Schladming: Matt rips second run for night win

A brilliant second run brought Austrian Mario Matt the win in the Schladming night slalom.
    Second after the first run on a course that has cost him wins before, Matt claimed his tenth career win and second of the season, dusting Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange, a four tme winner this season, by .64 of a second.
    First run leader Manfred Moelgg of Italy was third by a hundredth. American Ted Ligety used one of the four fastest second runs to post the fourth best combined time.
    The first run broke down radically as snows started falling leaving those without early bib numbers facing impossible odds. Ligety, wearing the 13th bib was the only skier to move up into the top five with a double-digit bib.

A brilliant second run brought Austrian Mario Matt the win in the Schladming night slalom.
    Second after the first run on a course that has cost him wins before, Matt claimed his 10th career win and second of the season, dusting Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange, a four time winner this season, by 0.64 of a second.
    First-run leader Manfred Moelgg of Italy was third by a hundredth. American Ted Ligety used one of the four fastest second runs to post the fourth best combined time.
    “I was confident prior the race because I skied well in Kitzbühel and I knew I can beat Grange here with a solid performance in both runs," Matt said. "I had a very gutsy second run, fighting very hard at the bottom to take the lead. This hill is very tricky and it’s surely a huge advantage to have done well here in the past. There are so many changes of rhythm that it’s really difficult to remain all the time totally focused."  
    The first run broke down radically as snows started falling leaving those without early bib numbers facing impossible odds. Ligety, wearing the 13th bib was the only skier to move up into the top five with a double-digit bib.
    "It had rained most of the day, torrentially at times," said Ligety. "It started breaking up with the forerunners, so you knew it was going to go downhill. I ran 13th and saw bigger holes than I've seen in FIS races."
 He said the temperatures dropped during the break between runs allowing the snow to set-up some which made for a better surface. "The second run was definitely in better shape, but it was still tough. I started about 20 and had a pretty clean run and that's important for me. It's tough to get clean runs in slalom."
    While he was impressed with Moelgg's first run, and Grange's second, he was not all that happy with fourth place, his second of the season.
    "I seem to get fourth a lot," he said, "so I'm kind of used to it. But, it's not the kind of happy you want to get used to."
    For Matt the win seemed to vindicate the efforts he has put in since winning the race eight years ago. "This is great," he said. "It feels like the first time. I've had lots of trouble since then, with my material (equipment) and with my shoulder. It's just fantastic to win again."
    Matt said placing third at Kitzbühel Sunday added to his confidence. "I was also third at Kitzbühel, so I knew I was skiing very well. It just came down to having two good runs and I had them tonight."
    Matt said he shunned the new Fischer skis with the hole in the tip and used the same skis he won with in Adelboden Jan. 6. "I just have more confidence in them," he said.
    Matt, a winner here eight years ago, set another milestone in the history of Austrian ski racing in bringing the 700th World Cup victory to his team. It’s also the first Austrian victory this season in a men’s World Cup race held in Austria – so far five skiers from Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, USA and France triumphed in Soelden, Reiteralm and Kitzbühel but none from Austria.     “It’s for sure an honor and a special victory for me,” said Matt. “I have been looking for it for a while. This event is very special for the slalom skiers. There is so much intensity here and each of us dreams to excel on that slope in front of that huge crowd,” he added.
    Grange, still handily in front of the slalom standings skied solidly and perhaps a bit cautiously. "I had two good runs, but Mario was just better today. For me it was important to get as many points as possible."
    Moelgg was disappointed he missed the chance for his first Cup win and said an error late in the run cost him dearly.
    "I had to attack to beat Mario's time, and it is a shame that I had a mistake at the very end," he said.
    “I was going for it," he added. "I felt strong and my skiing was again very solid, it’s just too bad that I nearly lost my balance at the beginning of that last treacherous section. To be third by those conditions is fine, but I already had collected enough top-three finishes so far, I was looking for my first win this night after some less exciting results at Adelboden, Wengen and Kitzbühel.”
    The usual 50,000 spectators crowded the Planai stadium standing 20 deep in some areas and waving flags, most of them Austrian.
    — Eric Willemsen of the Associated Press and Patrick Lang contributed to this story.

