|
Saturday,
10.02.2001
Race
Report
St Anton, men’s slalom
Mario Matt wins home slalom
Considered for many years as one of
the greatest talents in slalom, Mario
Matt confirmed the expectations put
on his shoulders in clinching the
last gold medal of these World Championships.
After an exciting dual with his teammate
Benjamin Raich, the fastest man in
the first run which he finished 4/100
of a second ahead of him, Mario won
the race by a mere 15/100 advance
over Raich.
Slovenia’s Mitja Kunc was a surprising
3rd after a strong 2nd run, preventing
the Austrian the achieve a clean sweep
in that race as they did last December
on the World Cup tour at Madonna di
Campiglio, in Italy.
It’s the first medal for the
men’s team in World Championships
for Slovenia. In 1996, Urska Hrovat
won also bronze in slalom at Sierra
Nevada. Slovenia was founded in 1992
after Yugoslavia split into several
smaller republics.
Kjetil Aamod, the 1993 slalom champion
only finished 7th after clocking the
4th best time in the morning. But
the combined World Champion was not
able to find his best rhythm in the
second run and he lost the opportunity
to win a 16th medal in his career.
This winter Matt only won that Italian
race. He didn’t finish the last
two slaloms that he won last winter
– Kitzbühel and Schladming,
but he found back his momentum earlier
this week in coming in 2nd in the
combined event.
The Austrian from Fliersch, a small
village near St.Anton, was the first
to beat Benjamin Raich in the year
2001 in slalom. Last month, “Ben”
dominated the three main slalom “Classics”
at Wengen, Kitzbühel and Schladming.
An impressive newcomer last season,
Matt triumphed after a total effort
in the second run in front of a huge
crowd of 50 000 people including the
Russian President Vladimir Poutine
and the Austrian Président
Klestil.
“I gave everything I could to
get this title which I felt able to
grab today" he said. “After
getting the silver medal in combined,
I was confident before this race.”
“I did mistakes in both runs,
but I never stopped attacking. To
win the tittle in front of such a
great public is incredible and wonderful”.
Mario is the first Austrian World
Champion in slalom since the victory
of Rudi Nierlich at Vail in 1989.
Nierlich also won the giant slalom
that year and back in 1991 at Saalbach
before dying in a car crash during
the summer.
Raich, who is a good friend of Matt,
was not too upset by his loss –
two years ago he left Vail without
a medal. “I have been competing
for years against him in the kids
and then in the junior races so I
know that he is fighting till the
end in his races” he said. I
felt fine before the second run but
I made a small mistake on mid course.
That’s OK, I still have a strong
chance to win the slalom World Cup
title at Are.”
Kunc was delighted but this medal,
his greatest success along his win
at Young Pyong, in Korea, last year.
“Our entire team is very strong
in slalom and I was the lucky one
today” he explained. “This
medal means a lot to me, the team
and my country. Alpine skiing and
jumping are big in Slovenia and I
will be well known now. It’s
fun but the season is not over yet.
There are still many more technical
races to go until the Finals at Are.”
The ski season isn’t over yet
– the World Cup tour resumes
next week-end in Japan for the men
and in Germany for the women. The
Finals at Are will take place in a
month.
|
