The young Carlo Janka, the great revelation of this season, confirmed the hopes of all those close to him by scoring the best time of the first run of the Men's Giant Slalom race which took place this morning on the Bellevarde Slope in excellent weather conditions.

Janka, who had the joy of celebrating his first victory right here, last December, was able to leave his closest pursuers far behind, starting with the Austrian skier Benjamin Raich, Olympic Champion in this discipline, that he managed to beat by half a second. The 3rd, the Italian Massimiliano Blardone, also on the podium in last December, is behind by more than a second.

Janka, nicknamed " