Another triumph for Manfred Moelgg

Patrick Lang 15.03.2008 17:40 Uhr

A week after enjoying his first victory on the World Cup tour at Kranjska Gora, Italy’s Manfred Moelgg clinched the slalom title at Bormio with a solid 6th place in the last race of the season dominated by Austria's Reinfried Herbst while his main contender, France’s Jean Baptiste Grange, made a huge mistake only four gates prior the arrival of the second run.

It’s another highlight in Moelgg’s career a year after capturing silver in slalom at Are despite strong pains at his back.

He is the fourth Italian skier after stars like Gustavo Thoeni, Alberto Tomba and Giorgio Rocca to nail the slalom globe – a huge achievement for the 26-year-old who worked hard to become one of the best gate specialists in the world.

“It’s for sure a major accomplishment for me and the entire team who helped me so much to reach that level,” he said after the race. “I had nothing to lose today so I fought hard in the first run to put some pressure on Jean-Baptiste who started behind me,” added the Italian who raced with bib number 1.

“I took great risks in the morning and it paid off as I clocked the fastest time which was a strong boost for my confidence after my disappointing giant slalom race. In the second run, I attacked hard at the beginning then I backed off and took it easy at the end.”

“I had heard at the start that trainers from the French team suddenly shouted as Grange ended his run so I guessed that something had happened to him and that I didn’t need to take too many risks until the end.”

“I feel sorry for Grange but I badly wanted to win that title in front of my fans and this great crowd. It’s certainly a special moment which I will remember for ever. I wish to thank all the people who helped me out in recent years, it surely has been a team effort.”

“I trained hard last summer to improve my physical form after this back problem at Are. It was sometimes pretty tough but I bit my teeth to get the job done and I was not plagued by more pains this winter.”

“I’m also happy to finish the Overall standings in 4th place behind established champions as Miller, Cuche and Raich. It means a lot to me because I can only score big points in the technical events yet I’m not too far behind them.”

“It’s pretty exciting to have reached the podiums in the World Cup standings in slalom and in giant slalom. I aim now to raise my level in Super-G and Super-combined yet without taking the risks to jeopardize my potential in the tech events. I want to fight for medals at the next World Championships at Val d’Isère.”

“It’s great to see how strong how entire team has been this winter. We basically excelled in most specialties – on the men’s but also on the women’s tour. It’s good for our sport and a lot of people in our region can be proud of what we have achieved. Ski racing is a big sport in our province which strongly supports the clubs and the local teams.”

“There is a lot of competition between the youngsters in the junior league so you are used to fight hard when you reach the international level. It also helps us getting very strong mentally – if you look at the determination of racers as my sister Manuela or Denise Karbon, you easily understand that we have the toughness to succeed when it matters.”