First gold medal for Benjamin Raich

Bormio, Italy, Feb. 3rd - Six years after taking part in his first World Championships at Vail, Colorado, where he could not confirm his potential, Austria's Benjamin Raich finally achieved his golden dream in today's combined raced on Bormio's challenging Stelvio course in front of thousands of spectators.

After thee flawless runs, the 27-year-old Tyrolian beat by 91/100 of a second Norway's up-coming champion Aksel Lund Svindal while Italy's Giorgio Rocca was 3rd at 98/100 creating great excitement among his fans.

Michael Walchhofer, the fastest man in the downhill, had to be content with his 4th place in front of Switzerland's Silvan Zurbriggen and Norway's Lasse Kjus. The tall Austrian missed the podium by only 47/100! Yet he has another big chance for another medal next Saturday in the downhill.

Kjetil Aamodt, who clocked the 2nd best total time after his second run, was disqualified afterwards for having straddled a gate in the middle of his second slalom run. Bad luck for the veteran from Oslo who was aiming to win his twentieth medal in Bormio!

The defending champion Bode Miller could only watch this slalom as a spectator after losing a ski in the upper part of the downhill earlier in the afternoon. “It was bad luck, I caught an edge at the second jump at my left ski went off, it's just too bad,” he repeated to all the TV stations which interviewed him. “I felt comfortable and I was ready for a great day of racing.”

This weekend will be big for him with the downhill on Saturday and the “Superbowl” match on Sunday in which his preferred football team, the New England Patriots, are favoured to clinch the title. He plans to watch the game life from the USA House in Bormio during the night. “I was tempted to fly over but it would have been quite complicated at the end,” he said with a smile.

First gold medal for “Big Ben”.

Benjamin Raich was quite thrilled by his performance and his first ever gold medal¬. In 2001, he clinched the slalom World Cup title, after a nice series of five wins during the season, but he could “only” captured silver at the St Anton World Championships after leading the first run. He was also unsuccessful at the following medal events in 2002 and 2003.

“These are my fifth medal events and I was keen to win my first gold medal,” he explained. “It's a true dream which came through today. It has been a wonderful day for me, a great day in a great season in reality. I had three great runs in a row today, I was very confident so I was really aggressive, especially in the second slalom run. I was not nervous at all, I felt sure and really happy.”

“This gold medal means a lot to me because I worked hard to get it. I trained a lot in recent years to improve my level in all specialties, especially in the speed events. I'm really proud to have won this combined - there are many great champions on the list of past winners.”

After celebrating his success with his team and his joyous fan-club, Benjamin looks forward for a nice rest. “I'll sleep out tomorrow and then I'll watch the women's combined in which my friend Marlies Schild will compete,” he also said. “Then I'll start to train to prepare my next race, next week's giant slalom.”

Svindal and Rocca confirms.

Aksel Lund Svindal, a junior World Champion in combined in 2002, celebrated his greatest success so far two and a half year after his debuts on the World Cup tour. Considered as a great talent, Svindal has already accumulated a nice series of top-10 finishes in four disciplines.
Yet he never reached a podium in a race or a major medal event. “It was my goal here and I fought hard to get it,” said the 23 year-old Norwegian who was only 9th after the downhill in which he lost 29/100 of a second on Raich. In fact, he only lost 62/100 of a second on Raich in the slalom part of this combined!

Giorgio Rocca, who lives in nearby Livigno, was disappointed to miss the silver medal by only 7/100 at the end of the race. In the downhill, he only lost 89/100 on Raich - quite a nice performance considering the fact that he only seldom competed in the speed events. “The most important for me today was to grab a medal, I strongly believed in my chances and I gave my best to get onto the podium,” he said. “I didn't ski so well in the slalom but at least it was good enough for the podium. It's great for our team and the local crowd. I felt much emotion at the finish line and on the podium.”

With two medals won so far, the Italian team is doing fine. More medals are ready to be collected in the speed events over the weekend and the technical races next week.

Patrick Lang