Slalom turns Austrians' way

BORMIO, Italy -- Before yesterday's slalom, US Ski Team executive director Bill Marolt was still gloating a bit about the way his skiers have dominated Europeans in the speed events -- downhill and super-G -- in their backyards, "where it hurts most."

But by day's end, when the last technical race of these World Championships was over, Austria's 26-year-old superskier Benjamin Raich had slammed through two runs down the tricky Stelvio course to show why he is currently leading the World Cup in slalom points. It was Raich's fourth medal, second gold, of these championships. He has a silver and bronze as well.

Providing a gold-silver finish for the Austrians, 27-year-old Rainer Schoenfelder came within 0.24 seconds of Raich's 1 minute 41.34 seconds, just half a second ahead of bronze medal winner Giorgio Rocca of Italy.

Austria's show of force was as sweet for skiing's dominant nation as the US day was ugly. After surviving the first run in a fourth-place tie with Schoenfelder, Bode Miller, skiing 26th in the second run, was leading at the halfway point, then straddled a gate and slid off the course when his tips crossed.

The Franconia, N.H., skier was clearly going for broke.

"In the first run, I sort of backed off and put the brakes on all the way down," said Miller. "I wanted to finish it. So in the second run I have to put the pedal down and take some risks. But I went out. Everybody saw it. That's it."

Miller opened the championships with a gold medal in the super-G, then repeated a week later with the downhill gold. Since then, he has crashed in combined when his ski popped, then skied off course in the giant slalom.

In one of the few bright points for the US yesterday, Ted Ligety, a 20-year-old rookie, skied from a 26th start position to a 15th-place finish through the first run, then skied well through most of the second run before getting launched into the air during a left-booted turn.

"I was steaming pretty good," said Ligety. "I juiced it and got shot out. I think I had a pretty good run going."

US veteran Thomas Rothrock straddled a gate halfway down the second run, making the day a clean sweep, after Erik Schlopy suffered a similar gate fate in the second run: Stelvio course 4, US slalomists 0.

The best run by a North American was turned in by Patrick Biggs, who attended Dartmouth before joining Canada's national team. He turned in the fastest time of the second run for a ninth-place finish.

Raich, who said he came into these championships just hoping to be competitive, said the first run "was smooth and fast," but the second "was very rough, but I had a good run. I made some good technical turns and ended with a good race. Four medals is just amazing to me."

While these races do not count for World Cup points, the renewal of the regular season for its remaining month brings increased interest in the rivalry between Miller and Raich. Early in the season, with some stunning speed results (first place in four of the first five events), Miller opened a 400-point lead over his rival.

But after December, Raich began outskiing Miller in technical events, especially slalom, and the Austrian has closed within 95 points of Miller overall.

"Bode is a very strong skier," said Raich. "I think he is the favorite right now, but I am not going to think about World Cup until next week when we all go to Garmisch [Germany]."

With four downhills, three super-Gs, and just two GS and two slaloms remaining, the schedule seems to favor Miller. Raich does not race downhills except in combined events.

Assessing the two past weeks of competition, US coach Phil McNichol was both encouraged and frustrated.

"We had guys going fast today, really fast," said McNichol. "Going from having guys on the podium in every race to a day like today with nobody in the finish is really frustrating. There were difficult conditions today. We thought the snow would hold up, but, obviously, it didn't. A couple of guys figured it out and a lot didn't. The top three skiers did a fantastic job."

McNichol said that Miller had set himself up to win, but in the turn where his race ended, "He came in really fast in a quick flush and got high-sided. But I tell you, Bode could not have won the race today if he hadn't been going really fast in the second run. And he took it hard. He takes every lost opportunity hard. But he still has a good chance at winning the World Cup."

Today's finale, the All-Nations' Event, is a cumulative point event for the national teams, which will compete with both men and women in four runs of super-G and four of slalom. The US team will consist of Miller, Ligety, and Daron Rahlves for the men, and Lindsey Kildow, Julia Mancuso, and Sarah Schleper for the women.