on the giant slalom World Cup Start List, so that he can get earlier start positions. He’s close. “Today was good step,” he said. “This is the toughest event. You have to be so precise.”

“I´m pretty happy for having made two mistakes,” said Spencer. “It doesn´t get any harder than this.”

The other two American starters in the GS, Jesse Marshall and Jake Zamansky, didn’t make it to the second run.

Thomas Grandi, the only Canadian skier to make it to the second run, had the top North American finish, in 11th.

World Cup overall leader Hermann Maier was 10th, stretching his advantage over teammate Benjamin Raich, who had a tough second run and wound up 24th — last among those who finished both runs.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Giant Slalom

Adelboden, Switzerland

February 7, 2004

1. Kalle Palander (Finland) 2:32.15 (1:12.80/1:19.35)

2. Massimiliano Blardone (Italy) 2:32.89(1:13.58/1:19.31)

3= Christoph Gruber (Austria) 2:33.27(1:14.92/1:18.35)

3= Heinz Schilchegger (Austria)2:33.27(1:14.07/1:19.20)

5. Joel Chenal (France) 2:33.36(1:15.20/1:18.16)

6. Sami Uotila (Finland) 2:33.45(1:16.40/1:17.05)

7. Truls Ove Karlsen (Norway) 2:33.48(1:15.39/1:18.09)

8. Hermann Maier (Austria) 2:33.70(1:15.32/1:18.38)

9. Manfred Moelgg (Italy) 2:33.99 (1:17.26/1:16.73)

10. Rainer Schoenfelder (Austria) 2:34.16(1:15.27/1:18.89)

11. Thomas Grandi (Canada) 2:34.24(1:14.78/1:19.46)

12. Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 2:34.32 (1:16.72/1:17.60)

13. Dane Spencer (U.S.) 2:34.37(1:15.88/1:18.49)

14. Andreas Ertl (Germany) 2:34.44 (1:17.24/1:17.20)

15. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 2:34.65(1:14.92/1:19.73)

16. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 2:34.79(1:16.00/1:18.79)

17. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 2:35.01(1:15.80/1:19.21)

18. Giorgio Rocca (Italy) 2:35.09 (1:17.02/1:18.07)

19. Mitja Valencic (Slovenia) 2:35.33 (1:17.47/1:17.86)

20. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 2:35.36(1:16.04/1:19.32)

21. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 2:35.52(1:16.58/1:18.94)

22. Davide Simoncelli (Italy) 2:35.85(1:14.22/1:21.63)

23. Christian Mayer (Austria) 2:35.99(1:16.33/1:19.66)

24. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 2:36.27(1:13.82/1:22.45)

DNF 2nd: Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein), Alberto Schieppati (Italy), Stephan Goergl (Austria), Hans Knauss (Austria), Fredrik Nyberg (Sweden), Bode Miller (U.S.)

Other North Americans:

DNQ 2nd: Jesse Marshall, Jake Zamansky (U.S.); Julien Cousineau, Jean-Philippe Roy, Ryan Semple (Canada)

DNF 1st: David Anderson (Canada)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Giant Slalom

Adelboden, Switzerland, February 7, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Palander, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

2 Blaredone, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

3 Gruber, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

3 Schilchegger, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

5 Chenal, Dynastar/Lange/Look

6 Uotila, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

7 Karlsen, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

8 Maier, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

9 Moelgg, Dynastar/Lange/Look

10 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

It’s the 27th of 38 races on the men’s schedule. There are 11 races remaining, (3DH, 2GS, 2SG and 4SL). … It’s the sixth of eight scheduled GS’s. … The 20th win (in 56 events) for Atomic skis. … It’s a big winning margin of 0.74… The third place skiers were more than a second back.

It’s the ninth career win for Kalle Palander and the second in GS, both this season. … It’s his fifth win of the season. … No other Finnish skier has ever won an alpine World Cup race. … It’s the first time in history the Finns have had two top six skiers in the same alpine World Cup race.

The second World Cup podium for Massimiliano Blardone, matching his placing from Flachau earlier this season (1/3/04). … He has just six career scoring finishes, four of them top-five results. … It’s the sixth career podium for Christophe Gruber and his first of the season; he was fourth at Flachau. … It’s the 11th career podium for Heinz Schilchegger and his first of the season. … He was fourth in the Wengen slalom.

It’s the 17th time Thomas Grandi has been 11th or better. … five of them coming this season. … It’s a career best GS result for Daron Rahlves. His previous best was 17th at Val d’Isere 12/10/2000. … It’s the 10th time this season he has finished a race in the top 12. … 13th matches the third best result of Dane Spencer’s career, but he has done better at Adelboden, finishing 10th in 2002 — his best career result.

Hermann Maier maintains the men’s overall World Cup lead 954-925 over Benjamin Raich. … Maier gained 25points on Raich. … Palander moves into the men’s GS lead 349-310 over Bode Miller. … Austria continues to dominate the Nations Cup, now leading 12954-3805 over the Swiss. … Italy is third at 3789 and the U.S. fourth at 3596. … The Austrians also lead the men’s standings 7894-2285 over the Italians. … The Swiss are third at 2073, the Norwegians fourth at 1919 and the U.S. men are fifth at 1841.