First win for Palander in giant slalom

Alta Badia (Italy).

Finland's Kalle Palander achieved one of his biggest dreams today in Alta Badia in winning his first World Cup giant slalom on the toughest slope of the circuit. The 1999 slalom World Champion, who celebrated his first season win in a slalom in Park City, beat Italy’s Davide Simoncelli, already 2nd last year, and France’s Frederic Covili, a winner here two years ago while USA’s Bode Miller had to be content with a lucky 4th place. The skier from New Hampshire, unbeaten so far in that specialty, struggled in the rougher second run in which he was nearly skied out several times.
Yet Miller retained the lead in the giant slalom standings and regained terrain on Hermann Maier and Stephan Eberharter in the overall classification. Maier, the fastest at the intermediate time while fighting his way down the second run, fell afterwards . He would have been faster than Covili to reach another sensational podium. Eberharter made a mistake at the bottom of the steepest part and lost much speed on the last flat section. He finished at the end of the standings in 24th position. Hans Knauss too had a difficult day. The Austrian, who reached the podium in the giant slalom, downhill and Super-G in Park City and Beaver Creek, was a far 13th. On the other hand, Norway’s Lasse Kjus, one of the veterans of the World Cup Tour, was and impressive 5th just behind Miller. So far, the double World Cup champion has accumulated a nice series of top-10 finish in three specialties. He seems ready for his first podium in the coming weeks!

Great victory for Kalle

Palander, the defending World Cup slalom champion but without a podium finish in giant slalom so far, produced two brilliant runs to become the first Finnish skier to capture a giant slalom. Last winter, he already became the first to win a slalom in Kitzbùhel.
The flying Finn never looked threatened as he extended his advantage from the first leg with an impressive second run.

"The key was my first run," said the 26-year-old. "I had enough of a gap to be able to ski relaxed and not push too hard which would have been difficult with the course so rutted. This is unbelievable to beat so many specialists but I owe this victory to my team mate Sami Uotila who has taught me how to race giant slalom. In my opinion, he is by far the best Gs skier on the tour and I would feel ashamed not to take advantage of his great advices”.

“I always dreamed to win once a GS because it means much more to me and most of the racers. GS is the toughest event because you have to be a excellent technician. Slalom is for pussies, and GS for men! I don’t say now that I’ll continue to excel in this specialty – I’m already very happy to have reached this goal on this famous hill. I focus on the slalom World Cup title this season – as I don’t compete in Super-G or downhill, I have no chance in the overall standings!”

Frederic Covili , the 2002 GS World Cup champion, was happy with his second podium of the season in giant slalom to go with a fourth place in Park City. “I am very happy with my consistency this season," said the 28-year-old former world bronze medallist. "Hopefully I'll get a win soon when the courses get tougher. I gave my best in the second run, but the course was really tough for me. I’m still not as aggressive as I want but this kind of result is very encouraging. Next weeks will be interesting”.

Miller big fight

Miller was happy enough with fourth place after a typically aggressive, but mistake-ridden second run down a testing “Gran Risa” course made soft by warm conditions.
"That was one of the biggest fights I've had for a while," said the American who began the season favorite for the overall World Cup title but is languishing in sixth place. “I was just pleased to get across the finish line because I almost came off three or four times there with the course getting chopped up."
Miller will have the chance to close the gap on leader Hermann Maier Monday in a floodlit slalom at nearby Madonna di Campiglio, although Palander will once again provide a formidable opponent. In December 2001, Bode won his first World Cup slalom on the legendary “Canalone Miramonti” slope a day after his first success in Val d’Isère.

Patrick Lang