A historical win for Marc Berthod

Patrick Lang 05.01.2008 15:37 Uhr

A year after stunning his colleagues and the crowd in capturing the slalom here despites his high start-number 60, Switzerland’s Marc Berthod achieved another remarkable performance today on the treacherous “Chuenisbaergli” slope in winning his very first giant slalom race in front of twenty thousands enchanted spectators.

The 24-year-old skier from St Moritz, 3rd at Alta Badia last month, 4th in the first run dominated by Austria’s Stephan Goergl, took all possible risks in the afternoon to set an unbeatable time for the rest of the field.

His friend and teammate Daniel Albrecht, the double winner at Beaver Creek, and 3rd in the opening leg, came in 2nd at 56/100 of a second and Austria’s Hannes Reichelt, a two-time winner in Super-G at Beaver Creek, was 3rd at 58/100. Reichelt was 10th in the morning.

Another Austrian, Christoph Gruber was 4th ahead of Italy’s Manfred Moegg and Finland’s Kalle Palander, a former winner here. Goergl struggled in the afternoon because of poor visibility and lost much time on the other favourites, finishing a far 19th!

Raich kept a strong lead in the Overall World Cup on Didier Cuche, only 12th after clocking the second best time in the morning, while Albrecht propelled himself at the top of the standings in the giant slalom standings with an advance of ten points on Raich and eighteen on Palander.

USA’s Ted Ligety, the leader after Alta Badia, suffered a bad crash in the first run and moved down to 5th place. Bode Miller also skied out in the first run, so the best US skier was Jimmy Cochran in 17th place.

A remarkable feat for Berthod
Marc Berthod was extremely proud to be the first skier able to dominate the field in both technical events within a year – so far none of his great rivals managed to win both competitions at Adelboden. “It’s a kid’s dream which became true today, it’s something really special for me to win that prestigious competition,” said the focused skier from St Moritz afterwards.

“I remember well watching this race on TV when I was a child. I often told myself that I also have to excel here once,” he added. “It was very special today to hear the crowd roaring as I approached the finish area. My legs were burning, I was tired but I was truly carried down the final section by that amazing public. It’s surely a great day in my career.”

Berthod, injured at an ankle last month while training at Beaver Creek, had to rest a while afterwards before finding back part of his momentum. His 3rd place at Alta Badia reinforced his confidence and he trained hard after in the following weeks to prepare this famous Swiss “Classic”.

“I was for sure a great advantage for us to train intensively on this slope two weeks ago, it’s such a difficult terrain,” he explained. “My 3rd place in Italy was a strong boost for my moral because I could not train a lot after my injury in Colorado. Today I was finally able to give my best in both runs. It’s exciting to ski so well in front of such an impressive crowd and then to be on the podium next to my good friend Daniel.”

It’s the fifth season victory for the Swiss team this winter – one more than Austria! “So far, we have done much better than planned – and we are really proud to have Albrecht taking over the lead in the giant slalom standings,” said Swiss head coach Martin Ruffener.

Albrecht ready for more
Daniel Albrecht reinforced his position as the most credible rival for Benjamin Raich in the Overall standings even though he is not focusing on that competition – at least not for the moment!

“There are many other skiers who have the potential to seriously threaten Raich this winter, I think it’s a little too early for me to think about the Overall World Cup,” he said at the post-race press conference. “I still have a lot to learn and to prove, for the moment I’m just enjoying each single podium finish,” added the young skier from Valais who suffered a bad crash in Super-G at Val Gardena a month ago.

“I’m having much fun right now and it’s wonderful to be on the podium today next to Marc who took amazing risks in the second run. He fully deserves his victory. I’m looking forward for the next races here and in Wengen. I hope that our supporters will continue encouraging us in the coming weeks.”

Albrecht plans to enter all the coming events this month and also in February to increase his experience and score a maximum of points in all specialties. “As said, I don’t put any pressure on me but I want to be ready to charge in case Raich is having a hard time,” Albrecht also said.

With a total of four skiers among the top-10, the Austrian skiers did much better than in Alta Badia where Raich was the only one able to finish among the best ten!

Reichelt is celebrating his very first World Cup podium in giant slalom after showing his talent in the speed events. “It’s quite an honour to be on the podium here, it’s such a difficult and exciting race,” the 27-year-old said. “Now I feel fully ready for another great race in two weeks at Kitzbühel.”

In Sunday’s slalom, the unsophisticated Berthod will for sure fight again hard for the podium against the other top favourites such as Raich, Palander, Neureuther, Moelgg or the winner from Alta Badia, France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange who skied well today in the upper part of the first run prior making a huge mistake.

Ted Ligety suffered a few bruises after his spectacular crash and skipped the bib draw presentation to get some treatment for the team’s doctor. He hopes to be ready again for the slalom.