Svindal finishes in the points to win overall title

LENZERHEIDE  ( 18/03/2007 12:24 ) (AP) - Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway won the men's World Cup overall title on Sunday after making sure he finished in the points in the last race of the season.

Defending overall champion Benjamin Raich of Austria, who led after the opening run of the slalom, needed to win the race and hope that Svindal failed to score any points.

Svindal crossed fifth in the second leg with 11 skiers still to race after him. The Norwegian took the overall title when Sweden's Markus Larsson, the next skier on the course, finished slower than him _ assuring Svindal a place in the top 15.

Raich won the race, which also earned him the World Cup slalom crystal globe.

"Congratulations to Aksel," Raich said. "He had some great skiing this season." Raich won with a combined time of 1 minute, 39.78 seconds, followed by teammate Mario Matt in 1:40.75. Italy's Manfred Moelgg was third in 1:41.52.

Just 24 hours ago, Raich looked almost certain to win the overall title. But the Austrian surrendered the overall lead to Svindal after swerving off course in Saturday's giant slalom.

Svindal has been unbeatable at this week's World Cup finals, winning the downhill, super-G and giant slalom races within four days. In winning the GS, he also snatched Raich's World Cup discipline crown.

    
Hosp wins giant slalom to take World Cup overall title

LENZERHEIDE ( 18/03/2007 13:48 ) (AP) - Nicole Hosp of Austria clinched the World Cup overall title on Sunday after winning the women's giant slalom at the season finale.

Teammate Marlies Schild, who surrendered the overall lead after a disastrous performance in Saturday's slalom, needed to make up 30 points on Hosp to win the most covered World Cup crystal globe.

But Schild finished only 10th in the opening leg while Hosp took the lead. Schild could only have won after that if she finished eighth in the second leg and Hosp went out or finished out of the points.

Only the top 15 finishers score at the final, instead of the usual top-30 in regular season races. A 15th-place finish is worth 16 points.

It marked the first time in five years that an Austrian woman has won the overall title. The last four were evenly shared by Sweden's Anja Paerson and Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won last year's edition and sat out this season for health reasons.

"I gained valuable points in the slalom yesterday when Marlies went out," Hosp said. "And I'm strong in the GS and I know it. A lot of things were going through my head but I worked hard to concentrate on just skiing well." With the victory, Hosp also claimed the giant slalom World Cup globe.

The last time Austria's women accomplished the feat was in the 1998-99 season, but there were only five titles then, since none was awarded for the combined. In all, the Austrian women won 23 races this season and produced 54 podium results.

Hosp, the giant slalom world champion, charged down the Silvano Beltrametti course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 11.98 seconds, 1.42 faster than runner-up Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany. Austria's Michaela Kirchgasser placed third in 2:13.51.

Schild had seemed the favorite for the overall title after doing well earlier this week in the speed events, her weakest disciplines. And after winning seven slaloms this season, Schild had been expected to score a large number of points in Saturday's slalom but twice veered off course and hiked back uphill to re-run the gates to finish out of the points. Hosp won the race to grab 100 points and take the overall lead.

Freakish World Cup season ends in suspense

LENZERHEIDE, ( 19/03/2007 09:51 ) Switzerland (AP) _ This winter's warm weather led to some bizarre results on the World Cup circuit.

Aksel Lund Svindal and Nicole Hosp handled the often surreal situations by remaining cool and consistent, and each was rewarded with an overall World Cup title.

"It's important you don't let yourself be down, or be disturbed. Not to think too much about things," said Svindal, who won the men's title Sunday by beating defending champion Benjamin Raich by 13 points. "I stayed realistic. I stayed consistent. And now I've won the biggest thing there is in Alpine skiing." With the spring-like temperatures early this season, there was more mud than snow at many ski resorts across Europe.

Race courses were flanked by brown grass and organizers desperately tried to carpet the slopes with man-made snow.

The generally soft conditions led to more than a few strange finishes. At Wengen, Switzerland, organizers scrapped a men's super-combi after the famous Lauberhorn downhill course was damaged by rain. Kitzbuehel, Austria, transported in about 4,000 cubic meters (141,250 cubic feet) of snow by helicopter from higher-lying regions. It cost several hundred thousand euros (dollars) and despite their efforts, they were forced to scrap the notorious Hahnenkamm downhill and staged only a pair of slaloms.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, another classic stop on the circuit, also had to ship in snow.

