First World Cup win for Daniel Albrecht

Manuèle Lang 30.11.2007 19:47 Uhr

Nine months after clinching an unexpected gold medal in Super-combined at the Are FIS World Championships, Daniel Albrecht celebrated his first ever World Cup victory in Beaver Creek after two excellent runs down the lower par of the demanding “Birds of Prey” course.

The 24-year-old athlete from Fiesch, in Valais, achieved an excellent downhill leg before showing strong nerves and much determination in the slalom portion to beat by 67/100 of a second France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange and by 97/00 Ondrej Bank from the Czech Republic.

It’s the first World Cup podium for the French slalom specialist who captured bronze in slalom at Are. He was by far the fastest man in the slalom part of that first Super-combined race of the season.

It’s the second World Cup win for the Swiss team after the triumph of Marc Gisin in the slalom at Reiteralm. It’s also the first Swiss success in a combined event since the victory of Paul Accola in 1992!

It’s also the first World Cup podium for Bank and his country on the men’s tour. His team-mate Sarka Zahrobska already achieved great performances on the women’s circuit including a gold medal win in slalom at Are.

“Team America’s” CEO Bode Miller, who races now independently from the US Team, was 4th only 4/100 away from his first podium of the season. It’s his best result for a long time in a Super-combined. He was 3rd in Val d’Isère two years ago in the competition won by Austria’s Michael Walchhofer after the disqualification of Switzerland’s Didier Defago whose binding plates didn’t respect the FIS safety rules.

It was a tough day for the Austrian team with a single skier only finishing among the top-10 – Rainer Schoenfelder who came in 7th. Favorites as Mario Matt (28th) and Benjamin Raich (35th) made too many mistakes to have a chance to reach the podium this time. This allowed the unlucky Aksel Lund Svindal to remain a clear leader in the Overall standings. The Norwegian, who is recovering at the Vail Valley Hospital, captured that event a year ago en route to his first Overall World Cup title.

Ted Ligety, the reigning Olympic Champion in combined was 8th and his teammate TJ Thomas Lanning 10th. It’s Lanning’s first top-10 result on the World Cup tour.

Didier Cuche, the fastest skier in the morning downhill, finished a respectable 22nd – scoring a few points in the Overall standings which has become an important target for him.

A fast downhill for Albrecht
In clocking one of the fastest times in the downhill portion, Albrecht perfectly started his quest for his first victory on the World Cup tour. He came in 4th in that first leg with a delay of only 56/100 on Cuche. He was clearly ahead of other slalom specialists as Benni Raich who already lost 93/100 on him in the morning. Grange was a far 36th at that point with a delay of 1,74 seconds on him.

“I felt confident after the downhill and I knew I can win it with a clean slalom run,” said a happy Albrecht afterwards. “The slalom slope is very nice and technically challenging so I managed to achieve a strong run.”

“I was aiming for this after my gold medal win at Are,” added the Swiss who was 2nd in the downhill of the Finals at Lenzerheide last March. On Friday, he will also again be battling for a podium finish in the downhill. He was faster than Cuche in the upper part of the downhill in the morning.

First podium finish for Grange and Bank
While Daniel Albrecht enjoyed his first World Cup win, Grange and Bank grabbed their first podium finish on ski racing’s major league. Grange, 3rd at Are in slalom last February, is known for his reckless skiing when it matters. He often achieved strong second slalom runs so far and today he was just ready to let it go again.

“I was not a happy man after the downhill leg even though my race was not so bad,” he explained. “I was far behind the leaders and the other favorites so I knew I had not other choice that to move at my limits in the afternoon. I think my anger helped me to charge the way I did and be so fast. I really went for it but it was fun.”

“It’s an important result for me and my confidence. My goal was to excel in today’s Super-combined and score enough points to pass the limit of 400 points in the FIS WCSL rankings and have a better start-order in giant slalom. I did much better in fact. I’m really proud of myself and aiming for much more now.”

It was also a great day for Ondrej Bank who has been touring for a while on the World Cup tour. The 27-year-old was 6th here in that event a year ago and 10th at the FIS Worlds at Are. He was also 6th at the traditional Olympic combined in Sestriere.

“One can not imagine what this result means to me, it’s a huge achievement,” said the skier from the Czech Republic who is training and travelling on a very low budget. He even has to prepare his own skis! “I didn't do anything especially different from last year -- I just like the hill and the snow here and enjoy competing on this course,” he explained.

Not bad for a racer from a country where there is little infrastructure for professional skiers and even less in the way of financial resources – Bank says he was given a paltry 1,500 .- € from the Czech Ski Federation to prepare for this season. He received a lot more prize-money after the race from the Organizing Committee and well as a nice Longines watch from Andre Agassi who attended the race.

“It is pretty hard, I am trying to be as fast as the Austrians and the rest of the guys who have everything,” he also said after Thursday’s race.
“It is not easy for me, I prepared my own slalom skis today. With football and ice hockey so popular in the Czech Republic there is not too much space for skiing,”

“It is getting better with Sarka a world champion and I know that my result will have made a few people really happy,” he said. Asked if he could change one thing about his situation Bank highlighted financial support for the costly business of travelling the world to race. “The money and the sponsors are important in order to be able to better prepare but the most important thing is to stay clear of injuries. I have already broken my leg twice so I know about that,” he said.

On Friday, another big battle has to be expected on the treacherous “Birds of Prey” course between the Swiss and the other teams. The Austrian are aiming for revenge – so far they have not won a single race so far.