Mario Matt leads first run

Patrick Lang 17.02.2008 12:02 Uhr

Austria’s reigning World Champion Mario Matt clocked the fastest time in the first leg of the slalom at Sljeme, above Zagreb, where the men competed for the first time in a World Cup race.

The Tyrolian, a winner last January at Adelboden, beat by only 3/100 of a second local favourite Ivica Kostelic while Switzerland’s Marc Berthod came in 3rd at 7/100 and a few hundredths ahead of Italy’s former slalom World Cup champion Giorgio Rocca and Japan’s Akira Sasaki.

Reinfried Herbst, the winner last week at Garmisch-Partenkirchen was 6th at 39/100 in front of a group of outsiders who managed to take advantage of better visibility and improved course conditions.

Top specialists as Benjamin Raich, Felix Neureuther or Jean-Baptiste Grange, the leader in the slalom standings, lost much time on Matt and only finished in respectively 13th,14th and 19th positions.

Italy’s Mangfred Moelgg, who amassed an impressive series of podium finishes during the past two season, was lucky to qualify for the second run as he only set the thirtieth best time, 1,38 seconds from the leader.

Rainer Schoenfelder and Bode Miller didn’t make the cut despite clocking fast intermediate times.

Matt was pleased
Mario Matt, who only seldom lost slaloms after leading the first run, was pleased by his performance. “I had a solid run this morning, especially in the lower part,” he said afterwards. “The course was superb, really challenging and very well prepared,” the Austrian added. “There were a lot of people encouraging me, I enjoyed it a lot. It will surely be a tough battle this afternoon.”

Ivica Kostelic, 3rd at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, created huge excitement among the crowd as he fought his way down the Sljeme slope which he knows so well. Yet the 2003 World Champion was not totally pleased by himself. “It was not perfect, I know I can ski faster here, I prefer to wait the second run before accepting congratulations,” he said on Croatian TV.

“It was for sure emotional to compete here today on that course which I have been skiing so often since I was a child. I aim now for another strong run this afternoon.”

Marc Berthod, who celebrated his first World Cup triumph last season at Adelboden where he won a slalom despite starting with a high start-number, was delighted by his result which strongly boosts his confidence.

“I’m surprised, I have not been skiing so well for a while,” he told the press. “It’s a good feeling to be so close to the leader, I feel ready for more this afternoon.” Berthod failed to finish many races this season and couldn’t do better than 11th in slalom in past months.

Second run starts at 1.15 PM and should be followed by a huge amount of spectators attracted by Kostelic’s strong achievements.