This season, Reinfried Herbst owned Schladming. The 30 year old Austrian slalom ace took his second win of the season amidst a steady snowfall in front of thousands of boisterous home country fans putting up a huge 1.16 second margin over his teammate Manfred Pranger.

Croatian Ivica Kostelic took third with a strong second run that moved him up from fifth, but the first run leads of Herbst and Pranger proved too much to overcome. The placing proved most beneficial for the World Cup overall standings leader when his two closest competitors, Benjamin Raich and Jean-Baptiste Grange both failed to finish the second run.

Bode Miller and Ted Ligety both made up ground on the second run to finish eighth and ninth respectively on a night when the noise level could be felt on course and the falling snow made visibility diffiult. Canadian Michael Janyk registered a fabulous second run, moving up from 19th to finish tenth.

Herbst, the winner of the Adelboden slalom Jan. 11 and second to Pranger at Wengen Jan. 18 fed off a snow pelted crowd of mostly partisan Austrian fans and took a .58 of a second lead over Pranger in the first run, nearly doubling the cushion in the second heat. With fireworks, flares and air horns reaching a crescendo, he duplicated his first run strategy, finding the rhythm high on the course and pressing hard along the bottom third to pull away.

The surreal setting may have helped. "I was like in a trance," Herbst told reporters after jumping in the snow, "and I'm really surprised myself how neatly I won."

He said winning a race in Austria "fulfilled my dream," adding, "this is the most beautiful win of my career."

Pranger has now combined with Herbst for three one-two finishes in the last four slaloms said he was aware of some nervousness in the starthouse for the second run, but was still confident. "We again showed today that we have the best team in slalom this season," he said to reporters.

A bit lost in the excitement of a one-two sweep for the home team was Kostelic boosting his lead in the overall standings. While it is a longshot he can maintain the lead, he says, "It is not totally unrealistic. If there is chance to seize I will take it. The Austrians were unbeatable today and I was of two minds about what to do, secure points or go for it in the second leg. I think my run was a fine balance."

HIs caution may have played to his advantage. Ligety said the course set, particularly in the second run, called for solid tactics, something evidenced by five skiers, including Raich and Grange, going out.

"It's impossible to ski trying to go for it," Ligety said of the course. "The top section is set so straight, that if you hammer on it you have no chance to make it around the delay… or no chance to make that second hairpin.  So in between those spots you have to be dead-on or you're going to go out. Everybody who made it down had to give up something at those spots.

He said he was feeling frustration with his season. "I feel I'm skiing better than last year, but luck hasn't been going my way. Slalom has gotten more competitive. Hopefully I stay in the top seed. Right now, I'm happy with that."

Janyk agreed the second run was difficult. "Everyone as making mistakes in the second run," he said. "I skied incredible in the second run and it just didn't holdf up as long as I thought it would. But anytime you are in the top ten, it's a good day."

The SCOOP

Equipment
Men's (night) Slalom, Schladming, Austria, Jan. 27, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Herbst, Blizzard/Tecnica/Marker
2 Pranger, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
3 Kostelic, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Zurbriggen, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
6 Vajdic, Elan//Atomic
7 Brolenius, Elan/Nordica/Elan
8 Miller, Head/Head/Tyrolia
9 Ligety, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Janyk, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Men's slalom, Schladming, Austria, Jan. 27, 2009. … The Schladming Night Race. … It is the 25th race of the men's 38 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the seventh of 10 scheduled slaloms. … It is the 31st World Cup race held at Schladming, the 15th World Cup slalom at Schladming and the 13th consecutive night slalom.

It is the fifth career World Cup win for Reinfried Herbst, all in slalom. … It is his second win of the season in four completed slaloms, all them coming in January. … His best previous result in the Schladming slalom had been 11th in 2007.

It is the tenth career World Cup podium for Manfred Pranger, all in slalom. … It is his third podium of the season, all of them coming in January. … He and Herbst have been one-two three times this season at Wengen, Adelboden and Schladming. … Pranger won the Schladming slalom in 2005 his last victory before winning Wengen this season.