"The coaches say 'Wengen is canceled. It's Chamonix instead.' A lot of races were canceled or moved. But you just have to accept it," Svindal said. "You do the race.

It doesn't matter where it is. You get up in the morning for inspection." The world championships in Are, Sweden, were one of the few exceptions, with plenty of snow and cold temperatures, sometimes dipping as low as minus 27 degrees Celsius (minus 17 F).

The races produced some unexpected results with Patrick Staudacher of Italy winning the super-G, Daniel Albrecht of Switzerland taking the combined, and Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic clinching the women's slalom.

Svindal won the downhill and giant slalom, while Paerson swept the super-G, combined and downhill titles. It was odd without defending overall champion Janica Kostelic, who had always set some kind of record at major international events. The Croat, who sat out the season because of health issues, became the most successful female skier in Olympic history when she won gold and silver at last year's Turin Games. She earned victories in all five Alpine disciplines last season.

Paerson focused on the world championships on home snow and won three gold medals, but remained winless on the World Cup until the final super-G.

Hermann Maier had his worst World Cup season ever, with just one podium result.

"This is my first season that wasn't so good. That means a lot," said Maier, who has suggested he'll be back next season. "It's been 10 years in the World Cup. Eight seasons," added Maier, who was sidelined for 18 months after a motorcycle accident in 2001 nearly cost him a leg. "You get a bit slower if you don't have the fire. That will be very important for me to get this back." It might not have been a stellar season for the veterans, but it was a great one for the circuit's new generation.

The men's side saw skiers from 12 different nations win races, and the Swiss team enjoyed a spectacular renaissance. Didier Cuche and Marc Berthod gave a pair of victories to the Swiss men's team, which also posted 11 other podium results. The women had two top-three performances.

Berthod's slalom victory at Adelboden, Switzerland, ended a three-year winless streak for Switzerland's men, one that stretched to seven years in the discipline.

Once an Alpine skiing superpower, Switzerland has struggled while Austria took over the last 14 years. Repeated changes in the coaching staff, poor development teams and bad equipment choices all lead to Switzerland's decline. Cuche even had a shot at the overall World Cup title until the final races, but left with the downhill globe anyway. Both overall titles came down to the wire in the final run on the final day.

 "That's the idea of the final," International ski Federation president Gian Franco Kasper said.

Raich looked sure to reclaim the overall title, but surrendered the lead to Svindal a day before the season's finale after swerving off course in the giant slalom.

In a similar scenario on the women's side, Schild surrendered the overall lead after a disastrous slalom performance on the penultimate day. She needed to make up 30 points on Hosp in the final GS but Hosp clinched the title after winning the race.

Austria's women won all six World Cup titles. Hosp won the overall and GS, Schild took the slalom and combined, and speed specialist Renate Goetschl won the downhill and super-G titles.

The last time Austria's women accomplished the feat was in the 1998-99 season, but there were only five titles then, since none was awarded for the combined. In all, the Austrian women won 23 races this season and produced 54 podium results. Austria once again easily won the Nation's Cup with 14,735 points. Switzerland finished second with 5,861 points, while the United States was third with 5,297.  

