Val Gardena, men’s Super-G

Lasse Kjus beats again Austrian Armada

Val Gardena (Italy). It’s certainly one of his most significant victories that Norway’s veteran Lasse Kjus (32) celebrated today in Val Gardena where he won the third Super-G race of the season, beating the best specialists of the event. The four skiers who finished behind him all achieved brilliant performances in that discipline in recent years, especially World and Olympic Champion Hermann Maier (1998/99), Stephan Eberharter (1991/2003) and Daron Rahlves (2001).

After a smooth and precise run down the rough “Saslong” course covered by hard snow, Kjus was by 10/100 of a second faster than Eberharter while Maier was 3rd at almost half a second!

Other established specialists as Switzerland’s Didier Cuche (7th) or Bjarne Soelbakken, the recent winner in Beaver Creek, also lost much ground on Kjus. His team-mate Aksel Lund Svindal, born in 1982, is the only younger skier who skied among the top-15!

USA’s Bode Miller was this time able to come through the finish-line, but with a big delay – 1,79 seconds! Not an encouraging result for the 2003 silver medalist who was not too pleased by his performance. In fact, he lost again ground on Hermann Maier and the other World Cup favorites in this race. Maier’s advance on him is approaching the 200 points after this race.

Kjus, Eberharter and Maier are by far the three most prestigious champions on the men’s circuit. They won an impressive total of eight overall World Cup titles as well as tons of gold medals and over eighty World Cup races.
Five years ago, they already met on a podium, in Val d’Isère, in a Super-G won by the “Herminator” in his best years. But then Eberharter was far from being the dominant character he became two years ago and Lasse has not confirmed his excellent 1996 season.

“It’s great to be back on the podium and ahead of these two champions” said a smiling Kjus after the race. “I improved from race to race in recent weeks but I didn’t expect this today. It means a lot to me”.

Daron moved up

Satisfaction also for Daron Rahlves, who achieved his best performance in a Super-g for a long time. He was warmly congratulated by Hermann Maier who considers him as the main favorite for the downhill.
“I’m getting there, he said. I really appreciate this, it’s a proof that my form is excellent and that I’m very focused” he said. “I want to get back in the first seed in this specialty and win a World Cup race once.”

Bode Miller on his side was less pleased. The double World Champion expected more than a modest 17th place here, 1,74 seconds behind the winner.
“I did a series of stupid mistakes” he said. “I thought I was going on the right line but I think I went too straight! I lost much speed in some turns after the Ciaslat and I gave up much time at the bottom. It’s for sure disappointing. I said to Daron before the race that it’s a great hill for both of us and I should have done better”.

He also praised the superb performance achieved by the winner of the day, Lasse Kjus. “He was amazing, so smooth!” he commented. “He didn’t seem disturbed by the ruts; he was constantly pushing his skis forward. I don’t believe I’ll still be racing at his age – he is amazing. He already impressed me the other day in giant slalom in Alta Badia”.
“Regarding tomorrow’s downhill, I can only say that I felt good in the training so I’m aiming for a better result. It’s a demanding slope and you have to go for it”.

Patrick Lang