Kranjska Gora: Matt wins SL; Raich leads overall

World champion Mario Matt won his second straight World Cup slalom on Sunday, and Benjamin Raich finished second to reclaim the lead in the overall standings.

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia — World champion Mario Matt won his second straight World Cup slalom on Sunday, and Benjamin Raich came second to reclaim the lead in the overall standings.
    Matt, who trailed Raich after the opening leg by only .04 seconds, raced down the twisting track in a combined time of one minute, 40.64 seconds.
    Raich made it an Austrian 1-2 finish, .61 seconds behind Matt. World Championships silver medalist Manfred Moelgg of Italy was third, .96 back.
    ''It was a good race for me,'' Matt said. ''It was a very difficult course.''
    The Austrian captured gold in the slalom at the worlds in Are, Sweden, and won the last slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
    The result also lifted Matt atop the slalom standings with 520 points — 15 ahead of Raich, his closest rival.
    Bode Miller of the United States finally completed two slalom legs, ending 23rd in 1:43.89. Teammate Ted Ligety was 25th. T.J. Lanning and Jimmy Cochran failed to qualify for a second run.
   ''It's been a long time since I last finished a race,'' Miller said. ''I think the last time I won points in the slalom was over a year ago.''
    Miller, a former overall champion known for his daring style, was 13th in Saturday's giant slalom.
    ''Sometimes you have to chip away at a result, put in the work before you can come up with something,'' Miller said.
    Raich, who won Saturday's giant slalom for the third successive year, moved closer to defending his overall title by overtaking Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway at the top of the standings.
    Svindal, who has not finished better than sixth in a slalom, crashed out of the first run. Other top rivals who failed to finish were slalom leader Jens Byggmark of Sweden, Kalle Palander of Finland and Felix Neurether of Germany.

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's Slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 4, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
2 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
6 Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Sasaki, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
7 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Gini, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men's slalom, Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, March 4, 2007. … It is the 29th race of the men's 38 race World Cup schedule. … It is the ninth of 10 scheduled slaloms. … It is the 62nd World Cup race at Kranjska Gora. … the 32nd slalom.
    It is the eighth career win for Mario Matt. … His seventh in slalom. … He has won four events this season, two World Cup slaloms, the World Championship slalom and the Wengen combined. … He has been on the podium in six of the nine Cup slaloms held. … He has won three straight slaloms (including Worlds). … It is his first win at Kranjska Gora where he has podiums stretching back to 2001.
    It is the 64th career World Cup podium for Benjamin Raich. … His 34th in slalom. … It is his seventh Cup podium of the season. … His fourth in slalom. … It is his ninth podium at Kranjska Gora and his best slalom result at Kranjska Gora in five completed races.
    It is the third career podium for Manfred Moelgg. … The others are second in slalom at Schladming in 2004 and third at Kitzbuehel slalom earlier this season. … He did win the silver medal in slalom at World Championships Feb. 17.
    It is the seventh top 10 this season for Michael Janyk. … All in slalom. … He has been better at Kranjska Gora once, sixth in 2005. … It is the eighth scoring result of the season for Thomas Grandi. … It is his 13th best of 19 scoring results at Kranjska Gora dating to 1994. … It is the first slalom Bode Miller has completed at Kranjska Gora compared to six GS results at the site. … Ted Ligety had been fourth after the first run. … It is his 13th scoring result of the season. … His fifth career score at Kranjska Gora.
    Mario Matt takes hold of the slalom standings 520-505 for Benjamin Raich with one race remaining. … Jens Byggmark (DNF 1st) slides to third at 445. … Michael Janyk in eighth is the top North American. … Raich gains control of the overall standings 945-868 over Aksel Svindal (did not race). … Svindal had held the tour lead since Dec. 21 when he regained it after a one day stay in second at Hinterstoder. … Didier Cuche (did not race) holds third at 788 and Bode Miller (23rd in race) is fourth at 671. … Matt closes to 664 in fifth. … Winning margin is .61. … Top three are within a second. … Top six within two seconds.

Kranjska Gora men's World Cup slalom results

Did not finish 1st run:
GEORGIEV Stefan (BUL), GORZA Ales (SLO), BYLUND Peter (SWE), NILSEN Andreas (NOR), BURAAS Hans-Petter (NOR), MYHRE Lars Elton (NOR), ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), SEMPLE Ryan (CAN), KAUKONIEMI Tuukka (FIN), BRENNER Hannes (AUT), BAXTER Alain (GBR), ALBRECHT Kilian (BUL), NORDH Fredrik (SWE), GRUBELNIK Drago (SLO), MISSILLIER Steve (FRA), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), THALER Patrick (ITA), HARGIN Mattias (SWE), ANDERSSON Oscar (SWE), ALBRECHT Daniel (SUI), SVINDAL Aksel Lund (NOR), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE), NEUREUTHER Felix (GER)

Did not finish 2nd run:
BOURGEAT Pierrick (FRA), LIZEROUX Julien (FRA), MYHRER Andre (SWE), PALANDER Kalle (FIN)

Disqualified 1st run:
IMBODEN Urs (MDA)

Did not qualify for 2nd run:
LANNING Thomas (tj) (USA), NOBLE Andrew (GBR), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), STEHLE Dominik (GER), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), TISSOT Maxime (FRA), DAVARE Michel (ITA), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), LEINO Jukka (FIN), BIGGS Patrick (CAN), STUTZ Paul (CAN), BANK Ondrej (CZE), DREIER Christoph (AUT), ENGL Kurt (AUT), ANSELMET Alexandr
e (FRA), YUASA Naoki (JPN), LLORACH Gaetan (FRA), KOLL Alexander (AUT), COCHRAN Jimmy (USA), VAJDIC Bernard (SLO), VOGL Alois (GER)