KITZBUEHEL, Austria, 26 January 2004 — Finland’s Kalle Palander won a men’s World Cup slalom yesterday to take the lead in the discipline standings.
Palander, the defending World Cup slalom champion, twisted his way down the legendary Ganslernhang course in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 30.63 seconds.
“It was a great victory, because it is really tough here,” Palander said. “Kitzbuehel is something like a home race for me, because me and my coach have been spending so much time here. Thomas Grandi made history, finishing second just 0.08 seconds behind Palander for the best result ever in a World Cup technical event by a Canadian man.
Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria kept home fans happy by placing third in 1:31.69 seconds.
American Bode Miller delivered a strong second run to climb into fourth place from eighth.
Yesterday’s victory was Palander’s third in a slalom this season. He also won the season opener in Park City as well as in Flachau earlier this month.
“I had a bad result in Chamonix and so I needed this boost,” said Palander, who finished 16th at the classic French resort earlier this month before going off course in the opening run in Wengen last week. “I would love to continue my streak in Schladming.”
The Finn was sitting second after the opening leg then delivered a stunning second effort his second trip down.
Grandi was fastest in the opening run and retained his lead for the majority of his final run. However, he lost time on the very bottom section of the course, dropping him into second.
Paerson Wins Again
in World Cup
In Maribor, Slovenia, the seemingly unstoppable Anja Paerson notched up her second win in two days in a slalom yesterday to extend her lead in the overall World Cup.
The Swede, who also leads the slalom and giant slalom cup standings, beat Austrian Marlies Schild by the big margin of 1.24 seconds with her time of one minute 38.08 seconds.
Another Austrian, Nicole Hosp, the only woman other than Paerson to win a slalom this season, was third in 1:39.43.
The win allowed Paerson, who won the giant slalom here on Saturday, to move 105 points ahead of her nearest rival in the overall competition, Austrian Renate Goetschl, a speed specialist like most of the leading women in the standings.
German Martina Ertl, who apart from Paerson was the only woman from the overall top six to race in the slalom, failed to collect any points when she skied out of the second leg after setting the third best time in the opening run.
Paerson has a remarkable record at Maribor having won four straight slaloms and the last two giant slaloms and she said the course reminded her of her early days back in Tarnaby, Sweden.
Paerson has made a habit of coming from behind with powerful second runs but on Sunday she established a commanding 0.48-second lead with her first run before taking full advantage of the course set by her father and coach Anders for the second leg.
Despite five victories so far this season in slalom, Paerson says there is still a lot to fight for in the discipline.