OVERAL STANDING ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP 2006/2007 

MEN
  ALL  DH  SL  GS  SG  KB
  Name Nation  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts
  SVINDAL Aksel Lund  NOR   1 1268  7 321  21 118  1 416  5 181  1 232
  RAICH Benjamin  AUT   2 1255  32 59  1 605  3 319  13 106  5 166
  CUCHE Didier  SUI   3 1098  1 652       7 223  2 208  34 15
  MILLER Bode  USA   4 882  8 318  55 8  6 232  1 304  28 20
  MATT Mario  AUT   5 744       2 600  25 42       11 102
  FILL Peter  ITA   6 694  4 382       25 42  9 143  7 127
  BUECHEL Marco  LIE   7 635  2 471       35 18  8 146     
  BERTHOD Marc  SUI   8 591       6 322  22 52  36 15  2 202
  SCHEIBER Mario  AUT   9 584  9 254       24 44  4 190  14 96
  PALANDER Kalle  FIN   10 546       9 247  4 299          
  LIGETY Ted  USA   11 534  35 50  15 170  8 212       11 102
  GUAY Erik  CAN   12 529  3 393            10 136     
  ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  SUI   13 523  26 104  14 171       18 79  4 169
  DEFAGO Didier  SUI   14 515  21 158       9 163  14 100  15 94
  BYGGMARK Jens  SWE   15 506       3 490            33 16
  WALCHHOFER Michael  AUT   16 498  5 370       33 22  21 75  26 31
  GRUBER Christoph  AUT   17 479  11 242       19 71  7 153  36 13
  MOELGG Manfred  ITA   18 453       5 334  10 119          
  MAIER Hermann  AUT   19 452  18 189       16 86  6 177     
  BLARDONE Massimiliano  ITA   20 390            2 380  44 7  49 3
  BOURQUE Francois  CAN   21 379  48 15       5 249  22 74  23 41
  LARSSON Markus  SWE   22 376       4 340  32 25       39 11
  KUCERA John  CAN   23 370  38 47       15 87  3 194  22 42
  JERMAN Andrej  SLO   24 366  6 339            33 18  44 9
  KOSTELIC Ivica  CRO   25 344       16 144            3 200
  NYMAN Steven  USA   26 340  10 250            25 47  21 43
  ALBRECHT Daniel  SUI   27 334  30 80  22 104  20 67  31 22  18 61
  STROBL Fritz  AUT   28 314  15 220            15 94     
  GRANGE Jean-Baptiste  FRA   29 309       10 242            17 67
  GRUGGER Hans  AUT   30 306  19 182            12 124     

WOMEN
  ALL  DH  SL  GS  SG  KB
  Name Nation  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts  rank pts
  HOSP Nicole  AUT   1 1572  20 122  2 418  1 490  2 352  3 190
  SCHILD Marlies  AUT   2 1482  12 199  1 760  12 168  14 135  1 220
  MANCUSO Julia  USA   3 1356  2 536  24 77  4 275  4 273  2 195
  GOETSCHL Renate  AUT   4 1300  1 705       26 55  1 540     
  PAERSON Anja  SWE   5 885  4 293  12 188  13 152  6 202  14 50
  KILDOW Lindsey C  USA   6 808  3 390  37 28       3 310  7 80
  POUTIAINEN Tanja  FIN   7 783       6 332  2 419       22 32
  KIRCHGASSER Michaela  AUT   8 657       13 148  3 357       4 152
  ZAHROBSKA Sarka  CZE   9 593       3 405  20 80  45 11  6 97
  JACQUEMOD Ingrid  FRA   10 584  5 264       17 119  16 124  9 77
  GOERGL Elisabeth  AUT   11 568  14 184  35 39  11 171  23 96  8 78
  ZETTEL Kathrin  AUT   11 568       8 257  7 206  31 45  11 60
  FISCHBACHER Andrea  AUT   13 488  11 205  39 26  18 86  8 158  35 13
  RIESCH Maria  GER   14 487  7 225  25 72  22 60  18 118  36 12
  OTTOSSON Anna  SWE   15 453       9 215  6 208  51 4  24 26
  BRYDON Emily  CAN   16 414  13 189       46 9  11 140  10 76
  MEISSNITZER Alexandra  AUT   17 413  15 181       34 25  5 207     
  BORSSEN Therese  SWE   18 407       4 389  37 18          
  ZUZULOVA Veronika  SVK   19 383       5 344  32 28       37 11
  VANDERBEEK Kelly  CAN   20 367  8 218            9 149     
  STYGER Nadia  SUI   21 339  6 229            19 110     
  JELUSIC Ana  CRO   22 331       7 328  54 3          
  MOELGG Manuela  ITA   23 314       19 114  8 200          
  AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi  SUI   24 312  17 164       43 11  13 137     
  STIEGLER Resi  USA   25 300  51 3  17 141  31 37       5 119
  PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria  SWE   26 292       15 144  14 148          
  MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie  FRA   27 288  9 215            35 33  17 40
  JANYK Britt  CAN   28 271  26 86            7 167  31 18
  HOELZL Kathrin  GER   29 270       34 40  5 228       47 2
  MAZE Tina  SLO   30 268       51 7  19 81  10 143  19 37