World Cup Finals: Larsson wins slalom as Rocca earns season title

World Cup Finals: Larsson wins slalom as Rocca earns season titleARE, Sweden – Markus Larsson of Sweden won the final World Cup race of the 2005-06 season, his first victory on the tour. He persevered through snow and rain that made a mess of the slope, and the small crowd of Swedes who stuck around to see it happen were thrilled.

‘The victory is a really big dream for me, and I’m having so much fun’ said Larsson with a laugh after the race. ‘It makes me want to race even more and really try to go for it.’

Just about an hour after Larsson won the slalom, his countrywoman Anja Paerson clinched the giant slalom title in the women’s race.

It was a miserably rainy day at Are (which hosts World Championships next February), although the sun came out for the extended trophy ceremonies after the race, where Giorgio Rocca of Italy received the little crystal globe for the men’s slalom title and Benjamin Raich got the big one for the overall title.

Rocca had clinched his slalom title the night before, when Kalle Palander pulled out of the competition (a spokesperson said Palander, who had made a late-season run at the slalom title, had likely torn his ACL). Meanwhile Raich had clinched the overall a week before.

On the first run, Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety was fast at early intervals but skied out just 10 gates from the finish and hiked. A brilliant second run — fastest of the day by 0.48 — put him in 16th place on the day, just out of the points (which only go to the top 15 finishers at Finals).

It was a key distinction: Raich crashed on the first run, so had Ligety finished one place better, he would have earned 16 points, and would have moved two points beyond Raich to finish third in the season’s slalom standings.

As it turned out, however, Raich was third in the standings with 410 points and Ligety fourth with 396.

Bode Miller, in his last day as reigning overall World Cup champion, had a lackluster first run and skied out on the second leg.

Winning the slalom title is something Miller wants to do, and he said he may even test skis from other companies this spring. He named several companies that he was planning to approach, one of which is not currently a member of the U.S. Ski Team’s alpine pool.

But Miller insisted that everything was “up in the air” at this point. “This spring I’m going to have a lot of meetings with my team and the companies, whatever I ski on next year,” said Miller.

Rocca is the first Italian man to win the slalom title since Alberto Tomba in 1995. He won the first five slaloms of the season at Beaver Creek, Colorado (Dec. 4), Madonna di Campiglio, Italy (Dec. 12), Kranjska Gora, Slovenia (Dec. 22), Adelboden, Switzerland, and Wengen, Switzerland (Jan. 8). After that remarkable streak, Rocca had lost his edge, conceding slalom wins to Palander, Reinfried Herbst, Benjamin Raich and Larsson.

“It’s great to reach this goal of the World Cup in slalom,” said Rocca. “I was very close to winning it in the past. It’s good to have achevied this goal … when you’re at the summit it’s a great feeling.”

Thomas Grandi of Canada finished on the podium for the third slalom race in a row, and appeared to back away from hints dropped earlier in the year that he was leaning toward retirement.

“At the beginning of the year it was certainly a reality,” he said. “I wanted to win a medal and go home. Plans are meant to be broken. … Now I have to sit back and see where I’m at, but these last few podiums will definitely have an impact on my decision.”

Benni gets his globe
Raich received his crystal globe for the overall World Cup title in a photo opportunity immediately after the race. The ceremony was shortened due to the start of the women’s giant slalom race, a disruption that angered Austrian head coach Toni Giger.

Raich straddled in the day’s slalom, so he ends the season with 1,410 points. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who started strong and ended strong but broke his rib in the middle of the season, was second-best with 1,006 points. Last year’s champion, Bode Miller, was third with 928 points.

Miller’s ironman status slipped away along with his claim to the title of overall champion; he raced 31 races this season to Raich’s 34.

Men’s slalom
Are, Sweden
March 18, 2006
1. Markus Larsson, SWE 1:41.35
2. Stephane Tissot, FRA 1:42.17
3. Thomas Grandi, CAN 1:42.28
4. Ivica Kostelic, CRO 1:42.31
5. Pierrick Bourgeat, FRA 1:42.34
6. Mario Matt, AUT 1:42.60
7. Aksel Svindal, NOR 1:42.98
8. Rainer Schoenfelder, AUT 1:43.05
9. Akira Sasaki, JPN 1:43.06
10. Andre Myhrer, SWE 1:43.29
11. Kentaro Minagawa, JPN 1:43.30
12. Felix Neureuther, GER 1:43.33
13. Johan Brolenius, SWE 1:43.61
14. Peter Fill, ITA 1:44.07
15. Didier Defago, SUI 1:44.78
16. Ted Ligety, USA 1:46.97
Other North Americans:
DNF 2nd: Bode Miller, USA; Michael Janyk, CAN.

THE SCOOP

Equipment
Men’s slalom, Are, March 18, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1. Larsson, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
2. Tissot, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3. Grandi, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4. Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5. Bourgeat, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6. Matt, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
7. Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8. Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Fischer
9. Sasaki, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10. Myhrer, Nordica/Nordica/

Men’s slalom, Are, Sweden, March 18, 2006 … It is the final race of the men’s 34 race, four combined World Cup schedule. … The 10th of 10 slaloms.

It is the first career win for Markus Larsson and just the second career podium placing. … Thirty-five of his 36 career scoring results are in either slalom or combined. … It is his fifth top-10 result of the season, his previous best coming March 11 at Shigakogen. … It is the first win for a Swedish male since Fredrik Nyberg Dec. 20, 2001. … The first in slalom since Tomas Fogdoe March 28, 1993, also at Are.

It is the second career podium for French slalom specialist Stephane Tissot. … The first came early this season at Beaver Creek, Dec. 4.

It is the ninth career podium for Thomas Grandi. … His fifth in slalom. … It is his fifth podium of the season and his third consecutive third-place finish in slalom. … He is the only Canadian male to ever score a World Cup slalom podium.

Benjamin Raich (first-run DNF) wins the World Cup overall title 1,410 to 1,006 over Aksel Lund Svindal (seventh in race) with Bode Miller third (second-run DNF) with 928 points and Daron Rahlves fourth (did not race) at 903. … It is Raich’s first overall World Cup title. … Miller won the overall title last season and Hermann Maier in 2004. … Giorgio Rocca (second-run DNF) wins the slalom title 547-495 over Kalle Palander (did not race due to injury sustained in GS March 17) with Raich third at 410 and Ted Ligety (16th in race) fourth at 396. … Winning margin is .82 of a second. … Top five are within the same second. … Top 12 within two seconds.