The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men's Slalom (night), Schladming, Austria, Jan. 22, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Matt, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2 Grange, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Neureuther, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Lizeroux, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
7 Larsson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Raich, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
10 Sasaki, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker

Men's night slalom, Schladmning, Austria, Jan. 22, 2008. … It is the 25th event of the men's 41 event 2008 World Cup schedule. … It is the seventh of 11 scheduled slaloms. … It is the 14th annual slalom at Schladming. … The 30th World Cup race hosted by Schladming. … Conditions are soft with falling snow.
    It is the 10th career World Cup win for Mario Matt. … the ninth in slalom. … It is his second win of the season having also won the Adelboden slalom Jan. 6. … It was his second win at Schladming having won March 9, 2000. … He was third last season behind Benjamin Raich and Jens Byggmark. … It is the 13th win of the season for Austria, the 700h all-time.
    It is the sixth career World Cup podium for Jean-Baptiste Grange, all of them coming this season in either slalom or combined. … He won both the Wengen and Kitzbuehel slaloms and the slalom at Alta Badia. … It is his first career slalom podium where he wasn't on the top step.
    It is the eighth career World Cup podium for Manfred Moelgg. … The seventh in slalom. … It is his second podium at Schladming having finished second Jan. 27, 2004. … It is his fourth podium of the season. … He has not yet recorded a Worl
d Cup win. … He held a .08 of a second lead after the first run.
    It is the 15th career top four World Cup result for Ted Ligety. … It was his first fourth place finish in slalom. … It is his ninth top five result of the season and he has been eighth or better in 11 of the 12 races he has completed. … It is the third best career World Cup slalom result for Jimmy Cochran. … His only better slalom finishes both eighth place results at Alta Badia and Adelboden earlier this season. … It is the ninth career Cup scoring result for Patrick Biggs. … The fifth of the season for Michael Janyk.
    Winning margin is .64 of a second. … Top four are within the same second. … Top 11 within two seconds. … Benjamin Raich (8th in race) strengthens his lead the World Cup overall standings to 892-831 over Bode Miller (1st run DNF). … Didier Cuche (did not race) holds third at 794. … Jean-Baptiste Grange moves to fourth at 636. … Grange maintains the lead in the slalom standings 456-305 for Mario Matt. … Manfred Moelgg moves to third at 291 and Raich is tied with Felix Neureuther (5th in race) in fourth at 284. … Ligety leads the U.S. skiers on the slalom chart in eighth with 202pts.

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Did not finish 1st run : BARBU Alexandru (ROU), ENOCSON Calle (SWE), DOPFER Fritz (GER), BAXTER Alain (GBR), VOGEL Markus (SUI), IKUTA Yasuhiro (JPN), BRENNER Hannes (AUT), ZARDINI Edoardo (ITA), VALENCIC Mitja (SLO), VILETTA Sandro (SUI), HARGIN Mattias (SWE), RAZZOLI Giuliano (ITA), KELLEY Tim (USA), BROLENIUS Johan (SWE), KOLL Alexander (AUT), MILLER Bode (USA), ALBRECHT Daniel (SUI), MYHRER Andre (SWE), HERBST Reinfried (AUT)

Did not finish 2nd run : DEVILLE Cristian (ITA), PALANDER Kalle (FIN), GINI Marc (SUI), BYGGMARK Jens (SWE)

Disqualified 1st run : CAPDEVILA Guillem (SPA), GEORGIEV Stefan (BUL), VRABLIK Martin (CZE), LEINO Jukka (FIN)

Did not qualify 1st run : ROY Jean-Philippe (CAN), SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian Javier (ARG), HOROSHILOV Alexandr (RUS), FALCOZ Lucas (FRA), QUARTEL DE Alwin (NED), BJOERGVINSSON Bjoergvin (ISL), VOGL Alois (GER), OBERT Anthony (FRA), PAQUIN Pierre (FRA), OMMINGER Andreas (AUT), BAUMANN Romed (AUT), MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas (FRA), JANSRUD Kjetil (NOR), CHENAL Joel (FRA), WHITE Trevor (CAN), KRYZL Krystof (CZE), ANSELMET Alexandre (FRA), IMBODEN Urs (MDA), DRAGSIC Mitja (SLO), KARLSEN Truls Ove (NOR), MARSHALL Cody (USA), STUTZ Paul (CAN), HANSSON Martin (SWE), ROCCA Giorgio (ITA)