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The present
World Cup season may well become one of the most interesting
of the past years – the races at Aspen and Lake
Louise were as exciting as the previous ones at Park
City and Soelden. Great champions prevailed again in
the four events organized in Colorado and Alberta.
In Aspen’s demanding Super-G, Austria’s Michaela
Dorfmeister won her first race of the season in front
of other established athletes such as France’s
Régine Cavagnoud, Switzerland’s Corinne
Rey-Bellet and Martina Ertl.
The next day, the German, who finished among the top-10
in Austria and Utah, tried hard to win her second race
of the season in the slalom, but Croatia’s wondergirl
Janica Kostelic was again skiing a level above all her
rivals.
She beat Martina by almost a second at the end of the
second run – it was her fourth success in a row
in slalom including her pre-accident victories at Serre
Chevalier and Sestriere.
A strong allrounder, Ertl may well run away in the Overall
World Cup standings in case of more strong results in
the coming speed events at Lake Louise. The Bavarian
has achieved a very impressive comeback in this first
part of the season. The other favorites such as last
year’s winner Renate Goetschl, Dorfmeister or Cavagnoud
may need to fight harder than before to remain close
to her in the standings.
The Austrian rules the show
On the men’s circuit, the Austrian continued to
rule the show – Stephan Eberharter won his first
downhill ever in Canada while his teammate Hermann Maier
his 30th World Cup race in the Super-G.
But the most impressive contender in Lake Louise was
Norway’s Lasse Kjus, who reached twice the podium.
The 1999 Overall World Cup Champion too returns faster
and stronger than before to the top after his health
problems from last winter.
He needs some races to perfectly adjust his timing but
he may soon recover it – eventually in Beaver Creek,
where he was so successful in 1999!
Eberharter’s success was quite emotional –
the 31-year-old Tyrolian veteran, a double world champion
in Super-G and combined back in 1991, has never won
a downhill in his long career.
Seven times before that great day, Stephan reached the
podium in that event, often only hundredths of a second
behind Hermann Maier.
He almost gave up his hopes for a first victory.
“To win a downhill is something very special for
any ski racer, especially in Austria” he said.
“When I was a child, I admired Franz Klammer but
I never thought to win also a downhill because I was
more a giant slalom specialist. I’m having a great
time so far.”
This result will boost his moral for the coming weeks
and the Ski World Championships at St Anton. In the
Super-G he missed the podium by only a few hundredths
of a second – he came in 5th.
With ten skiers finishing among the best 18, the Austrian
team had a again an impressive day – Super-G is
by far it’s best event.
It’s also the case for Hermann, who has now 14
victories in that specialty which he likes the most.
“It’s a great event because you have no training
run and you need to take a lot of risks” he said.
“You must race with much instinct and a strong
determination. I didn’t ski particularly well this
time so I was pleased to win anyway today.”
“This result is important for my confidence, I
know that I’m also in good shape in the speed events.
I was not upset after the downhill because I knew how
I lost it. There was a lot of wind on the course and
I almost crashed in the final section. I was really
lucky to make it safe through the finish line.”
The Herminator, who is traveling with his charming girl
friend Gudrund in North America and some members of
his Fan Club, seems quite relaxed and happy to be again
challenged by Lasse Kjus. “He will help me to remain
focused and motivated” Maier said. “After
so many good season, it’s not so easy to remain
totally concentrated. We will have some interesting
moments I guess.”
It was also nice to re-discover a strong talent during
this week-end, Switzerland Silvano Beltrametti, who
suffered a bad crash last winter at Wengen.
2nd in the downhill and 15th in the Super-G despite
some high startnumbers, Silvano brings a new momentum
in his team which has not been so successful in downhill
last winter.
During the coming races, other teams have a chance to
live great moments – Italy’s Isolde Kostner
was a winner at Lake Louise a year ago so did Mojca
Suhadolc from Slovenia.
In Lake Louise, the Italian downhill team suffered a
lot from the absence of its leader, Kristian Ghedina,
who needs to rest for a while to totally recover from
a crash which occurred last summer in South America.
Hopefully he will join us in good shape at Val d’Isère!
More action is scheduled in Beaver Creek and Lake Louise
– stay tuned!
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