John Kucera imitated the previous three World Champions from Val d'Isère to clinch his first ever FIS gold medal after an exciting downhill race marred by changing weather conditions. The 24-year-old from Calgary started in second position under a bright sunshine to set a time which remained out of reach for the other favorites who mostly had to ski the steepest slope ever used at a major championships with a lower visibility. Some of them even had to deal with foggy patches on the upper part.

Kucera beat by 4/100 of a second Switzerland's Didier Cuche and by 17/100 Carlo Janka to become Canada's first men's Alpine skiing World Champion in Val d'Isère. Veteran Marco Buechel was 4th ahead of France's Adrien Theau and Austria's evergreen Hermann Maier.

USA's Bode Miller and Aksel Lund Svindal, both very fast during the last practise run won by Cuche, struggled on their way down the treacherous 'La Face' course and finished only 8th and 11th. Miller, the 2005 downhill king, skied when the visibility was at his poorest as clouds started to cover the top of the Bellevarde mountain.

Several skiers suffered bad crashes including another Canadian, Jan Hudec, who apparently tore again ligaments at his left knee during his fall. Didier Defago, the recent winner at Wengen and Kitzbühel, also lost his balance at mid-course after clocking the fastest intermediates times.

It was unreal for Kucera!

So far, the skier from Alberta never reached a single podium in downhill yet he proved in November 2006 by winning a Super-G race at Lake Louise that he is no stranger to speed. "It's unreal, absolutely amazing," Kucera said, his gold medal coming just one year ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on home snow. "Often in my career I've been unlucky with the weather or course conditions - but not today."

"It was surely an advantage to start early. The course was in great shape and I achieved an almost flawless run. I felt confident today after my strong 6th place in Super-G earlier this week and I knew I had a chance to do well again in this race - but for sure I didn't expect at all to win."

A technically skilled skier, Kucera had to overcome difficult moments in his career to reach that exclusive summit, two years after his colleague Jan Hudec grabbed silver at Are, in Sweden. "My family moved in 1980 from Czechoslovakia to Canada where I was born in 1984 and I learned to ski near Banff, at Mt. Norquay but it was not easy," he told the press.

"My parents had to get two mortgages on their house to cover the training expenses when I was younger," he recalls. Three years ago, John was also very affected by the accidental death of one of his junior trainers, killed on the highway while riding his bike. Six months later, he won his first World Cup race at Lake Louise with bib number 1!

"I didn't particularly focus on this World Championships this season, I was too busy searching why I was having so many problems finding my best rhythm," he also explained. "I was often unlucky with the weather like at Val Gardena where it was very windy during my run, but today everything was fine for me. I surely did the best out of the fair weather conditions. It's nice to be lucky sometimes."

Interestingly enough, Ken Read, one of the leaders of the legendary 'Crazy Canucks' group which strongly challenged the Austrian for supremacy in downhill racing in the late 1970's, celebrated his very first triumph in December 1975 not far from the Bellevarde slopes, at La Daille. In the following years, his teammate Steve Podborski also became one of the best speed specialists on the tour, clinching Olympic bronze at Lake Placid in 1980 and the downhill World Cup title in 1982.

"The Crazy Canucks definitely inspired the following generations of Canadian racers, and our group also aims to keep their tradition alive in the coming seasons, especially next year at Vancouver. We like to call ourselves the 'Canadian Cowboys' because we like to ride wild courses," also explained Kucera. "It's great for us that the next Olympics take place in British Columbia. The course is quite different than this one but the most important to me is to have proved my capacity to excel at big occasions. It should help me to fight hard for more success in the coming winters."

Didier Cuche was happy too!

Dider Cuche came very close to a golden double but was not complaining. "I didn't lose the gold, I won the silver," said the 34-year-old, who became the oldest men's World Champion on Wednesday by winning the Super-G. "I was lucky to wear again bib 16 today, the visibility was not as perfect as for the early starters but I managed to come through without too many problems. I made a few mistakes here and there but this is normal on such a demanding course. To be again on the podium today is wonderful, I feel absolutely relieved and happy," also added the Swiss who has now a full collection of FIS medals, having won bronze in giant slalom at Are two years ago.

"My best event is still to come. I feel really strong too in giant slalom. Having skied that slope for almost a week should be a nice advantage. Now I have to find the most adapted equipment for the race. The course is very narrow here and the skis have to be very quick and powerful in the same time. I surely aim for another strong race and maybe another medal. But I'm perfectly satisfied with what I have reached here so far."

Two runs for Walchhofer.

There was a dose of controversy when 2003 World Champion Michael Walchhofer of Austria was allowed to restart after clocking the 12th fastest time in his first run. Walchhofer was granted a second chance because race officials let him enter the course despite a 'start-stop' order given by race director Gunter Hujara because of poor visibility down the Bellevarde course.

Unfortunately for Walchhofer, Hujara's call radioed to the start-referee was inaudible because of technical interferences and the Austrian team protested afterwards. Precise checking of the taped radio signal showed that neither the start-referee nor the jury made any mistake so the result of Michael's second run was cancelled. He managed to improve on his time slightly and finished 9th afterwards.

Fellow Austrian Hermann Maier was the first to start but the 36-year-old, no longer the awe-inspiring skier he once was, managed only sixth place in what might have been his last race at major championships. "Walchhofer started a revolution today," Maier joked. "From now on we'll race downhills over two runs."

MMJL
valdisere2009.org
Saturday, 07 February 2009

Re-run not enough for Michael Walchhoder

Current downhill World Cup leader Michael Walchhofer achieved a unique feat by skiing two gruelling downhills within an hour, but it was not enough for the towering Austrian to snatch a medal at the World Championships in Val d'Isere on Saturday. The 2003 World Champion was allowed to restart after completing a first run because of an apparent mistake by race officials.

