Kitzbühel: Byggmark wins 1st ahead of Matt, Vogl

Jens Byggmark beat the favorites to win a slalom on Saturday for his first career World Cup victory. Austria's Mario Matt improved on his third-place placing from the last slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, three weeks ago, finishing runner-up in 1:44.61. Germany's Alois Vogl was third in 1:45.22. Bode Miller did not finish, Ted Ligety was 15th and Jimmy Cochran 19th for the Americans.

KITZBÜHEL, Austria — Jens Byggmark beat the favorites to win a slalom on Saturday for his first career World Cup victory. The 21-year-old Swede, who surprised the field with the fastest time in the opening leg, delivered a second brilliant run down the Ganslern course to win with a combined time of 1 minute, 43.74 seconds.
    ''It's amazing,'' Byggmark said. ''After the first run, I tried not to expect anything.''
    That was probably a good idea. Who could expect, in their first full season of World Cup racing, to get their first win — at Kitzbühel no less — and take control of the slalom standings in one swoop.
    "I was really nervous in the second run. I had never been in that position, leading after the first run," he said. "I could hear all the fans screaming and shouting at me, encouraging me. It is just amazing. It's unbelievable."
    Austria's Mario Matt improved on his third-place result from the last slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, three weeks ago, finishing runner-up in 1:44.61.
    Germany's Alois Vogl was third in 1:45.22. Bode Miller did not finish, Ted Ligety was 15th and Jimmy Cochran 19th for the Americans.
    Olympic champion Benjamin Raich, who was third going into the second leg, dropped into fifth place, 1.67 off the winning pace.
    Switzerland's Marc Berthod, the surprise winner of the slushy slalom at Adelboden, crossed second after the opening leg but straddled a gate on his second trip down.
    Discipline leader Markus Larsson of Sweden fell onto his elbow and failed to qualify for the second run.
    Miller, still seeking a berth on the U.S. slalom squad for the upcoming World Championships in Are, Sweden, had a disastrous first run. He straddled a gate midway down then hiked back up two sets of gates to rerun it. Moments later, he lost his right ski on a left turn and crashed.
    It was the second time in two weeks Miller lost his right ski in a slalom. In Adelboden, he was the only American to qualify for the second leg but his ski inexplicably popped off midway down the next run.
    It was the second time in two weeks Miller lost his right ski in a slalom. It came off midway down the second run in Adelboden, too.
    ''It's the same problem as in Adelboden,'' said Rainer Salzgeber, who works for Head — the company that makes Miller's skis. ''In a way, he is the only guy who has a problem like that.''
    Salzgeber said the company had found a solution to Miller's binding plight, but that Miller felt that the adjustments could lead to more problems for him.
    Miller has not completed a slalom in almost a year. The 29-year-old has finished only three of his last 20 World Cup slalom races. The last time he finished one was here last season when he placed 18th. His last World Cup slalom victory dates back to December 2004 at Sestriere, Italy.
    Miller will have another chance in Sunday's slalom to secure a spot for the worlds, which begin Feb. 3. Another slalom is scheduled for Tuesday night under the floodlights of nearby Schladming.
    U.S. coach Phil McNichol was left trying to figure out what had happened between training and the race. "We had a great camp in Paganella [Italy] and then two days in Ultental with the Swedes and other teams, and we came in here with a great preparation … but I don't get it. We'll certainly be addressing this with the guys, and having another slalom here tomorrow gives us another shot at getting it done."
    The day, however, belonged to Byggmark, who said he had little choice but to become a ski racer. "It is much a tradition to ski race when you live in Tarnaby," he said.
    Tarnaby, a small village in Lapland in northern Sweden is where ski legend Ingemar Stenmark got his start. When he wasn't winning 86 World Cup races (including five slaloms at Kitzbühel) Stenmark could often be found on the slopes of Tarnaby. Anja Paerson, two-time winner of the World Cup overall trophy, also hails from Tarnaby. Byggmark will have to take aim at some pretty lofty marks set by these natives, for he has already exceeded the ones he had set for himself.
    "My goal at the start of the season was to make the top 30 starting list, to be top 30 in the standings," he said. "I had no goals after that."

