Lenzerheide: Raich wins race, Svindal the title

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the men's World Cup overall title on Sunday after making sure he finished in the points in the last race of the season.
    ''The overall World Cup title is the greatest prize there is,'' said Svindal. ''To win it in the last run, in the last race of the season, is just crazy.''
    Defending overall champion Benjamin Raich of Austria, who led after the opening run of the slalom, needed to win the race and hope that Svindal failed to score any points.

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the men's World Cup overall title on Sunday after making sure he finished in the points in the last race of the season.
    ''The overall World Cup title is the greatest prize there is,'' said Svindal. ''To win it in the last run, in the last race of the season, is just crazy.''
    Defending overall champion Benjamin Raich of Austria, who led after the opening run of the slalom, needed to win the race and hope that Svindal failed to score any points.
    Svindal was 12th in the opening leg, leaving a slight chance of victory for Raich with the second leg to go. Only the top 15 finishers score at the final, instead of the usual top 30 in regular season races. A 15th-place finish is worth 16 points.
    Svindal crossed fifth in the second leg with 11 skiers still to race after him. The Norwegian took the overall title when Sweden's Markus Larsson, the next skier on the course, finished slower than him — assuring Svindal a place in the top 15.
    “Very nervous. I’m almost more relaxed than happy right now. I was very nervous," Svindal said.
    Svindal finished with the minimum result necessary to clinch the title. Just eight hundredths slower and Svindal would have been 16th and out of the points, costing him alpine skiing's most meaningful prize.
    Raich won the race, which also earned him the World Cup slalom crystal globe.
    “Now I won the World Cup overall in slalom," Raich said. "It’s perfect. It was a big goal of mine. For sure, also the big globe was a goal of mine, but now Aksel is in front, and he’s a perfect skier and a cool guy. So I can just say congratulations to him. He is a very good sportsman.”
    ''The way Raich skied today, compliments to him,'' Svindal said. ''Because I could never take him down when he skis like that.
    ''These days were pretty intense. I feel like a weight has fallen off my shoulders. Now it's pure happiness.''
    Just 24 hours ago, Raich looked almost certain to win the overall title. But the Austrian surrendered the overall lead to Svindal after swerving off course in Saturday's giant slalom.
    Svindal has been unbeatable at this week's World Cup Finals, winning the downhill, super G and giant slalom races within four days. In winning the GS, he also snatched Raich's World Cup discipline crown.
   Svindal joins retired stars Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Andre Aamodt as overall champions, but he said that wasn't a major thought of his. “I don’t think that much about everything. I just think that this is the biggest thing you can win and it proves that I was the better skier for the season. It was very good competition from Raich, so that was very cool," Svindal said.
    Svindal was asked by reporters if he skied too conservatively in the second run.
    “That’s easy to say, but if I went out, you wouldn’t have said that," he said. "You can always talk about stuff. … I thought more guys were going to go out today. That’s why I kind of made sure I didn’t go out myself. It looked like that second run for a while that I was right, but then after that everyone finished.”
    “Today he knew what he had to do and he knew that Raich was going to go for it, trying to win the race,” said Marius Arnsesen, the Norwegian head men’s coach. “Slalom is a discipline that has not been [Svindal’s] best this year, but he did a very good job. It was hard for him to try to focus. I’ve seen the last few days a mental game between those two and that’s what is so impressive.”
    Arnesen said Svindal deserves to be ranked among the top athletes in any sport.
    “I hope they will say that he is the best, no matter the sport, because what he did the last few days, and also World Championships, winning two gold medals, just amazing. He should be compared with top guys in other sports too because he is skiing great and mentally he is a winner.”

Ligety wraps up season in 14th
    Ted Ligety was the top American in Sunday's slalom, finishing 14th with a total time of 1:43.08 while Bode Miller, the super G World Cup champion who finished fourth overall, straddled a gate in the first run.
    “For a couple of the guys [the lighting] was kind of weird — the sun was just coming over the tree and there were some weird shadows, kind of hard to see the blue gates. Maybe it’s just me. It was tough for me. I was having trouble finding good rhythm so I think that added to it as well.”
    "I'm kinda disappointed with my tech events results here. That fourth in downhill [Wednesday] was really worthy but, on the whole, I'm disappointed my speed was better than my tech events," Ligety said. In addition to downhill top-5 and 14th in slalom, Ligety was 10th Saturday in giant slalom.
    "My first run I didn't get the rhythm and the second run I did OK but I made mistakes on the flatter sections." Ligety plans to stay in Europe to test equipment before heading to the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships, which begin March 27 at Alyeska Resort near Anchorage, Alaska.
    U.S. men's head coach Phil McNichol said Ligety "had a solid race but not nearly what he's capable of. It's been a frustrating year for him, starting with that broken hand in October … but he's young and talented and competitive — very competitive, so he'll adapt. He'll be in a good position to strike next year."
    He praised Svindal for "some outstanding skiing this week — and during the season. He's a good one, a hard worker, and it's nice to see that get rewarded … and Benni [Raich] really stepped up to take that slalom title. That was impressive, too."

