Stephan Eberharter on a roll

It’s maybe one of his remarkable victories that Stephan Eberharter celebrated on Sunday on the Rettenbacher glacier above Soelden after dominating the Opening Giant Slalom of the 2003/2003 World Cup season.
The reigning Olympic Champion beat two of the outmost specialists of the discipline – the defending GS World Cup Champ’ Frédéric Covili from France and the 2001 Gold medal winner from St Anton, Switzerland’s Michael von Grünigen.

The day of the veterans

In 4th place, there is one of the finest skiers in the history of the sport, Norway’s Kjetil Aamodt, GS World Champion in 1993 and in 5th place the coming star in the technical events, USA’s Bode Miller!
No surprise at this point that the 33-year-old veteran was happy and proud to achieve such a performance in front of 16’000 enchanted spectators after having finished three consecutive times in 2nd place (twice behind his arch-rival Hermann Maier).
A year ago he was 2nd behind Covili while von Grünigen shared the 3rd place with Sweden’s Fredrik Nyberg. This time, the French had to be content with the 2nd place, only 13/100 behind Eberharter who set the fastest time in the first leg.
10 of the 11 Austrian skiers at the start scored points in this windy competitions but with three athletes among the top-10 the Swiss can be satisfied too with their team result as well as the French who placed three of their leaders in the top-15!
Interestingly enough, three of the best four are established veteran in their early 30’s with more than ten year experience of World Cup racing.
“It’s good to see that you can still beat the young guys at 33” said “Steff” with a smile after the race. “In my case I can say that I never enjoyed ski racing as much as now and this is certainly one of the reasons why I skied so fast today. I wanted to win this race in front of this crowd after being three times 2nd. I’m motivated and relaxed, I perfectly know how to deal with the pressure and the course”.
“After winning so much last winter, I see the rest of my career as sort of a bonus. I have fun and this is crucial”.

Full speed in the second run

Stephan, who won his fifth World Cup GS race since 1998 and his seventeenth in total, was the fastest skier in the opening run which he clinched by 11/100 in front of Bode Miller. Von Grünigen was 3rd at 32/100 and Covili, last year’s winner, 4th at 38/100. On the shorter second run – the start had to be placed a few gates lower because of the strong gusts of wind – he resisted well at the attack of his toughest rivals in taking again a maximum of risks.
“There is no special tactic to win such kind of races – full attack from the first to the last gate” said Covili visibly pleased by his 2nd place. “He was certainly very very motivated today – eventually more than me. I didn’t feel so sure coming here because we had some weather problems during our past training camps. I was uncertain about my form. Now I know – I feel much more confident. It will be an exciting season in giant slalom”.

An exciting duel

Stephan Eberharter also confirmed that he is ready to give his best to successfully defend his World Cup title in front of other favorites such as Aamodt and the ambitious Bode Miller, already 5th last year in Soelden. The American who skied as usual very aggressively did too many mistakes in the second run to win his second GS race. But at least he proved to himself and his supplier that he found the right tuning for his Rossignol skis which he was using for the first time in a race on Sunday.
“I tried very hard and I had my share of problems” Miller said. “I know where I lost some time so I don’t really worry about my form in GS. It’s a good start for me, no question. It will be fun”.
Miller plans to start in a few speed events and in the combined to put some pressure on Eberharter and he is confident about his chances. “I decided to switch for Rossignol last spring because I felt that this company can provide me the materiel I need in all events to shoot for the Overall title” he explained.
“I think that the new start-order rule in the speed events will affect Stephan’s potential in downhill and Super-G. I doubt about his chances to score as many points there as last year”.
But Stephan doesn’t seem too concerned either. “I know that Bode plans to run some downhills and Super-G but he is still young and not very experienced. It’s quite a task nowadays to try to excel in all events. Bode may lose in the technical events what he can gain in the speed races”.
“Anyway as said, I’m happy about his challenge. It will be more exciting for all of us”.
The next men’s races are planned in a month at Park City – on the slope where both Stephan and Bode did well last February!