Hinterstoder: Svindal edges Bourque; Miller 4th

Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal upstaged American Bode Miller to win a World Cup giant slalom in thick fog Thursday as a heated battle for the overall standings lead continued.
    Svindal, the last of the contenders after leading the first run, knocked Canadian Francois Bourque off the top step of the podium by completing the two runs in 2 minutes, 25.63 seconds. Bourque was a career-best second, .26 back, followed by Finland's Kalle Palander, .40 back. Miller was fourth, and Ted Ligety 10th.

HINTERSTODER, Austria — Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal upstaged American Bode Miller to win a World Cup giant slalom Thursday as a heated battle for the overall standings lead continued.
    Svindal, the last of the contenders after leading the first run, knocked Canadian Francois Bourque off the top step of the podium by completing the two runs on the Wertung course in 2 minutes, 25.63 seconds. Bourque, fifth in run one, was a career-best second, .26 back, thanks to a strong second run through the thick fog blanketing the mountain. Finland's Kalle Palander, .40 back, was third.
    Miller, third after the opening leg, lost time the entire way down the second run and dropped to fourth, and Ted Ligety placed 10th. Miller's fourth podium ended the Americans' historic podium streak — a run of nine podiums, including five wins, in six days.   
    "I felt good and I could have made up the four-tenths [behind Svindal from the first run] but it was so bumpy, and I couldn't see a thing in the fog," Miller said.
   Svindal regained the lead in the overall standings with the win and joined Miller as the only racer to win on the men's circuit more than once this season. Svindal also took over the lead in the giant slalom standings from Palander of Finland despite near zero visibility and unpredictable snow conditions on the mountain.
    ''Not a typical race, but a good race for me,'' Svindal said. ''I couldn't see a thing but I knew I had to attack otherwise I would fall behind.
    "Let's hope the season continues that way.''
    Bourque said, ''For sure it was a good day even if a hard day. First run was OK for visibility but it got worse and worse for later guys.''
    U.S. men's slalom/GS coach Mike Morin was equally frustrated by the conditions.  
    "You couldn't see anything. You could see two gates and that was it," Morin said. "This was racing by Braille." The huge video screen in the finish showed nothing but split times and gray — all fog — with no racer images.
    In Wednesday's super G, Bourque finished 49th. ''Yesterday didn't work out so well for me,'' the Canadian said. ''But I knew I could do tighter turns. It was a good Christmas gift to go home with.''
    Bourque's best previous giant slalom result this season was a ninth-place finish in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
    Palander finished third in 2:26.03. "I had tough race today,'' Palander said. ''I guess I can be happy with third place. I think everybody who finished and is still alive is happy. The last 15 gates you really couldn't see anything.''
    Svindal was 11th in Wednesday's super G, losing the overall lead to Miller, and Norwegian media called it a ''crisis.''
    ''I never had a crisis but some people in Norway thought I had a crisis, so if they're having a crisis when they're sitting in their office with the heating and watching on television, then be my guest,'' Svindal said.
    Miller, who has three victories, had returned to the top of the overall standings Wednesday for the first time in a year.
    "Close but no cigar…and no podium. I'll tell ya, though, those 30 guys in the second run were pretty spectacular," Morin said. "A steep pitch, zero visibility… and even worse conditions. My hat's off to Bode and Ted, of course, but, really I salute all of 'em. This was so close to being unsafe for racing. if the surface hadn't been so good, we never could have raced.
    "When Bode went by me, he was attacking on both runs … and so was Ted; he really puts the screws to it but struggled with some of the terrain changes. But I could only see four gates, so what do I know? Talking with the other coaches, they said Bode and Ted were attacking wherever they could and skiing conservatively when they had to."
    Hermann Maier, who was fourth after the opening leg, dropped to 12th after the second run.
    Maier finished third in Wednesday's super G despite partially dislocating his right shoulder in a fall while warming up.
    ''I couldn't see a thing,'' Maier said. ''My injury and the crazy conditions today made it impossible for me to attack.''
    Svindal now has World Cup wins in downhill, super G, giant slalom and combined and is missing only a victory in the slalom to accomplish the grand slam.
     The men are off until a double-downhill schedule Dec. 28-29 at Bormio, Italy. The 28th is a makeup for the race lost earlier this month in Val d'Isere, France. After 14 races, three U.S. men are in the top 10 overall — Miller (the super G leader) is second with 490 points, Ligety is sixth and Steven Nyman is 10th overall and second in downhill points.

