ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. Michael Walchhofer couldn’t be happier – and he showed it vocally with a loud ‘Yeaaaah’ while jumping on top of the podium after the second downhill race at Kvitfjell and waving to the crowd.

Nearly ten years after his first World Cup podium at Val d’Isère in December 2001, the 36-year-old Austrian completed his collection of victories in major World Cup downhill races beating the rest of the field at the end of his nearly flawless run down the ‘Olympiabakken’ course to celebrate his fourth win of the season, his 19th since his first triumph at Lake Louise, Alberta, in December 2003.

No other still-active athlete managed to excel so often on all the slopes regularly visited each winter by the World Cup tour and only a few racers from the calibre of ski legends like Franz Klammer or Stephan Eberharter were able to dominate their colleagues on all the courses they ran during their career.

Today Walchhofer closed the boucle with that superb run finishing ahead of his teammate Klaus Kroell and Switzerland’s new leader Beat Feuz, the winner in Friday’s first speed event here.

From Lake Louise to Kvitfjell, from Wengen to Kitzbühel and from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Val Gardena, Michael Walchhofer won all the pillars of international downhill racing, including Val d’Isère, Beaver Creek or Bormio. Most of his competitors would already be happy with a single victory in one of these ‘majors’…

“I surely can retire now, I won them all, I’m so happy and so proud of myself,” an elated Walchhofer told the press after his run. “I felt so good today, my skis were flying over the snow, it was very exciting,” he added. “I immediately saw that I was very fast when I flew longer than expected in the air at the first jumps, I was very focused and determined too. My 3rd place in yesterday’s race gave me wings, it has been a strong boost for my confidence and it helped me to attack the course with great determination. It has been a long time since I last had that feeling of moving so close to perfection. It was awesome,” commented the veteran from Zauchensee.

“The fact that I move ahead of Didier Cuche in the downhill standings is amazing too – I came here with a delay of 65 points and I thought after the training run that my chances to challenge him till the end were over. But then I found back my winning attitude and achieved a great run in yesterday’s race. I was very satisfied with my 3rd place as the race conditions were not so good for the higher numbers and I knew I could do even better. Today I was a little nervous before my start, just enough to find the right attitude between being aggressive when it counted yet relaxed enough to let my skis run smoothly in the gliding sections.”

“In past seasons, it was much easier for me to find that ‘zone’ because ski racing was all my life and I was eager to achieve a great career. But things have changed in the meantime, I have three kids now and it’s easier to be distracted now. I often had difficulties this year to approach my limits and be totally focused on my races so I made some strange mistakes here and there. But here it clicked perfectly – I skied like in the old days and I’m so happy to be fighting again for a fourth downhill globe. It’s really great when you look back at my last season – I’m happy to have decided to go on for this last season, there is nothing better for an athlete than to leave the scene at the top of his form.”

In Lenzerheide, Didier Cuche will need a great day to come back and be a serious threat to his Austrian colleague in the final downhill of the World Cup season. A small mistake in the middle part of his second run cost him again much time and he had to be content with a rather disappointing 7th place today.

The four-time Hahnenkamm winner may have lost part of his energy and his focus during the past days when arguing with race officials about security on the course, especially at the first big jump that he thought to be too long and too hairy for his companions.

The next downhill race will for sure be worth a trip!

Contributed by Patrick Lang
FISalpine.com
Saturday 12 March 2011

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