WENGEN, Switzerland, 15 January 2005 — Austrian technical specialist Benjamin Raich skied to his first World Cup combined victory yesterday.
Raich led after the slalom leg of the event and then produced the 11th fastest run in the downhill for a total time of two minutes 28.37 seconds.
Lasse Kjus of Norway, celebrating his 34th birthday, was second in 2:28.69 and Switzerland’s Didier Defago finished third in 2:29.77.
Overall World Cup leader Bode Miller was disqualified from the event after straddling a gate in the slalom section.
“It wasn’t a good run but I didn’t know that I’d straddled (the gate) until I got to the bottom and saw the star next to my name,” Miller said.
The American’s absence meant Raich was able to close the gap on him at the top of the standings to 198 points. Miller has 988 points to Raich’s 790 with last year’s overall champion Hermann Maier third on 580.
Raich, who has 14 World Cup wins in the slalom and giant slalom, only really began concentrating on speed events last year.
“I’m really pleased to win a combined, it means a lot,” the 26-year-old said
“I’ve been training in the downhill and it has been one of my goals to win a combined I’ve already won medals (in the combined) and I was hoping to do well today.”
For the first time, the combined event was run as a single slalom section followed by a downhill contested on the same day.
Previously involving two slalom runs, the new format is intended to raise the profile of the combined discipline and give downhill specialists a fairer chance of overall victory.
“It’s much more exciting to have both disciplines on one day,” said Raich. “It’s more spectacular for us and the crowd.”
Goetschl Back With Second Super-G Win
In Cortina D’ampezzo, Italy, Austria’s Renate Goetschl stormed to her second World Cup super-G win of the week with victory in the Dolomites yesterday.
Goetschl, who also triumphed in Cortina on Wednesday, clocked one minute 13.98 seconds to finish 0.08 ahead of Lindsey Kildow of the United States. Austrian Silvia Berger was third in 1:14.71.
The win was Goetschl’s seventh in either super-G or downhill at the resort. It also put her top of the super-G standings above Kildow and Michaela Dorfmeister.
Austrian Dorfmeister, who had led the standings going into the race, had a poor run finishing 14th, 1.31 seconds down on Goetschl.
The 29-year-old Goetschl went into this week’s races in Cortina without a win this season but turned her campaign around on her favourite slope.
“What can I say? This really shows that I am back in top form. Who could imagine it really that I would enjoy a double win,” said Goetschl, who will be aiming for more success in the weekend’s two downhill races here.
“I’ve finally made it and I’m back. It is a really exciting feeling.
“I really enjoyed it today. I skied a bit differently, it was a bit harder than Wednesday but it has been such an exciting week I really don’t care about that,” added the Austrian who donated her 22,000 euros ($28,830) in prize money to tsunami relief efforts.
“I didn’t really expect this but I’ve worked hard to get back in form. Early in the season I knew I had the pace but I was making mistakes and often conditions weren’t right for me, things just weren’t working. Now I’ve found the balance again and it feels good,” she said. Goetschl now has 35 World Cup victories and another win would move her level third in the all-time rankings with German Katja Seizinger. Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell holds the record with 62 victories.
Kildow, one of the great hopes of U.S. skiing after picking up her first career podium at Cortina last year and winning at Lake Louise this season in downhill, was disappointed to have been pipped by Goetschl.