THE SCOOP 

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's GS, Hinterstoder, Austria, Dec. 21, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Bourque, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Palander, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
5 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Blardone, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Schieppati, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Chenal, Dynastar/Lange/Look
9 Defago, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol 

Men's giant slalom, Hinterstoder, Austria, Dec. 21, 2006 – It is the 14th race of the men's 38-event World Cup schedule. … It is the third men's GS held with one cancellation (Sölden) of seven on the schedule. … It is the eighth men's GS held at Hinterstoder.
    It is the fourth career win for Aksel Lund Svindal and his second of the season following the Beaver Creek combined victory. … Each of his wins comes in a different discipline, having also won in SG at Lake Louise Nov. 27, 2005, and in DH at Are March 15, 2006. … He has scored in 13 of the 14 races held so far this season, missing only the Lake Louise DH.
    It is a career-best score for Francois Bourque, but his third podium, having been third in SG at Garmisch Feb. 20, 2005, and in GS at Alta Badia Dec. 18, 2005. … He and Thomas Grandi are the only Canadian men to have podiums from a World Cup GS.
    It is the 27th career podium for Kalle Palander. … His 11th in GS. … It is his second podium of the season, the other the win i
n GS at Alta Badia. … He has been 12th or better is all six technical races (slaloms and GS) held this season, and those are his only results.
    It is the fifth top four of the season for Bode Miller, three of the others being wins and one a second. … Miller has 41 World Cup GS scoring results with 22 of those fourth or better. … It is the 20th top-10 result for Ted Ligety's career, … The sixth in GS. … All six of his scoring results this season have been top-10 placings and three of those have come in the three GS's held.
    After one day in second, Svindal regains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 521-490 over Bode Miller. … Didier Cuche (14th in race) is third at 410. … Ted Ligety has climbed to sixth at 278. … Svindal also leads the GS standings 206-196 over Kalle Palander. … Massimiliano Blardone is third at 160. … Miller is fourth at 152 and Ligety and Bourque are tied at sixth with 122. … Winning margin is .26 of a second. … Top six are with a second. … Top 14 within two seconds.

Hinterstoder men's World Cup giant slalom results

Did not finish 1st run:
OPRJA Deyvid (EST), HEIMSCHILD Ivan (SVK), KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), SASAKI Akira (JPN), JITLOFF Tim (USA), NICKERSON Warner C (USA), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), LANNING Thomas (tj) (USA), RAINER Niklas (SWE), ZAMANSKY Jake (USA), EISATH Florian (ITA), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), BERTHOD Marc (SUI), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER), BUECHEL Marco (LIE), GRANDI Thomas (CAN), SCHOENFELDER Rainer (AUT)

Did not finish 2nd run:
REICHELT Hannes (AUT), SIMONCELLI Davide (ITA)

Did not qualify 1st run:
KEPPLER Stephan (GER), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), BAXTER Noel (GBR), BIGGS Patrick (CAN), RICHARD Cyprien (FRA), ZAHROBSKY Petr (CZE), ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), MYHRER Andre (SWE), FREY Thomas (FRA), COVILI Frederic (FRA), NILSEN Andreas (NOR), PITTSCHIELER Kurt (ITA), COUSINEAU Julien (CAN), DE TESSIERES Gauthier (FRA), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), JANKA Carlo (SUI), DEFLORIAN Mirko (ITA), GUFLER Michael (ITA), RAJALA Jukka (FIN), GUAY Erik (CAN), KUCERA John (CAN)

World Cup giant slalom standigs (after 3 races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 206 points.
2. Kalle Palander, Finland, 196.
3. Massimiliano Blardone, Italy, 160.
4. Bode Miller, United States, 152.
5. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 134.
6. Ted Ligety, United States, 122.
(tie) Francois Bourque, Canada, 122.
8. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 119.
9. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 97.
10. Davide Simoncelli, Italy, 72.
(tie) Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 72.
12. Hermann Maier, Austria, 70.
13. Alberto Schieppati, Italy, 54.
14. Joel Chenal, France, 47.
15. John Kucera, Canada, 45.

Overall World Cup standings (after 14 races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 521 points.
2. Bode Miller, United States, 490.
3. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 410.
4. Peter Fill, Italy, 362.
5. Kalle Palander, Finland, 287.
6. Ted Ligety, United States, 278.
7. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 271.
8. Hermann Maier, Austria, 260.
9. John Kucera, Canada, 253.
10. Steven Nyman, United States, 250.
11. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 244.
12. Marco Buechel, Lietchtenstein, 237.
13. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 209.
14. Markus Larsson, Sweden, 198.
15. Francois Bourque, Canada, 191.