Grandi retiring
    Canadian Michael Janyk was third after the first run but dropped to ninth.
    “Second run was a little tough," Janyk said. "I knew I had to fight — you always do in those positions. I was pretty nervous — my first time sitting on the podium after first run. I made some mistakes. Maybe I can be a little smarter on my skis, but that’s how I ski. It will work out."
    His veteran teammate, Thomas Grandi, was 20th in his final World Cup race.
    “For a long time my priority was sport and ski racing and it’s a baby. I think the priority has changed. I have a family to take care of," Grandi said.
    “He’s been
incredible, especially for me," Janyk said. "I was on the team when I first came with them, I definitely didn’t deserve to be skiing with them. I was five seconds off a run and I really learned a lot from him. His professionalism and the way he approaches the sport is incredible. He’s just so professional with everything he does and I learned a lot from him. I’m glad he stuck around this long so he could pass the torch off nicely. I was hoping to finish with a win and dedicate it to him, but … next time.”

Kasper in good spirits
    FIS President Gian-Franco Kasper was in the finish corral Sunday soaking up the blue skies and fantastic fan support from the Swiss.
    “This was a great event," he said. "For the organizers, it’s a big race for them because financially it’s not easy to do those final races. Plus the weather and the relative success of the Swiss team during the season all helped to make a mini world championships at the end of the season.”
    To have both overall titles up for grabs on the final day was a bonus.
    “Well that’s the idea of the Finals, of course," Kasper said. "You can’t do it in a normal World Cup because of the number of racers participating. They had it as an exception in Are this year because we had no other choice. But normally the risk is too high to have two competitions, men and ladies, on one day. If you had two different courses, it might be easy. But if television has to cover both, then you need a certain time between first and second.”

— Don Cameron and The Associated Press contributed to this report

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's slalom, Lenzerheide, March 18, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
3 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Byggmark, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
8 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
9 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

Men's slalom, Lenzerheide. Switzerland, March 18, 2007. … It is the 36th and final race of the men's World Cup season. … The tenth of 10 slaloms. … The fourth of four races for men at Lenzerheide.
    It is the 29th career win for 29 year old Benjamin Raich. … That matches the career total Stephan Eberharter for 14th overall, sixth among men and second among Austrian men behind Hermann Maier (53). … It is Raich's 13th slalom win, good for a tie for 10th with Jean Noel Augert and Marlies Schild in the discipline. … It is the sixth win of the season for Raich. … third in slalom.
    It is the 23rd career World Cup podium for Mario Matt. … 22nd in slalom. … It is his eight Cup podium of the season. … He also won the gold medal in slalom at World Championships. … Matt has no result better than 12th before Christmas then struck podium in five straight races (non-DH).
    It is the fourth career podium for Manfred Moelgg. … And third of the season. … All in slalom. … His World Cup podiums are all third places but he won silver in slalom at the World Championships this season.
    It is the 11th career top 10 for Michael Janyk. … all in slalom. … He has 20 total World Cup scoring finishes. … Nine of those results have come this season, including seven top tens and a podium at Beaver Creek Dec. 3. … It is the 12th best finish of the season for Ted Ligety. … But third best slalom result. … He did finished second in slalom at Alta Badia Dec. 18. … Thomas Grandi places 20th and does not score points.
    Raich wins the slalom title 605-600 over Mario Matt. … Jens Byggmark (5th in race) finished third in the slalom standing at 490. … Michael Janyk (9th in race) is the top North American on the final slalom list in seventh at 279. … Ted Ligety tops the U.S. in 14th at 170. … It is the third World Cup slalom title for Raich having also won in 2001 and 2005. …Aksel Lund Svindal (15th in race) wins the overall title 1268-1255 for Raich. … Didier Cuche (did not race) finishes third in the standings at 1098 and Bode Miller is fourth at 882. … Ligety finishes 11th overall at 534 and Erik Guay is 12th at 529. … It is the first overall title for Svindal. … He won the SG title in 2006 and the combined title this season. … Austria wins the men's Nations Cup 6610-3982 over Switzerland. … Italy is third at 3080 and Canada fourth at 2258. … The U.S. is fifth at 2154. … Winning margin is .97. … Top two are within a second. … top five within two seconds.

Lenzerheide men's World Cup slalom results

Did not finish 1st run:
SASAKI Akira (JPN), MILLER Bode (USA), DEVILLE Cristian (ITA)

Did not finish 2nd run:
FILL Peter (ITA), GINI Marc (SUI)