SESTRIERE, Italy, 15 March 2004 — Austria’s Rainer Schoenfelder won the men’s slalom World Cup title yesterday despite finishing second to his rival Kalle Palander of Finland in the final race of the season. Schoenfelder went into the race with a 55-point advantage over Palander and his podium finish was enough to secure top spot in the slalom standings.
Palander won the race in a time of one minute 49.67 seconds, 0.05 seconds ahead of Schoenfelder. Manfred Pranger, also of Austria, was third.
The battle between Schoenfelder and Palander has been soured by a dispute over the Austrian’s second place in Park City, Utah, on Nov. 23 when he was allowed to race his first run again. Schoenfelder was initially disqualified but later had his 80 points reinstated, prompting protests from Palander’s team. The Finns have taken their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
In the end, as the Finns feared, the disputed points proved decisive and the disappointment was hardly eased by Palander’s victory yesterday.
“I have not felt so sad in my life after winning a race,” said Palander.
“It is always nice to win but this victory was useless. I have won four slaloms this year but I lose the title, which is incredible. He (Schoenfelder) won once and then you know what happened in Park City,” added the Finn.
Pranger had led after the first leg but Palander produced a near-faultless second run. Schoenfelder has consistently been inside the top five throughout the campaign and the part-time pop singer celebrated his victory by falling to his knees in the finish area.
Austrian Hermann Maier won the overall men’s World Cup title on Saturday and did not compete in yesterday’s race.
World Cup Victor
Paerson Wins Again
Sweden’s Anja Paerson celebrated her overall World Cup title in the way only she knows how yesterday, by winning yet another race.
Paerson blazed to victory number 11 this season, outclassing the field in the final giant slalom to race down a sunlit course in a combined time of two minutes 13.70 seconds.
Denise Karbon of Italy was second and Austria’s Alexandra Meissnitzer was third but the winning margin of 1.11 seconds once again underlined Paerson’s dominance in the technical disciplines. Spain’s Maria Rienda Contreras completed her impressively consistent season with fourth place to claim third overall in the giant slalom standings.
The 22-year-old Paerson had already wrapped up the giant slalom and slalom titles before the start of this week’s finals and her sixth place in Saturday’s slalom secured the overall title.
