Lenzerheide: Svindal wins GS, zips past Raich in the hunt for crystal; Miller 3rd

And then there was one. One race. One very large race.
    The stage is set for a super Sunday at World Cup Finals after Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the season’s final giant slalom Saturday to snare Benjamin Raich’s World Cup discipline title and replace his rival atop the overall standings. American Bode Miller was third in the GS.
    Having already won the downhill and super G this week, Svindal entered the day just three points behind Austria’s Raich in both the overall World Cup and giant slalom standings. But Raich swerved off course in the morning’s opening leg.
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — And then there was one. One race. One very large race.
    The stage is set for a super Sunday at World Cup Finals after Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal won the season’s final giant slalom Saturday to snare Benjamin Raich’s World Cup discipline title and replace his rival atop the overall standings. American Bode Miller was third in the GS.
    Having already won the downhill and super G this week, Svindal entered the day just three points behind Austria’s Raich in both the overall World Cup and giant slalom standings. But Raich swerved off course in the morning’s opening leg.
    The victory gave Svindal 100 points and he ends the season with 416 in the giant slalom standings, with Raich stuck on 319.
    “It was a very good day at the office,” said Svindal, who cried after realizing he’d won. “It’s GS and I’ve spent so much time working to be good at GS. This is my event.
    “I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. There's a lot of time between the runs. I just had to push them aside and concentrate on my run.”
    “He’s just solid more than anything. He’s a Norwegian. He skis a lot like Lasse [Kjus] and [Kjetil Andre] Aamodt did,” said Miller, referring to the two former ski stars who won 36 medals at the worlds and Olympics between them. “He doesn’t take a lot of risk. I don't ski like that but I understand how it works.
    “He’s taken less risk. That philosophy works great if you’re big, if you’re strong and you have really good skis."
    Svindal also tops the overall rankings with 1,252 points. Raich is second with 1,155 and must now win Sunday’s slalom — the last race of the year — and hope Svindal finishes out of the top 15 so he earns no points.
     Svindal said he took great pride in wining the GS crown.
    “It’s my best event and it’s by far what I’ve practiced the most,” Svindal said. “I also think GS is the key … if you know GS skiing, you know the basics.”
    The first skier out of the start hut in the morning leg, Raich missed a gate on the lower part of the giant slalom course — set by his own coach Andy Evers — after putting too much pressure on the wrong ski.
    “I took a lot of risk the whole course down,” Raich said. “The advantage is now for Aksel. But there is still a chance and we will see.”
    Svindal was second heading into the final leg — just 0.01 behind leader Massimiliano Blardone of Italy. He delivered a second strong run to win with a combined time of 2 minutes, 7.82 seconds.
    Blardone slipped to second with a time of 2:08.03.
    Austrian alpine director Hans Pum said, “The only important thing today was Benni. He made a mistake and went out. It was a very bad race for him. We will see. Now he has to win the slalom tomorrow. If he wins the race, the overall World Cup will also be his.”
    Svindal said Raich has potential.
    “If anyone is capable of doing it under that kind of pressure, he’s the one.”
   
Miller ends podium drought
    Miller, who was only seventh after the opening run, vaulted into third place with 2:08.49 after a sizzling second trip down the Silvano Beltrametti course.
    “Second run was all right,” Miller said. “I still had a lot of sloppy turns in there, but in general it feels a lot better. … The skis ran the way I’ve been wanting the skis to feel all year. It’s exciting.”
    Miller’s podium was his first since winning the Lauberhorn downhill at Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 13.
    The giant slalom was expected to be key in the chase for both the overall and discipline title. Raich was the gold medalist at the Torino Olympics. Svindal became world champion in Are, Sweden, last month.
    “Bode had some issues on his first run,” said U.S. men’s coach John McBride. “He was working with a new plate on his skis. He struggled at the top for maybe 10 gates and then he found his rhythm. Second run was nearly the same set and Bode adjusted nicely then he skied smart and hammered it.”
    In fact, Miller had the third-fastest second run to overtake a number of skiers and move onto the podium. Miller finishes the season ranked sixth in GS and is locked in to fourth in the overall standings heading into the slalom.
    U.S. men’s head coach Phil McNichol was one happy camper in the finish area. “It’s the end of a long, long, long, long dry spell,” he said, noting that the result gave the men’s team 10 podiums on the season.
    “It’s one indication or goal we have to track performance. Last year was the second-biggest podium run in U.S. men’s history and this puts us in double digits this season.”
    McNichol said Miller “made a few mistakes. He was skiing on new skis and on this kind of snow I think he fought really hard. Second run was pretty good, one mistake.”
    McNichol’s contract runs out May 1 and his future is uncertain. One thing is for sure — he’s learned to appreciate days like these, days when the coaching staff can whip out the flaming black bowling shirts in a toast to a podium.
    “I learned the last two months again what I knew before I started here,” he said, “how tough it is to get on the podium in a World Cup.”

