Rocca takes Chamonix slalom; Miller ends drought in slalom, wins combined

Rocca takes Chamonix slalom; Miller ends drought in slalom, wins combinedGiorgio Rocca of Italy won the men’s World Cup slalom Sunday in Chamonix, France, and U.S. skier Bode Miller ended his slalom points drought in style, landing on the podium, while picking up a victory in the Chamonix combined.

“To judge yourself solely by results,” said Miller, “is really a foolish approach to ski racing, because a lot of times you have no control over it whatsoever. I judge myself by how I’m skiing.”

Miller brought out his old duct-taped shinguards, the ones that brought him medals at the 2002 Olympics and 2003 world championships, and then joked that they were responsible for his “resurrection.”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t feel that much different,” said Miller. “I’ve been skiing well all year, I just haven’t gotten the results yet. … My opinion is different from everybody else’s because no one else really seems to know how well I’m skiing unless I have results to show it.”

In the slalom, Rocca edged runner-up Pierrick Bourgeat of France by 0.08 seconds, with Miller 0.43 behind in third. The podium was a rare shutout for Atomic skis. Miller and Bourgeat were both on the same model of Rossignol skis, a type that Miller had helped develop in a grueling testing schedule that included running slalom gates on Christmas morning. “He’s had no rest,” said Robbie Kristan, Miller’s ski serviceman.

It rained intermittently all through the morning, and then poured during the second run. French fans remained in high spirits despite the soaking, happy to see a Frenchman on the podium.

Chip Knight and Tom Rothrock also scored for the U.S., in 19th and 20th, respectively. Ted Ligety and James Cochran failed to qualify for a second run.

In the combined event, which adds the times in Saturday’s downhill and Sunday’s slalom, Miller was first, Austria’s Benjamin Raich second and Lasse Kjus of Norway third. Only 0.06 seconds separated first from third. Miller was at 3:30.91, Raich at 3:30.94 and Kjus at 3:30.97.

It was Miller’s first World Cup win in combined. He’d been second twice before, both times in Wengen, Switzerland, in 2002 and 2003, and he won the event at world championships.

To get to the top step in Chamonix, Miller had to overcome an ugly performance in the downhill, where he smashed his chin on his knee and nearly crashed. “I was still hustling,” he said. “I couldn’t see very well and my whole jaw and knee were numb; my knee was hurting pretty bad from where I hit my chin on it.”

The only other American to compete in the combined was Bryon Friedman, who wound up 20th, about 20 seconds behind the leaders.

His slalom renaissance and the resulting points haul in that event and the combined catapulted Miller back into the race for the World Cup overall title. He moved from 10th after Saturday’s downhill to fourth after Sunday’s events.

Kjus leads the overall race with 581 points, just one point ahead of Raich. Hermann Maier, who doesn’t ski slalom, is now in third, with 555 points and Miller is fourth with 497. Austria’s Michael Walchhofer is fifth with 468.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Slalom

Chamonix, France

January 11, 2004

1. Giorgio Rocca (Italy) 1:29.09 (first run 44.33/second run 44.76)

2. Pierrick Bourgeat (France) 1:29.17 (44.36/44.81)

3. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:29.52 (45.08/44.44)

4. Rainer Schoenfelder (Austria) 1:29.58 (43.80/45.78)

5. Jean-Pierre Vidal (France) 1:29.82 (45.57/44.25)

6. Manfred Pranger (Austria) 1:29.83 (44.00/45.83)

7. Heinz Schilchegger (Austria) 1:30.10 (44.87/45.23)

8. Markus Larsson (Sweden) 1:30.17 (45.70/44.47)

9. Akira Sasaki (Japan) 1:30.27 (45.80/44.47)

10. Kilian Albrecht (Austria) 1:30.33 (44.98/45.35)

11. Sebastien Amiez (France) 1:30.36 (45.63/44.73)

12. Mario Matt (Austria) 1:30.38 (45.64/44.74)

13= Martin Marinac (Austria) 1:30.44 (46.30/44.14)

13= Manfred Moelgg (Italy) 1:30.47 (45.31/45.16)

15. Johan Brolenius (Sweden) 1:30.47 (45.47/45.00)

16= Thomas Grandi (Canada) 1:30.48 (45.81/44.67)

16= Kalle Palander (Finland) 1:30.48 (43.94/46.54)

18. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:30.49 (44.60/45.89)

19. Chip Knight (U.S.) 1:30.51 (45.74/44.77)

20. Tom Rothrock (U.S.) 1:30.66 (45.88/44.78)

21. Andrej Sporn (Slovenia) 1:30.70 (46.52/44.18)

22. Ivica Kostelic (Croatia) 1:30.82 (45.41/45.41)

23. Jukka Leino (Finland) 1:31.01 (46.36/44.65)

24. Mitja Kunc (Slovenia) 1:31.04 (46.51/44.53)

25. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 1:31.11 (46.69/44.42)

