Adelboden, men's giant slalom

First victory for Massimiliano Blardone

Adelboden, Jan.11th. Italy's Massimiliano Blardone celebrated an impressive victory today at Adelboden to secure his first ever giant slalom World Cup win after beating some of the finest specialists in that event. The 24-year-old Italian finished 18/100 of a second ahead of American Bode Miller and 39/100 ahead of last year's winner Kalle Palander of Finland.

Benjamin Raich, another expert in the technical events, ended a solid 4th and the 1999 World Champion Lasse Kjus, the winner in Beaver Creek, was 5th.

Many other favourites struggled on the icy Chuenisbaergli slope - Canada's Thomas Grandi, who dominated the last two GS races in Alta Badia and Flachau, was a far 12th after a poor first run. Hermann Maier, a three-time winner here, was only 18th!

A bad day for Rahlves

That spectacular race attended by more than 15'000 spectators was also marked by some spectacular crashes. USA's Daron Rahlves was quite lucky not to get seriously injured after his accident.
An outstanding 3rd after the first run, the Californian was challenging Bode Miller's best time in the second run before losing control at top speed at the end of the steep final section. He was thrown through the air for over 20 metres, twisting, turning and spinning before coming down to slide at top speed through an inflatable barrier and into the safety net. Despite lying motionless for a few tense seconds, Rahlves got up and walked away from the horrific accident unscathed. “Each time you get up unhurt after such a crash is great, I was fortunate,” said the 2001 Super-G World Champion who had a strong chance to win that race.
Switzerland's Didier Defago held a first run lead of 14/100 over Blardone, but he disappointed his noisy Swiss fans when he missed an early gate during the second run, and skied out.
Blardone had to be patient

Blardone, who competed in his 38th World Cup GS race, needed to be very patient before enjoying the greatest day of his career. He finished almost twenty times among the best-10 before reaching his greatest goal. 2nd in last year's race at Adelboden, and 2nd again earlier this season in Soelden, the champion from nearby Domodossola struggled in the following competitions. He was only 14th in Beaver Creek and 13th in Val d'Isère. In Alta Badia, he moved up to 7th place but he was again only 19th two days later in Flachau.

“It was really tough for me and I didn't feel so confident during the Christmas break,” he explained. “I was upset and I doubted about everything. Fortunately my ski supplier Salomon was very helpful and opened the factory between Christmas and New Year to produce a new set of skis. We all worked hard and apparently it paid off. The conditions were really demanding here but everything went on fine.”

“It's such a pleasure and an honour to win this famous race which I always watched on TV when I was younger. The terrain is incredibly difficult, it's changing all the time and you have to use your brain as much as your legs and your technique to perfectly handle all the difficulties. You can't just attack; sometimes you also need to be slowing down to catch the next gate.”
“I had an euphoric second run, I skied it the way I wanted. I was even jubilant before crossing the finish line. In fact, I started to shout loudly after passing the last difficult jump. I strongly felt it could finally be my day!”

Interestingly enough, Blardone is the second Italian to win a race within two days. Last Sunday, his teammate Giorgio Roccas captured a slalom in Chamonix!

3rd place for Kalle

He will definitely be a a main actor in a month at the Worlds in Bormio along Miller and Palander, who reached his first GS podium since the Opening at Soelden in October. The 1999 slalom World Champion crashed in Alta Badia after clocking the fastest time in the first run and he was only 8th in Flachau. “It was about time to get back on the podium, it means a lot to me after all the problems I had in December,” he said. “I was very frustrated to miss two great opportunities in Alta Badia and then in slalom in Flachau. But you know, this is ski racing! I come from two great seasons so I have to be a little more patient. Last years, I was skiing poorly in training but great in racing. This winter it's the opposite - I'm brilliant in training but I can't carry the moment over on race day. But now there are some great slalom races waiting on us - I hope to fight for victory in all of them.”

On Wednesday, the first training run is scheduled on the superb Lauberhorn course where the first World Cup combined will take place on Friday. First a shorter downhill will take place on the lower part of the course followed in the afternoon by an on-run slalom. On Saturday the usual Lauberhorn downhill will be held and then the slalom on Sunday.

Patrick Lang