— The Associated Press and USSA contributed to this report

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THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's slalom, Kitzbühel, Austria, Jan. 27, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Byggmark, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
3 Vogl, Volkl/Lange/Salomon
4 Zurbriggen, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia
5 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Neureuther, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Janyk, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Gini, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/

Men's slalom, Kitzbühel, Austria, Jan. 27, 2007. … It is the 22nd race of the men's 38-race World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of 10 scheduled slaloms. … It is a replacement race from Wengen, Switzerland, and is the first of two back-to-back slaloms at Kitzbühel, the middle of three straight including the Schladming night race set for Jan. 30. … It is the 40th World Cup slalom held at Kitzbühel.
    It is the first career win for Jens Byggmark. … He has just six completed World Cup races recorded. … All of them from this season. … And five of them in slalom. … He has not recorded a slalom result worse than 10th. … He is just the sixth Swedish man to win a Cup slalom… The second to get his first this season after Andre Myhrer.
    It is the 18th career podium for Mario Matt. … His third straight, having been third in the Adelboden slalom Jan. 7 and winning the Wengen combined Jan. 14. … His best result of the season prior to the podium run had been 12th in the opener at Levi in mid-November. … He won the Kitzbühel slalom in 2000 and also the Schladming slalom that same season. … It is the second time he has been second at Kitzbühel, the other in 2005.
    It is the fifth career podium for Alois Vogl, all in slalom. … He has one win, from Wengen 2005. … It is his first podium since Jan. 15, 2006, at Wengen when he placed third. … It is the first time Vogl has been in the top 10 of a Kitzbühel slalom since 1998, when he was sixth.
    It is the eighth career top-10 result for Michael Janyk. &hellip
; The fourth of this season. … All in slalom. … It is his first completed race at Kitzbühel. … It is the 26th career top 15 for Ted Ligety. … in 31 scoring results. … He has two podiums this season, both before Christmas, but has not placed inside the top 10 since the new year. … It is the 11th career score for Jimmy Cochran. … His sixth of the season. … It is his first score at Kitzbühel.
    Aksel Lund Svindal (13th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 745-677 over Didier Cuche (did not race). … Bode Miller (first-run DNF) is third on the list. … Byggmark takes command of the slalom standings 243-225 over Benjamin Raich (fifth in race) and Markus Larsson (did not qualify for second run) who are tied for second. … Michael Janyk is fifth in the slalom standings at 174. … Top U.S. skier is Ted Ligety at 96 points … Winning margin is 0.87. … Top two are within a second. … Top nine within 2 seconds

Kitzbühel men's World Cup slalom results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	10	501101	BYGGMARK Jens	1985	SWE	50.67	53.07	1:43.74	0.00
2	12	50707	MATT Mario	1979	AUT	52.37	52.24	1:44.61	5.12
3	27	200251	VOGL Alois	1972	GER	52.63	52.59	1:45.22	8.70
4	25	510890	ZURBRIGGEN Silvan	1981	SUI	52.49	52.86	1:45.35	9.47
5	4	50625	RAICH Benjamin	1978	AUT	51.74	53.67	1:45.41	9.82
6	11	201702	NEUREUTHER Felix	1984	GER	52.29	53.17	1:45.46	10.11
7	8	380260	KOSTELIC Ivica	1979	CRO	51.90	53.68	1:45.58	10.82
8	15	50547	SCHOENFELDER Rainer	1977	AUT	52.89	52.79	1:45.68	11.41
9	9	102435	JANYK Michael	1982	CAN	51.92	53.79	1:45.71	11.58
10	39	511127	GINI Marc	1984	SUI	53.12	52.63	1:45.75	11.82< /td>
10	6	501017	MYHRER Andre	1983	SWE	52.23	53.52	1:45.75	11.82
12	26	292491	MOELGG Manfred	1982	ITA	52.72	53.08	1:45.80	12.11
13	14	421328	SVINDAL Aksel Lund	1982	NOR	52.48	53.42	1:45.90	12.70
14	2	290478	ROCCA Giorgio	1975	ITA	52.28	53.63	1:45.91	12.76
15	3	534562	LIGETY Ted	1984	USA	52.63	53.31	1:45.94	12.94
16	21	190915	BOURGEAT Pierrick	1976	FRA	52.60	53.40	1:46.00	13.29
17	41	50900	KOLL Alexander	1982	AUT	52.90	53.11	1:46.01	13.35
18	1	180251	PALANDER Kalle	1977	FIN	53.41	52.63	1:46.04	13.52
19	29	534040	COCHRAN Jimmy	1981	USA	52.92	53.21	1:46.13	14.05
20	43	50675	ENGL Kurt	1979	AUT	53.34	53.15	1:46.49	16.17
21	13	50605	HERBST Reinfried	1978	AUT	52.43	54.53	1:46.96	18.93
22	35	190278	LLORACH Gaetan	1974	FRA	53.30	53.73	1:47.03	19.35
23	56	150594	TREJBAL Filip	1985	CZE	53.08	54.63	1:47.71	23.34
24	51	293098	RAZZOLI Giuliano	1984	ITA	53.30	54.49	1:47.79	23.81

