Another battle between Raich and Miller

Bormio, Italy, Feb. 3rd - Austria's Benjamin Raich, mostly a slalom and giant slalom specialist until last winter, is the big favourite for the men's combined organised today at the Bormio Alpine Ski World Championships - yet the fight with Overall World Cup leader Bode Miller promises to be very exciting.

Raich, who clinched the first World Cup Super-Combined last month in Wengen, has been particularly consistent this season, scoring points in all the 23 World Cup events he entered! He also reached the podium in five slaloms, which allows him to clearly lead in the slalom standings.

The bronze medal he captured in Saturday's opening Super-G competition is certainly a strong boost for his confidence. The 26-year-old Tyrolian from Pitztal, who has made quick improvements in the speed events since last season, was very proud to get onto the podium in that race aside established experts as Miler, Walchhofer or Maier!

After three training runs on Bormio's challenging Stelvio course, this combined should be another highlight of these 2005 Worlds which started off extremely well with the spectacular triumph of Bode Miller over three of his Austrian rivals. Some of the greatest names of the World Cup tour will be battling for medals in this three-run event won by Miller two years ago in St Moritz.

Beside Raich, the biggest rival of Bode Miller in this season's World Cup,
Norway's veteran Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Aamodt who always excelled in the past combined events, Michael Walchhofer or Switzerland's Didier Defago, 3rd in Wengen, or France's Pierrick Bourgeat, 4th in St Moritz, will also aim for medals.

“The combined event is pretty demanding because you're basically skiing the entire day and it's not so easy to remain always perfectly focused, explained “Ben” Raich, who failed to win a medal in St Moritz despite strong races in the downhill part and in the first slalom run.
He was 3rd in the Olympic combined in 2002 and twice 2nd in World Cup combined last winter.

“We start early in the morning with the downhill inspection, then we race the downhill late in the morning and the two slalom runs in the afternoon and the early evening. The second slalom run starts at 6 PM when it's already night, so it will be quite a marathon! The favourites will spend much energy to remain concentrated and to avoid making big mistakes. But this is what makes the event so tough and interesting. I would be proud to be again on the podium tomorrow evening!”

His main concurrent, Bode Miller, who reached the podium at the 2002 Olympics before winning a tough battle against Aamodt and Kjus in St Moritz, has also proved that he can remain focused during an entire day. His main problem yet is his lack of consistency in slalom this winter.
The skier of New Hampshire only finished one slalom so far - the race in Sestriere, which he won. It was also his sixth victory since the season start - his fifth in four specialities in 18 days!

Yet he showed in Kitzbühel and Schladming that he was close to find back his best rhythm in that event- just in time to defend his chances for a fourth gold medal. In his weekly column published in the Denver Post, Bode spoke about his chances to win more medals in Bormio, maybe even more than Lasse Kjus in Vail (five).

“Winning six medals is very realistic, but it's not probable. I don't really try to fix numbers rating my chances to accomplish things, because there's no way to know, they're abstract things,” he said in that column. “If I ski well, I just have to get it in the finish and I should be in the top three,” he added.

This event is also one of the few real possibilities for Norwegian veterans Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Andre Aamodt to add another medal to their impressive collection amassed since the early 1990's. The 33-year-old Aamodt who won the combined gold in 1997, 99, 2001 and 2002, leads the list with a record of 19 medal captured at Olympics (7) and World Championship (12).

Kjus, who has a total of 16 medals, earned 11 of them at World Championships, including four in combined. In Wengen, he came in 2nd behind Raich despite a poor slalom run. Unfortunately, the two-time Overall World Cup Champion (1996/99) suffers once more a bad flu which prevented him to train and race properly in recent weeks. He didn't compete last week in Kitzbühel.

Michael Walchhofer, whose first World Cup victory was a combined in Kitzbühel three years ago, is also ready to fight hard for another medal after coming in 2nd in Super-G.

Patrick Lang