Raich lengthens lead
ByReuters
Published 13/01/2006 at 13:24 GMT
Austria's Benjamin Raich proved to be Mr. Consistency yet again, increasing his overall World Cup lead by winning the Wengen super-combined in front of Kjetil Andre Aamodt. Bode Miller lost a golden opportunity, straddling a gate in the slalom portion of
ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Wengen - Benjamin Raich
Image credit: Reuters
Austrian Raich recovered from a lacklustre downhill leg in the morning to put down a solid slalom and then watch as his rivals faltered at the Swiss resort.
Raich's victory in a combined time of two minutes 38.46 seconds means he extends his lead at the top of the overall World Cup standings.
Norwegian veteran Kjetil Andre Aamodt was second, 0.19 seconds slower, while third place went to Italy's Peter Fill who was 0.32 seconds off the pace. It was Fill's first podium finish on the World Cup tour.
Michael Walchhofer, who was quickest in the morning's downhill run on a shortened version of the classic Lauberhorn piste, slipped down to fourth after the slalom.
"I did not do anything special today," Raich, who was 13th in the downhill leg, told reporters. "Just two solid runs but I was lucky for Bode was very strong today and I would not have won without his unfortunate mistake."
Miller, second on the downhill, was initially credited with a winning time of 2:37.35 but the American defending World Cup champion was disqualified for straddling a gate, a fault he contested after the race.
"My ski definitely hit the gate but it (the gate) went down the middle of the ski and my foot went on the right side of it. I don't know if that's the rule," he said.
The American did not confirm whether he would appeal against his disqualification but admitted "it would need a pretty good video" to confirm his claim.
SLALOM FLAIR
Miller, whose victory this season was a giant slalom in Beaver Creek, has been unable to recover his slalom flair of old in recent months and Friday's looked one of his best runs in the discipline for a long time.
Victory would have been a welcome boost for the maverick American after a week of controversy over comments he made during an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday.
Miller said in the interview that partying meant he had been "in really tough shape" at the start of some races.
He apologised for the remarks on Thursday after Bill Marolt, head of the U.S. ski and snowboard association, labelled them unacceptable.
"It's hard luck, it's always so close. But I was feeling really bad about my recent problems in slaloms and I figured out a couple of things I needed to do. Unfortunately, it did not pay off today," he added.
The race provided a further shock when Italy's Giorgio Rocca, unbeatable in slaloms this season, failed to negotiate the course and was eliminated.
Action continues in Wengen on Saturday with one of the season's showpiece downhills on the Lauberhorn. It should give Walchhofer the chance to shine again.
The Austrian from Altenmark won the event last year and he would join a select club should he make it two in a row. Only Franz Klammer, Kristian Ghedina and Stefan Eberharter have managed to win the classic Wengen downhill in successive years.
He will face competition from Miller and fellow Austrian Hermann Maier, however. Maier finished third fastest in the morning's downhill and said he was nearing his peak close to the Turin Olympics.
"It's my best performance in a downhill for a long, long time," he said.
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