Great comeback for Mario Matt

Parpan/Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 13th - 2005. Former slalom World Champion Mario Matt achieved quite an impressive comeback at the top today in winning the last slalom of the season with a huge adance on the closest of his rival. In fact, the Tyrolian from the Arlberg region, beat Germany's Alois Vogl by 73/100 of a second while Rainer Schoenfelder, the defending slalom World Cup champion, was 3rd at 74/100.

Benjamin Raich, who was assured the clinch the slalom title since the Kranjska Gora competitions, came in 4th ahead of Italy's Manfred Moelgg. Raich, who won the first slalom of the season in Beaver Creek, also finished four times on the podium in the following races. This winter, he scored points in all his races.

He clinched the slalom Cup ahead of Schoenfelder and Manfred Pranger, the winner at Kitzbühel and Schladming, who skied out today. Italy's Giorgio Rocca, a three time winner this season, is 4th - despite finishing 15th today, he doesn't score any point because his delay on Matt is too important, over 8%!

Yet Bode Miller was also one of the main actors of this last men's race of the 2004/2005 season. The Overall World Cup champion, 13th in the first run after a series of errors, clocked the fastest time in the second leg, which allowed to end the World Cup season on a higher note. This winter the skier from Franconia only finished another slalom race so far, in Sestriere, where he crushed all his rivals.

5th win for Matt

Matt, who captured gold in St Anton in February 2001, celebrated his fifth slalom win on the World Cup tour - yet possibly the most meaningful in his career. After winning his last race in Aspen, Colorado, in November 2001, Mario injured himself badly at his right shoulder two months later in a crash in Kitzbühel, a year after one of his most impressive wins. He didn't race at the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City but was ready to return on the tour when he fell again on his shoulder a few months before the start of the 2003 season.

So he had to wait the 2003/2004 winter to finally get back on the men's circuit - but only in 42nd position in the FIS slalom start-list. “It was tough at the beginning, but I was determined to get back at the top. I regularly moved up in the standings and I reached my first podiums in front of my home-crowd in St Anton and Kranjska Gora.”

“I felt ready for my first win this season, but I did manage to have two good runs in a row,” added Mario, who switched to Fischer and Nordica boots last summer. “I was close in Kitzbühel were I was 2nd but I skied out with a fast time at the Worlds in Bormio. Here things went on finally well - I had two excellent runs and I made it. I can tell you that this victory is very special to me!”

Vogl feels better

It was also a very special day for Alois Vogl, who suffered a bad infection at an eye last month and who didn't compete at the Worlds in Italy. The surprising winner at Wengen reached his third podium of the season. “It's awesome to be back and ski so well again,” said the German veteran. “Last month I lost 90% of my sight, but things improved a lot in recent weeks. Everything should be fine soon. I'm very proud to have achieved this performance with that bib Nr. 1 which I wore for the first time ever in a World Cup race. I'll be very motivated this summer when we train again. I'm looking forward for a very exciting Olympic season!”

Miller's big smile

Bode Miller too had a big smile on his face even is he missed the podium by only 11/100 - he lost certainly more than a second and a half in the first run after a series of mistakes in the lower part of the short course.

“I was aiming for this today, I was trying to make another podium, but this is not bad at all,” said the American who started in 16th position. “I said that my slalom was not so bad and I showed it today. It's mostly a matter of training and execution. I had a chance to win this before those errors at the bottom part of the first run. Yet it's nice to end the season with that best time.”

This result could help him to get back into the first group in slalom as France's 2002 Olympic champion Jean Pierre Vidal, 7th today after finishing 5th in Kranjska Gora.He beat other favourites as Kalle Palander (9th) and Ivica Kostelic (10th ).

This race ended a long, demanding yet very exciting season which provided many highlights - with seven wins Bode Miller was clearly the best, but Benni Raich, Hermann Maier, Michael Walchhofer, Thomas Grandi, Daron Rahlves, Lasse Kjus or Johann Grugger also deserve great credit for their accomplishments and their passion for the sport. We hope to see them back in shape and happy in ten months on Soelden's Rettenbacher glacier!

Patrick Lang