12/02/2005

Raich wins slalom gold medal

Austria's Benjamin Raich put together two steady runs and won the slalom race Saturday for his fourth medal of the world championships, moving ahead of Bode Miller on the medals table. Raich also won gold in last week's combined race. He took silver in the giant slalom and even claimed a surprise bronze in the super-G. Miller fell midway through his second run and did not finish his third race of the championships. In the two races Miller did complete, the American won gold in the super-G and downhill. Saturday's race concluded the individual portion of the championships.

Only Sunday's team event, in which Raich and Miller are expected to participate, remained. "It was a great day, a good slalom, perfect," said Raich, who is second to Miller in this season's overall World Cup standings. Leading after the first leg, Raich covered the Stelvio course in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 41.34 seconds. Fellow Austrian Rainer Schoenfelder took the silver medal, finishing 0.24 seconds behind.  Local favorite Giorgio Rocca of Italy was third, 0.74 back, for his second medal here after also taking bronze in combined. Raich, who leads this season's slalom ranks, set up his victory with a superb first run. "Having a low bib number helped me," Raich said of the first leg. "Because the slope deteriorated almost immediately in certain stretches." The baby-faced Raich won the opening slalom this season in Beaver Creek, Colorado, on Dec. 5 and was the bronze medalist at the 2002 Olympics. He finished fourth in slalom at the last worlds in 2003 and won silver in the 2001 edition. In sharp contrast to Miller's make-or-break style, Raich has reached the upper echelon of skiing this season by posting consistently high results. While he only races select downhills, Raich _ like Miller _ is capable of skiing each event. His versatility was on display last week when he won the combined, considered by many experts as the toughest test in skiing. The combined consists of one downhill run and two slalom legs. Miller, who leads Raich 1,093 points to 998 in the overall World Cup standings, has only completed one of eight slaloms this season, winning the night race in Sestriere in early December. He was attempting to become the first man to win all five disciplines in his career at the worlds after taking the giant slalom and combined titles in 2003 and the two speed titles here last week. Miller switched ski brands before this season and has improved in the speed races while struggling in slalom _ once one of his best events. Several top skiers did not finish their first runs, including defending world champion Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who missed a gate near the end of his leg. Finland's Kalle Palander, the 1999 slalom world champion, went out in the same section as Kostelic after posting split times that would have placed him among the leaders. Immediately after his run, course workers spent several minutes rearranging the snow where he and Kostelic went out. Palander was fuming after his exit, thrashing gates with one of his poles in frustration. "I am really angry at that depression right after the gate where I skied out," Palander said. Kostelic said: "I cannot figure out why they did not decide to water it." Austria's Mario Matt, who won the 2001 slalom world title in St. Anton, made a big error at the beginning of his first run, recovered, then went off course for good on the lower section.