Adelboden: Raich seizes lead in GS first run

Olympic and World Cup discipline champion Benjamin Raich was poised to record his first World Cup giant slalom victory this season when he had the fastest time in the opening leg Saturday.
    The World Cup overall champion delivered a near-perfect performance, negotiating the 49 gates lining the soft Kuonisbaergli course in 1 minute, 13.06 seconds.
    Italy's Massimiliano Blardone, the winner of the season-opening giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, was second, 0.18 behind the Austrian ahead of the second leg. Finland's Kalle Palander, also a winner this season, was third, 0.22 back.

ADELBODEN, Switzerland — Olympic and World Cup discipline champion Benjamin Raich was poised to record his first World Cup giant slalom victory this season when he had the fastest time in the opening leg Saturday.
    The World Cup overall champion delivered a near-perfect performance, negotiating the 49 gates lining the soft Kuonisbaergli course in 1 minute, 13.06 seconds.
    Italy's Massimiliano Blardone, the winner of the season-opening giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, was second, 0.18 behind the Austrian ahead of the second leg. Finland's Kalle Palander, also a winner this season, was third, 0.22 back.
    Raich has only one top-three result this season, a victory in the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland.
    ''I am still as good as last season,'' said Raich, who won the notoriously tough Adelboden giant slalom here last season. ''I can still win the overall. I am just 300 points behind the leader. But these races here and in Wengen next week will be critical.''
    Raich — the only Austrian to record a top-three result in a technical discipline this season — is in danger of losing his World Cup overall and giant slalom titles to Aksel Lund Svindal, who currently leads the standings in both.
    The Norwegian, who won the last giant slalom race, was fourth with a 0.62 deficit.
    ''I could have been faster,'' Svindal said. ''I will be faster the second run.''
    Bode Miller, currently trailing Svindal by just 39 points in the overall standings, failed to finish. Miller was fast up top but appeared to misjudge the way the slope fell away from him, dropping onto his side and veering off-course. Miller skidded through the first interval with a tiny 0.06 deficit, though the more demanding parts of the course lay below.
    The Adelboden GS is the last one before the World Championships next month in Are, Sweden.

— The Associated Press