Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Rahlves wins Sestriere downhill, Bode fades

World Cup wraps up

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U.S. Ski Team ace Bode Miller, 26, carried away a crystal globe from the World Cup Finals at Sestriere, Italy last weekend—but it wasn’t the globe he was looking to achieve at the site of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

Miller, helped by fog that canceled Saturday’s giant slalom, won the World Cup giant slalom championship by a 61-point margin over Finland’s Kalle Palander. Good thing that fog wiped out the second run, because Miller skied off-course in the first run.

His season-long pursuit of the World Cup overall championship fell short because the best Miller could do in the technical races was seventh place in Sunday’s slalom finale.

The disappointing finish also hurt the American quest for second place in the Nation’s Cup behind Austria. The U.S. Ski Team finished third in the Nation’s Cup, just 64 behind Italy.

So the overall crystal globe, his fourth, when to Austria’s remarkable comeback man Hermann Maier, 31.

Maier’s total of 1265 points was 42 points ahead of two-time defending World Cup overall king Stephan Eberharter of Austria, with 1223. Miller settled for fourth place with 1134 points and teammate Daron Rahlves was fifth with 1004 points.

It was the first time since 1982 that the U.S. Ski Team placed two men in the top five overall. Phil Mahre won the overall championship and brother Steve Mahre was third 22 years ago.

Rahlves, 30, the winningest American man in World Cup downhill history, had an amazing finish to his season and ended up second in the downhill and super giant slalom standings. Rahlves won Wednesday’s men’s DH, his eighth World Cup victory.

The women’s overall champion was Anja Paerson, 22, of Sweden, with 1561 points over Renate Goetschl of Austria, 1344. Paerson’s giant slalom triumph Sunday was her 11th Cup win this season. She won the SL and GS titles by substantial margins.

The U.S. Ski Team heads to the Chevrolet U.S. Alpine Championships later this week at Alyeska, Ak. Friday is the scheduled day for the national championships downhill.

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Here is last week’s World Cup Finals wrap-up along with final standings in each discipline:

Men’s DH March 10: 1—Daron Rahlves 1:51.88. 2—Fritz Strobl (Aust.) 1:51.98. 22—Bode Miller 1:54.12.

Men’s SG March 11: 1—Hermann Maier (Aust.) 1:18.73. 12—Daron Rahlves 1:20.24. DNF—Bode Miller.

Men’s GS March 13: Canceled by fog.

Men’s SL March 14: 1—Kalle Palander (Fin.) 1:49.67. 7—Bode Miller 1:50.36. 22—Tom Rothrock 1:51.73.

Final men’s World Cup overall standings: 1—Hermann Maier (Aust.) 1265. 2—Stephan Eberharter (Aust.) 1223. 3—Benjamin Raich (Aust.) 1139. 4—Bode Miller 1134. 5—Daron Rahlves 1004.

 

Top two by discipline:

Downhill: 1—Stephan Eberharter (Aust.) 831. 2—Daron Rahlves 627. 23—Bode Miller 96. Super giant slalom: 1—Hermann Maier (Aust.) 580. 2—Daron Rahlves 349. 25—Bode Miller 52. Giant slalom: 1—Bode Miller 410. 2—Kalle Palander (Fin.) 349. 33—Rahlves 37. Slalom: 1—Rainer Schoenfelder (Aust.) 630. 2—Palander 395. 5—Miller 376.

Women’s DH March 10: 1—Renate Goetschl (Aust.) 1:45.01. 13—Bryna McCarty 1:46.63. 22—Caroline Lalive 1:47.96. 24—Jonna Mendes 1:48.65. DNF—Lindsey Kildow.

Women’s SG March 11: 1—Nadia Styger (Switz.) 1:25.53. 18—Libby Ludlow 1:27.08. 26—Caroline Lalive 1:29.02.

Women’s SL March 13: 1—Marlies Schild (Aust.) 1:41.82. 2—Sarah Schleper 1:42.03. 12—Kristina Koznick 1:42.96. 13—Resi Stiegler 1:43.12.

Women’s GS March 14: 1—Anja Paerson (Swe.) 2:13.70. 7—Sarah Schleper 2:15.66.

Final women’s World Cup standings: 1—Anja Paerson (Swe). 1561. 2—Renate Goetschl (Aust.) 1344. 13—Kirsten Clark 456. 17—Sarah Schleper 416. 21—Kristina Koznick 352. 27—Caroline Lalive 292. 30—Lindsey Kildow 265.

 

Top two women by discipline:

Downhill: 1—Renate Goetschl (Aust.) 680. 2—Hilde Gerg (Germ.) 546. 9—Kirsten Clark 228. 14—Lindsey Kildow 158. 20—Caroline Lalive 107. Super giant slalom: 1—Goetschl 467. 2—Carole Montillet (Fra.) 402. 11—Lalive 178. 16—Clark 141. 26—Kildow 62.

Slalom: 1—Anja Paerson (Swe.) 770. 2—Marlies Schild (Aust.) 447. 8—Kristina Koznick 297. 11—Sarah Schleper 215. 38—Lindsey Kildow 38. Giant slalom: 1—Paerson (Swe.) 630. 2—Denise Karbon (Italy) 343. 12—Schleper 201. 20—Clark 87. 27—Koznick 55. 45—Kildow 13. 50—Lalive 7.

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