Austria's Schoenfelder edges USST's Bode Miller in slalom at Adelboden

Austria’s Schoenfelder edges USST’s Bode Miller in slalom at AdelbodenAustria’s Rainer Schoenfelder won the slalom Sunday at Adelboden, with the U.S. team’s Bode Miller finishing second, his best slalom showing in more than a year.

Schoenfelder danced a jig in the finish, spinning on one foot and waving like a flapper from the 1920s. He did not make the provocative motions with his skis that earned him a warning from the FIS earlier this year.

“If you do the same thing every time it gets boring,” said Schoenfelder.

Benjamin Raich of Austria was third. Teammate Manfred Pranger, who had a healthy lead after the first run, straddled a double-gate in the second. Kalle Palander, who came into the race as the leader in the slalom points, skied out in the first run.

Schoenfelder’s win gave him the lead in the slalom standings, with Raich second and Palander third. Raich also overtook teammate Hermann Maier in the overall race; Raich now leads 985-954. Austrian Stephan Eberharter is third with 881 points and Miller fourth at 852.

“I haven´t really seen the standings,” Miller said after the race, when asked about the overall title chase. “I just took a quick look at them. 130 points? There´s a lot of time there. The thing is, with Raich –is he in the lead? Raich? — he´s a slalom and GS skier mainly, and he’s skiing well in super G and downhill. Hermann has the advantage there.”

Miller’s most recent second-place finish in slalom came at Bormio, Italy, in January 2003. His last win came at Schladming, Austria, in January 2002.

After struggling to finish a slalom, Miller has turned it around in recent weeks, with just one DNF in his last five races. In the others, he has finished third, fourth, fourth and second.

Also scoring for the U.S. was Chip Knight, who finished 20th in a race that saw eight of the 30 qualifiers not make it through the second run. That number included Thomas Grandi, the only Canadian to qualify.

Thirty-seven skiers — nearly half the field — either failed to finish or were disqualified in the first run on the tough slalom hill at Adelboden. Among the 33 first-run DNF’s were Tom Rothrock, Jesse Marshall and Jake Zamansky for the U.S., and Jean-Phillipe Roy for Canada. Roy’s teammate Stanley Hayer was one of four DSQ’s.

“The fans here are really supportive,” said Miller. “They’re enthusiastic and psyched, but they’re the same ones who are banging on my RV all the time. It hasn’t been a problem all year, but here it’s been terrible. There’s kids out there all the time. They’re violent little kids. You wouldn’t think it.”

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Slalom

Adelboden, Switzerland

February 8, 2004

1. Rainer Schoenfelder (Austria) 1:44.98 (first run 54.12/second run 50.86)

2. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:45.17 (54.47/50.70)

3. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:45.48 (53.94/51.54)

4. Mario Matt (Austria) 1:45.88 (54.96/50.92)

5. Drago Grubelnik (Slovenia) 1:46.37 (55.95/50.42)

6. Edoardi Zardini (Italy) 1:46.66 (55.52/51.14)

7. Akira Sasaki (Japan) 1:46.72 (55.10/51.62)

8. Giorgio Rocca (Italy) 1:46.80 (54.87/51.93)

9. Pierrick Bourgeat (France) 1:46.81 (54.83/51.98)

10. Tom Stiansen (Norway) 1:47.16 (55.96/51.20)

11. Andre Myhrer (Sweden) 1:47.21 (56.23/50.98)

12. Kilian Albrecht (Austria) 1:47.24 (54.98/52.26)

13. Martin Marinac (Austria) 1:47.47 (55.44/52.03)

14. Urs Imboden (Switzerland) 1:47.55 (55.82/51.73)

15. Alan Perathoner (Italy) 1:47.56 (56.00/51.56)

16. Hannes Paul Schmid (Italy) 1:47.57 (56.07/51.50)

17. Mitja Dragsic (Slovenia) 1:47.65 (56.28/51.37)

18. Jure Kosir (Slovenia) 1:47.75 (55.88/51.87)

19. Rene Mlekuz (Slovenia) 1:47.96 (56.21/51.75)

20. Chip Knight (U.S.) 1:47.98 (55.88/52.10)

21. Jean-Pierre Vidal (France) 1:48.59 (55.56/53.03)

22. Andrej Sporn (Slovenia) 1:51.77 (55.38/56.39)

DNF 2nd: Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland), Giancarlo Bergamelli (Italy), Ales Gorza (Slovenia), Markus Larsson (Sweden), Heinz Schilchegger (Austria), Thomas Grandi (Canada), Johan Brolenius (Sweden), Manfred Pranger (Austria)

Other North Americans:

DNQ 2nd: Julien Cousineau (Canada)

DNF 1st: Tom Rothrock, Jesse Marshall, Jake Zamansky (U.S.); Jean-Philippe Roy (Canada)

DSQ 1st: Michael Janyk (Canada)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Slalom

Adelboden, Switzerland, February 8, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

2 Miller, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol

3 Raich, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

4 Matt, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

5 Grubelnik, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

6 Zardini, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

7 Sasaki, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

8 Rocca, Nordica/Nordica/Atomic

9 Bourgeat, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

10 Stiansen, Nordica/Nordica /Tyrolia

It’s the 28th of 38 races on the men’s schedule; 3DH, 2GS, 2SG, 3SL remain. … It’s the second win of the season for Fischer skis. … The fifth career victory for Rainer Schoenfelder, all in slalom, and his first win of the season. … He has four podiums and no finish worse than sixth in the seven slaloms he has completed this season.

It’s the 23rd career podium for Bode Miller and the seventh this season. … It’s his second slalom podium this season. … The 35th career podium for Benjamin Raich, the sixth this season. … The third this season in slalom. It’s the 13th career top 20 for Chip Knight.

A large group — 33 skiers — does not complete the first run and four more competitors are first-run DSQ’s.

Raich regains the men’s overall lead 985-954 over Hermann Maier. … Stephan Eberharter is third at 881 and Miller fourth at 852. … Schoenfelder takes the slalom lead 455-442 over Raich while first run DNF Kalle Palander slips to third at 375. … Miller leads the U.S. in sixth at 240. … Austria leads the Nations Cup 13284-3910 over Italy. … The Swiss are third at 3823 and the U.S. fourth at 3813. … The Austrian men lead 8146-2388 over Italy with the Swiss third at 2091. … Norwegian men hold fourth at 1845 to 1932 for the U.S. men in fifth.