It is the 28th career World Cup podium for Ivica Kostelic. … His 22nd in slalom (includes a knock-out slalom in 2002). … It is his sixth podium of the season, his fourth in slalom. … His only win this season came in a night slalom in Zagreb.

It is the 23rd top eight in 32 completed World Cup slaloms for Bode Miller's career. … It is his sixth best result of the season and his second best of three slalom scores this season. … It is the 47th career World Cup top 10 for Ted Ligety. … His sixth of the season. … It is his best slalom result of the season, the 16th best of his Cup career…. It is his second best result at Schladming after a fourth in 2008. … It is the 15th top 10 result for Michael Janyk's World Cup career. … All coming in slalom. … It is his second best result of the season. … He has finished tenth three times this season at Zagreb, Kitzbuehel and Schladming. … He was eighth at Wengen. … It is the 12th career scoring result for Patrick Biggs, all of them in slalom. … He matches his best of three results this season in 21st, scored at Alta Badia.

Ivica Kostelic maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 735-660 over Benjamin Raich (2nd run DNF). … Jean-Baptiste Grange (2nd run DNF) hold third at 656, just ahead of Aksel Svindal (did not race) with 655. … Bode Miller is the top American on the list, moving up to eighth with 477pts. … Grange maintains the lead of the slalom standings 429-401 over Kostelic. … Herbst moves to third at 316 and Pranger to fourth at 299. … Miller, in 14th, is the top North Americans with 127pts.

By Hank McKee    
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
SkiRacing.com

RESULTS

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  4  50605 HERBST Reinfried  1978  AUT   47.73  49.59  1:37.32  0.00
 2  13  50624 PRANGER Manfred  1978  AUT   48.31  50.17  1:38.48  7.15
 3  6  380260 KOSTELIC Ivica  1979  CRO   48.83  49.72  1:38.55  7.58
 4  3  292491 MOELGG Manfred  1982  ITA   48.57  50.27  1:38.84  9.37
 5  16  510890 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan  1981  SUI   48.89  50.07  1:38.96  10.11
 6  18  560425 VAJDIC Bernard  1980  SLO   49.38  49.81  1:39.19  11.53
 7  19  500499 BROLENIUS Johan  1977  SWE   49.11  50.11  1:39.22  11.71
 8  17  532431 MILLER Bode  1977  USA   49.54  49.80  1:39.34  12.45
 9  14  534562 LIGETY Ted  1984  USA   49.45  50.04  1:39.49  13.38
 10  24  102435 JANYK Michael  1982  CAN   49.79  49.85  1:39.64  14.30
 11  8  501017 MYHRER Andre  1983  SWE   49.36  50.39  1:39.75  14.98
 12  28  293098 RAZZOLI Giuliano  1984  ITA   49.26  50.65  1:39.91  15.97
 13  38  150644 KRYZL Krystof  1986  CZE   49.79  50.74  1:40.53  19.79
 14  42  301709 YUASA Naoki  1983  JPN   49.14  51.54  1:40.68  20.72
 15  12  501111 HARGIN Mattias  1985  SWE   49.56  51.18  1:40.74  21.09
 16  51  50900 KOLL Alexander  1982  AUT   50.00  50.78  1:40.78  21.33
 17  9  290478 ROCCA Giorgio  1975  ITA   49.78  51.11  1:40.89  22.01
 18  22  560371 DRAGSIC Mitja  1979  SLO   50.19  50.84  1:41.03  22.87
 19  55  92591 ALBRECHT Kilian  1973  BUL   49.43  51.66  1:41.09  23.24
 20  57  50997 OMMINGER Andreas  1983  AUT   50.25  50.94  1:41.19  23.86
 21  44  102456 BIGGS Patrick  1982  CAN   50.05  54.60  1:44.65  45.19
 22  45  192504 MERMILLOD BLONDIN Thomas  1984  FRA   50.44  58.46  1:48.90  71.39
 23  52  910000 IMBODEN Urs  1975  MDA   50.39  59.31  1:49.70  76.33
 24  26  50981 HOERL Wolfgang  1983  AUT   50.46  1:03.48  1:53.94  102.47
 25  61  480736 HOROSHILOV Alexandr  1984  RUS   50.42  1:13.20  2:03.62  162.15