Did not finish 1st run:
SAMSAL Dalibor (CRO), VAN DEN BOGAERT Jeroen (BEL), QUARTEL DE Alwin (NED), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), RAINER Niklas (SWE), STANEK Jendrek (GER), JITLOFF Tim (USA), ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), IMBODEN Urs (MDA), NORDH Fredrik (SWE), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), BANK Ondrej (CZE), MILLER Bode (USA), GRANGE Jean-Baptiste (FRA), HANSSON Martin (SWE)

Did not finish 2nd run:
BAUMANN Romed (AUT), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), DREIER Christoph (AUT), ALBRECHT Daniel (SUI), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), PRANGER Manfred (AUT)

Did not qualify 1st run:
VON HOHENLOHE Hubertus (MEX), SECK Leyti (SEN), HOROSHILOV Alexandr (RUS), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), SEMPLE Ryan (CAN), GEORGIEV Stefan (BUL), TISSOT Maxime (FRA), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), GORZA Ales (SLO), SKUBE Matic (SLO), NILSEN Andreas (NOR), VILETTA Sandro (SUI), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), SPORN Andrej (SLO), BURAAS Hans-Petter (NOR), TIEZZA Luca (ITA), MORETTI Luca (ITA), BROWN Roger G P (USA), KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), KAUKONIEMI Tuukka (FIN), BAXTER Alain (GBR), LEINO Jukka (FIN), ALBRECHT Kilian (BUL), ROTHROCK Tom (USA), DRAGSIC Mitja (SLO), BIGGS Patrick (CAN), STUTZ Paul (CAN), YUASA Naoki (JPN), LAHDENPERAE Anton (SWE), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), HARGIN Mattias (SWE), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), BERGAMELLI Giancarlo (ITA), LIZEROUX Julien (FRA), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), BROLENIUS Johan (SWE), THALER Patrick (ITA), DEVILLE Cristian (ITA), SASAKI Akira (JPN), LARSSON Markus (SWE)

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World Cup slalom standings (after 5 of 10 races)
1. Jens Byggmark, Sweden, 243.
2. Markus Larsson, Sweden, 225.
(tie) Benjamin Raich, Austria, 225.
4. Mario Matt, Austria, 180.
5. Michael Janyk, Canada, 174.
6. Giorgio Rocca, Italy, 168.
7. Kalle Palander, Finland, 154.
8. Felix Neureuther, Germany, 139.
9. Andre Myhrer, Sweden, 126.
10. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 105.
11. Marc Berthod, Switzerland, 100.
12. Ted Ligety, United States, 96.
(tie) Ivica Kostelic, Croatia, 96.
14. Thomas Grandi, Canada, 95.
15. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 77.

World Cup overall standings (after 22 of 38 races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 745 points.
2. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 677.
3. Bode Miller, United States, 640.
4. Peter Fill, Italy, 570.
5. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 565.
6. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 407.
7. Kalle Palander, Finland, 400.
8. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 377.
9. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 374.
10. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 345.
11. Ted Ligety, United States, 334.
12. Hermann Maier, Austria, 331.
13. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 306.
14. Mario Matt, Austria, 300.
15. John Kucera, Canada, 299.