"There was a start-stop announced by the race director Gunter Hujara and yet the start referee let him go," said Austrian team chief Hans Pum. 12th after his first run, Walchhofer went faster the second time to finish 9th after clocking faster intermediate time than Canadian leader John Kucera. But the race jury finally ruled that the Austrian should, after all, not have rerun since the start referee could not clearly hear and understand the order of Hujara because of signal interference.

"It was a revolution in skiing today. Thanks to Michael, we will race downhills in two legs from now on," joked his team-mate Hermann Maier, the downhill World Champion in February 1999 at Beaver Creek

Most other skiers were full of praise for Walchhofer's effort. Silver medal winner Didier Cuche said at the post race presse conference that Walchhofer deserved a 'diamond medal' for his amazing achievment.

But the Austrian, also downhill bronze-medallist in 2005 in Bormio and silver medallist at the 2006 Olympics, was disillusioned. "It's a big disappointment. I did not come here to finish 9th after going through a rerun," he said. "There was a lot of confusion at the start. I put my shoes on and off, I did not know whether I should wait or go. It was a mess," he added.

Fortunately, the 33- year-old skier from Altenmarkt, winner this season of his 11tth downhill in Val Gardena , vowed to turn the page and move on to other things. "I'm going to forget about this quickly and concentrate on my other goals for the season, like winning again the downhill World Cup title," he said. Other skiers were however impressed by the Austrian's courage.

"With the fatigue, I wouldn't have gone down this piste again," said American Bode Miller, the 2005 downhill World Champion. "You don't go down a piste like this, or Bormio, or Kitzbuehel, twice in the same day. It's crazy and it's dangerous, he could have suffered a bad crash," said Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel, who finished 4th. "What Michael did is just unbelievable," said former World medallist Hans Knauss, now a member of the Austrian television staff. "But it was not enough for a medal."

MMJL
valdisere2009.org
Saturday, 07 February 2009

What's next for Hermann Maier

Hermann Maier finished an unexpected 6th in what could have been his very last race in a major championship in Val d'Isere on Saturday but he kept vague about his future. Asked after the downhill if this was his last 'big' race, the 1999 downhill world champion who suffered a bad flue earlier this week vaguely answered : "I don't know yet. Every race now is a big race."

The three times world and double Olympic champion added it was too early to tell whether he would take part in the Vancouver Olympics next year: "I haven't made a decision yet. We'll have to wait and see."

Maier, who was has not won a downhill in the two past seasons, opened the way for the rest of the field on the 'La Face' Bellevarde piste and said it had not necessarily been a plus.

"Bib number one was not so good today. The visibility was probably better than for later skiers but the snow was very soft and I had to make my own track," he explained."I made too many unnecessary errors in the lower part which surely costed me a medal. It would have been fantastic, but I can't be unhappy of this result considering my physical shape and my recent downhill results".

The 36-year-old veteran who only started to compete in 1996 on the the World Cup tour still feels much fire in him, especially after finding back most of his past form during last summer training camps. Unfortunately, he injured himself at his back in October which forced him to rest for several weeks.

"It's mostly a matter of how my body will be feeling next spring and if I'm still enjoying training. It's just too bad that this race doesn't already count as a qualification race for Vancouver! If I would have won it, I would have been also qualified for the 2011 Worlds at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. It would have been fun to end my career where I celebrated my first major victory in 1997."

After his terrible motorcycle accident in August 2001 following another amazing series of 13 season-wins, Maier's attitude towards competition changed dramatically. After missing the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City, he achieved an impressive comeback in January 2003 winning again a Super-G at Kitzbühel and a silver medal at the Worlds at St Moritz and his fourth Overall Worldl Cup title in 2004 at Sestriere. In 2005 he became an unpredictable World Champion in giant slalom and clinched two more medals at the 2006 Olympics at Sestriere, missing a third gold in Super-G by only a few hundredths.

Two difficult seasons with little or now success followed in 2007 and 2008 but Hermann never complained and never behaved as a 'has-been'. He rather spoke at length about all the pleasure he was still taking cruising down the fast slopes and also changed his equipment in summer 2007 in order to find back a new momentum.

"I don't need to win as much as before, I just enjoy skiing fast and I just need once in a while to feel able to win again," the former 'Herminator' also explained. "I was very obsessed by winning a few years ago, I could not support to lose, but it's quite different now."

Super-G specialist John Kucera, who started immediately behind Maier, was the final winner of the day but Hermann Maier said the Canadian may have been helped by his own run and choice of line. "I think he followed my tracks. In a way, he partly owes his victory to me," he said, with a broad smile.

Kucera did not disagree: "It was a privilege to start after one of the greatest skiers of all time. And when I saw the lead I had on him at the finish, I knew I would not be far from the top."

Maier showed he was far from finished when he won a Super-G in Lake Louise earlier this season, but he entered the 2009 Val d'Isère World Championships with a bad cold and was never really in contention, either in the opening Super-G or in Saturday's downhill. He confirmed he would not take part in the giant slalom in Val d'Isere. "Today, it was not so bad, but I felt too tired in the lower part. That's where I lost a medal, I think," he also said.

He will take now a short break prior focusing on the coming speed events at Kvifjtel, in Norway. Interestingly enough, Marco Buechel from Liechtenstein, who turned 37 last fall, finish in front hf Maier in 4th place - missing a remarkable medal by only a few hundredths. He is the oldest winner on the World Cup tour - and he was keen to challenge Sweden's Patrik Jaerbyn, 3rd in downhill at Are a few months prior turning 38!

MMJL
valdisere2009.org
Saturday, 07 February 2009