26. Mitja Dragsic (Slovenia) 1:31.15 (46.32/44.83)

27. Alain Baxter (Britain) 1:31.37 (46.64/44.73)

28. Lasse Kjus (Norway) 1:31.58 (46.63/44.95)

29. Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland) 1:32.07 (45.32/46.75)

DNF 2nd: Tom Stiansen (Norway)

Other North Americans:

DNQ 2nd: Julien Cousineau (Canada), James Cochran (U.S.), Ted Ligety (U.S.), Bryon Friedman (U.S.), Jean-Phillipe Roy (Canada)

DNF 1st: Michael Janyk (Canada)

Men’s Combined

Chamonix, France

January 10-11, 2004

1. Bode Miller (U.S.) 3:30.91

2. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 3:30.94

3. Lasse Kjus (Norway) 3:30.97

4. Pierrick Bourgeat (France) 3:31.46

5. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 3:32.39

6. Andrej Sporn (Slovenia) 3:34.17

7. Markus Larsson (Sweden) 3:34.21

8. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 3:34.26

9. Silvan Zurbriggen (Switzerland) 3:34.85

10. Johan Brolenius (Sweden) 3:34.86

11. Christoph Gruber (Austria) 3:36.19

12. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 3:38.08

13. Hermann Maier (Austria) 3:40.32

14. Ondrej Bank (Czech Republic) 3:41.83

15. Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 3:41.94

16. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 3:43.21

17. Ole Magnus Kulbeck (Norway) 3:44.60

18. Pavel Chestakov (Russia) 3:45.02

19. Alex Antor (Andorra) 3:46.54

20. Bryon Friedman (U.S.) 3:50.10.

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Slalom

Chamonix, France, January 11, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Rocca, Nordica/Nordica/Atomic

2 Bourgeat, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

3 Miller, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol

4 Schoenfelder, Fischer/Nordica/Tyrolia

5 Vidal, Dynastar/Lange/Look

6 Pranger, Volkl/Lange/Marker

7 Schilchegger, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

8 Larsson, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

9 Sasaki, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

10 Albrecht, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia

Equipment, Men’s Combined

Chamonix, France, January 10-11, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Miller, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol

2 Raich, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

3 Kjus, Dynastar/Atomic/Look

4 Bourgeat, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

5 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

6 Sporn, Elan

7 Larsson, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

8 Walchhofer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

9 Zurbriggen, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia

10 Brolenius, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia

The slalom is the 17th of 38 scheduled men’s races and the fourth of 11 slaloms. … The combined is the first of two scheduled for the season. … It’s the third career win for Giorgio Rocca, all in slalom, all in last 12 months. … He ‘s been first, second (Madonna), third (Flachau) and fourth (Park City) in slaloms this season. … Rocca is just the fourth Italian male to win three or more slaloms; the others are Alberto Tomba, Gustavo Thoeni and Piero Gros.

It’s the eighth career podium for Pierrick Bourgeat, all in slalom, and his first since 11
/24/02. … His first podium in France. … His best previous result of the season was ninth in the Park City SL.

The slalom result is the 20th career podium for Bode Miller, and his fourth of the season. … He had not completed a race since he was on the podium at Alta Badia in GS 12/21. … The combined is his 21st podium.

Seventh scoring result of the season for Thomas Grandi, and the third for both Chip Knight and Tom Rothrock.

It is a remarkably close combined event. Miller wins by 0.03 seconds over Benjamin Raich and 0.06 over Lasse Kjus. … It’s Miller’s ninth career win and third of the season. … It’s his first World Cup combined win.

Benjamin Raich gets his 31st career podium, second of the season, and first in combined. … It’s the 55th career podium for Lasse Kjus, his third of the season and second in two days (he was second in Saturday’s DH). … It’s his 12th career combined podium. … In his 15 World Cup combined events, he has finished worse than fifth once, winning four and placing second five times.

It’ s the first combined points for Bryon Friedman.

Kjus and Raich move past Hermann Maier for the overall lead, Kjus leading 581-580 over Raich. … Maier is at 555 and Miller is fourth at 497.

Alex Antor collectes the first World Cup points for Andorra since Vicky Grau placed 26th in slalom at Sestriere 3/10/2000, and matched Grau for best Andorran result ever at 19th.

Rocca leads the slalom standings 290-240 over Manfred Pranger, who finished sixth. … The top U.S. skier in slalom is Bode Miller at 14th with 60 points (all earned on Sunday). … Austria leads the Nations Cup standings (including the women’s race 1/11) 8158-2372 over Italy. … The U.S. is third at 2121. … The Austrians lead the men’s standings 4884-1521 over Italy. … The U.S. is fourth at 1067.