Ligety skis to 10th
    American Ted Ligety finished 10th to end the season ranked eighth in GS. He stands 12th in the overall standings with a great chance to move into the top 10 after the slalom. Ligety wasn't thrilled with his run, though. The "victim" of numerous fourth-place finishes this season by slim margins, Ligety crossed the second-run finish line and looked at the scoreboard in disbelief that he was just .01 behind the leader at the time.
   “It’s kind of a bummer, especially because of the way I’ve skied the last two weeks in GS especially,” Ligety said. “It was a tough race for sure because of the snow conditions and how steep the hill was. It was tough to find my rhythm first run because it was so tight. I tried to redeem myself a little bit.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this report

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Men&
#39;s giant slalom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 17, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Svindal, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Blardone, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
4 Cuche, Head/Head/Tyrolia
5 Berthod, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Palander, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
7 Bourque, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Moelgg, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Schieppati, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men's giant slalom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 17, 2007. … It is the 35th race of the men's 2007 World Cup season with one remaining. … It is the sixth and final GS with one having been canceled.
    It is the seventh career World Cup win for Aksel Lund Svindal. … His fifth of the season. … And third straight at Finals. … He also won two World Championships this season (DH & GS). … He is the only Norwegian to ski into a top five placing all season. … It is his second career GS win, the previous at Hinterstoder Dec. 21 of this season.
    It is the 12th career World Cup podium for Massimiliano Blardone. … all of them in GS. … It is his fourth podium of the season. … His only win this season came at Beaver Creek Dec. 2.
    It is the 53rd career World Cup podium for Bode Miller. … His 20th in GS. … It is his sixth podium of the season. … second in GS. … He did not win a GS this season. … It is one of four U.S. podiums in GS this season from three different racers (Julia Mancuso 2nd Cortina, Ted Ligety 3rd at Beaver Creek, Miller 2nd Alta Badia). … It is the third podium scored at Lenzerheide for Miller having won the SG and been second in DH and GS in 2005's finals at the site.
    It is the third best result of the season for Francois Bourque. … The better two both second place finishes in GS (Hinterstoder Dec. 21 and Kranjska Gora March 3). … It is his eighth career top seven placing. … seventh in GS. … It is the 25th career top 10 for Ted Ligety. … His eighth in GS. … His 11th top 10 of the season. … fifth in GS. … The result for John Kucera matches his sixth best career World Cup result. … He has been better in GS twice before a fifth at Alta Badia and 12th at Adelboden both this season. … It is the 72nd career top 15 for Thomas Grandi. … 36th in GS. … His result of 14th matches his third best finish of the season. … He has been 14th in four of the nine races scored in this season.
    Aksel Lund Svindal wins the GS title 416-380 over Massimiliano Blardone with Benjamin Raich third at 319. … Bode Miller leads North Americans on the final GS list in sixth at 232. … Ted Ligety finishes eighth at 212. … John Kucera 15th at 87. …Svindal regains the lead in the overall standings 1252-1155 over Benjamin Raich (1st run DNF). … Didier Cuche (4th in race) is third overall with 1098 and Bode Miller fourth at 882. … Erik Guay is the next North American in tenth at 529 and Ligety is 12th at 516. … Winning margin in .21. … Top five skiers within a second. … Top 10 within two.

Lenzerheide Men's World Cup giant slalom results

Did not finish 1st run:
MAIER Hermann (AUT), RAICH Benjamin (AUT)

Did not finish 2nd run:
SCHEIBER Mario (AUT), CHENAL Joel (FRA)

Disqualified 1st run:
DEFAGO Didier (SUI)

World Cup World Cup men's giant slalom standings
(after 6 of 6 races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 416.
2. Massimiliano Blardone, Italy, 380.
3. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 319.
4. Kalle Palander, Finland, 299.
5. Francois Bourque, Canada, 249.
6. Bode Miller, United States, 232.
7. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 223.
8. Ted Ligety, United States, 212.
9. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 163.
10. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 119.
11. Joel Chenal, France, 118.
12. Davide Simoncelli, Italy, 104.
13. Hannes Reichelt, Austria, 102.
14. Alberto Schieppati, Italy, 101.
15. John Kucera, Canada, 87.
16. Hermann Maier, Austria, 86.
17. Thomas Fanara, France, 81.
18. Rainer Schoenfelder, Austria, 79.
19. Christoph Gruber, Austria, 71.
20. Daniel Albrecht, Switzerland, 67.
(tie) Thomas Grandi, Canada, 67.

World Cup men's overall standings
(after 35 of 36 races)
1. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 1,252 points.
2. Benjamin Raich, Austria, 1,155.
3. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 1,098.
4. Bode Miller, United States, 882.
5. Peter Fill, Italy, 694.
6. Mario Matt, Austria, 664.
7. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 635.
8. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 584.
9. Marc Berthod, Switzerland, 541.
10. Erik Guay, Canada, 529.
11. Kalle Palander, Finland, 522.
12. Ted Ligety, United States, 516.
13. Didier Defago, Switzerland, 515.
14. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 498.
15. Silvan Zurbriggen, Switzerland, 497.
16. Christoph Gruber, Austria, 479.
17. Jens Byggmark, Sweden, 461.
18. Hermann Maier, Austria, 452.
19. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 393.
20. Massimiliano Blardone, Italy, 390