Lenzerheide: Canadian Grandi targets final podium

There won’t be any Mozart wigs or finish arena shenanigans. But sometime over the next few months, one of North America’s most accomplished racing veterans is expected to retire.
    Canadian technical ace Thomas Grandi, 34, said after Friday’s team event that he’ll most likely not be back for the 2007-08 season.
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — There won’t be any Mozart wigs or finish arena shenanigans. But sometime over the next few months, one of North America’s most accomplished racing veterans is expected to retire.
    Canadian technical ace Thomas Grandi, 34, said after Friday’s team event that he’ll most likely not be back for the 2007-08 season.
    “My future is a little up in the air right now. I think there’s a good chance it’s going to be the end for me,” Grandi said. “I have a family now, just had a baby girl, so it’s not as much a priority for me. I don’t quite feel the fire and the passion that I had for the sport. Even though I still love it and I enjoy competing, it’s the preparation that’s going to be important, all the dryland and training that you have to do to be prepared.”
    Grandi and Canadian nordic star Sara Renner are married, and Renner gave birth to Aria Grandi on Feb. 1.
    Thursday, Austrian star Fritz Strobl retired in grandiose fashion with a mock tribute to composer Wolfgang Mozart and a celebratory final schuss down the Lenzerheide course.
     “I’m not going to be official with anything right now,” Grandi said. “Probably within a month of the season [ending] I’ll have made a decision, and hopefully I’ll be satisfied that I made the right one.”
    Grandi, born in Italy, has been a stalwart on the men’s team, which is undergoing an upswing thanks largely to the men’s speed side. In 198 World Cup starts, Grandi has nine podiums, five in slalom and four in GS. Both of his World Cup wins have come in GS.
    “I think that speed group has got some amazing talent,” he said. “They’re coming across into the GS now too. We’ve got a really great team. It’s impressive to watch, and hard to keep up with for me.”
    Friday, the Canadian team sat second after the morning super G of the team event, but the technical side struggled. Grandi was solid enough, finishing 1.06 seconds behind leg winner Ted Ligety of the United States to take fifth. Michael Janyk was fourth, but both Britt Janyk and Emily Brydon skied off course early in their runs and had to hike.
    A few hours after a podium seemed doable, the Canadians came up empty, finishing fifth.
    “It’s not a new story,” Grandi said. “It seems that the super G skiers always seem to put us in a good position, then we seem to falter in slalom. That’s the way it is right now. We have a really strong speed team.
    “I think I skied a pretty solid run for where I’m at. Since the end of January I haven’t been firing on all cylinders, but it was a decent performance.”
    Having missed several starts due to injury, Grandi sits 20th in the World Cup GS standings and 17th in the slalom standings.
    “It’s a long shot but I’d still like to get a slalom win, so I’m going to go for it and try to finish with some good races here,” he said.
    Grandi said the team event gave him a good chance to get familiar with the Lenzerheide tech track.
    “It’s a good opportunity to get on the race hill a couple of days before the race,” he said, “so it was a really good opportunity to take advantage of it and push the limits and see what the hill is all about, especially that first pitch. … You have to hold on a little bit up there, but it’s pretty short. There’s not too many gates on it, so it’s not too bad.”