Ivica Kostelic captures Madonna slalom, but may have injured knee; Knight 10th for USST

By Published On: June 3rd, 2004Comments Off on Ivica Kostelic captures Madonna slalom, but may have injured knee; Knight 10th for USST

Ivica Kostelic captures Madonna slalom, but may have injured knee; Knight 10th for USST{mosimage}World champion Ivica Kostelic battled to victory in a men’s World Cup slalom race Monday night at Madonna di Campiglio, but said he feared his season could be over due to a serious knee injury.

The Croatian, brother of triple Olympic and World Cup champion Janica, was only sixth after the first run but produced a faultless second run under floodlights on the Canaloni Miramonti course to take victory in 1:33.26.

The win was even more impressive given that Kostelic skied the second half of his run after the injury and was hardly able to walk in the finish area. “While I was in the middle section I felt a click,” he said. “I’m afraid my season might be over. We will do some tests but I have a bad feeling. I just hope it is not very serious. It hurts a little when I walk but we have to consult the doctors and see what the MRI test shows.”

U.S. skier Chip Knight had the third-fastest second run to make a serious move up the results sheet from 29th to 10th. Tom Rothrock, 15th after the first run, was the only other American skier to qualify for the second run. He had a rough second trip and finished 25th.

Also for the U.S., Bode Miller had a tough time on his first run and failed to qualify. Also missing the second run were Americans Ted Ligety, James Cochran and Jesse Marshall.

Canada’s Thomas Grandi, fresh from a sixth-place finish in Sunday’s GS, also skied well in the slalom, leading the way for his team in 19th. He was the only Canadian to earn a second run.

Kostelic has suffered from a series of knee injuries throughout his career — between 1998 and 2001 he was unable to finish a season without being sidelined through injury. The latest injury is to his right knee which has been operated on four times in the past — most recently in February 2001.

“It doesn’t look so good. It is hard to give a prognosis so quickly but at the moment it looks like it is the back part of the miniscular (ligament),” said Vedran Pavlek, manager of the Croatian Ski Federation.

Giorgio Rocca provided plenty for the home crowd to cheer about with second place in 1:33.57 while Austria’s Manfred Pranger, who was quickest in the first leg, settled for third with 1:33.68. Rocca takes over top spot in the slalom standings from Rainer Schoenfelder, who finished sixth.

“It’s great to take the leader’s bib in front of my fans and I am so excited about this season. I’m going to party big style tonight,” Rocca said.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Slalom (night)

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy

December 15, 2003


1. Ivica Kostelic (Croatia) 1:33.26 (first run, 45.66/second run, 47.60)

2. Giorgio Rocca (Italy) 1:33.57 (45.41/48.16)

3. Manfred Pranger (Austria) 1:33.68 (44.78/48.90)

4. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:33.83 (45.37/48.46)

5. Manfred Moelgg (Italy) 1:34.10 (46.32/47.78)

6. Rainer Schoenfelder (Austria) 1:34.11 (45.27/48.84)

7. Kilian Albrecht (Austria) 1:34.98 (46.33/48.65)

8. Felix Neureuther (Germany) 1:35.08 (46.51/48.57)

9. Mitja Valencic (Slovenia) 1:35.18 (46.57/48.61)

10. Chip Knight (U.S.) 1:35.27 (47.24/48.03)

11= Alain Baxter (Britain) 1:35.31 (47.25/48.06)

11= Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland) 1:35.31 (46.96/48.35)

13. Mario Matt (Austria) 1:35.37 (46.81/48.56)

14. Markus Larsson (Sweden) 1:35.40 (46.82/48.58)

15. Alan Perathoner (Italy) 1:35.42 (47.14/48.28)

16. Alois Vogl (Germany) 1:35.48 (46.90/48.58)

17. Kurt Engl (Austria) 1:35.67 (46.78/48.89)

18. Tom Stiansen (Norway) 1:35.75 (46.18/49.57)

19. Thomas Grandi (Canada) 1:35.86 (46.66/49.20)

20. Drago Grubelnik (Slovenia) 1:36.07 (46.91/49.16)

21. Martin Marinac (Austria) 1:36.15 (46.90/49.25)

22. Hannes Paul Schmid (Italy) 1:36.24 (47.10/49.14)

23. Jouni Kaitala (Finland) 1:36.46 (47.21/49.25)

24. Heinz Schilchegger (Austria) 1:36.71 (47.13/49.58)

25. Tom Rothrock (U.S.) 1:37.49 (46.73/50.76)

26. Mitja Dragsic (Slovenia) 1:39.59 (47.08/52.51)

DNF 2nd: Kalle Palander (Finland), Truls Ove Karlsen (Norway), Pierrick Bourgeat (France), Michael Walchhofer (Austria)

Other North Americans:

DNQ 2nd: Bode Miller, Jesse Marshall, Ted Ligety, James Cochran (U.S.); Jean-Phillipe Roy, Julien Cousineau, Nick Zoricic (Canada)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Slalom (night)

Madonna di Campiglio, December 15, 2003


Skier, skis/boots/binding

1 Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

2 Rocca, Nordica/Nordica/Atomic

3 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker

4 Raich, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

5 Moelgg, Dynastar/Lange/Look

6 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

7 Albrecht, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia

8 Neureuther, Atomic/Lange/Tyrolia

9 Valencic, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

10 Knight, Fischer/Lange/Marker

It’s the 10th of 38 scheduled men’s races, the second of 11 slaloms — and the first night race of the season. … Ivica Kostelic wins by 0.31, his seventh career win (including a knock-out slalom) and his first in 11 months. … All of his wins are in slalom. … His best previous result this season was 12th in the opening GS at Soelden in October. … It is the 26th time Madonna di Campiglio has hosted a World Cup slalom in December. … It is the first win at Madonna for a skier from Croatia. … Bode Miller won the last slalom at Madonna, also a night race, 12/10/01.

It is the ninth podium for Giorgio Rocca, and his second at Madonna. … He just missed the podium in the only other slalom this season, finishing fourth at Park City 11/23. … The fourth podium of the season for Italy, with the other three all in GS. … It is the third podium career, and second of the season, for Manfred Pranger; all are third-place finishes in slalom.

The third top-10 result, career, for Chip Knight, with his only better placing a sixth in the ’02 knock-out slalom at Sestriere and a seventh in slalom at Park City, 11/24/02. … It is the 77th scoring finish of Canadian Thomas Grandi’s career, and third of the season.

Ted Ligety missed qualifying for a second run, and a shot at his first World Cup points, by 0.12. … James Cochran was 0.03 behind Ligety.

Hermann Maier continues to lead the World Cup overall race with 405 points; Hans Knauss is second at 308 and Andreas Schifferer third at 307. … Bode Miller leads the U.S. in seventh at 263. … Rocca takes the lead in the slalom standings 130-120 over both Rainer Schoenfelder and Pranger. … Knight leads the U.S. in slalom, listed 13th with 39 points.

Austria leads the Nations Cup 4042-1315 over Italy. … The U.S. is fifth at 998. … Austria also leads the men’s standings at 2784-722 over Italy. … The U.S. is fourth at 604.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh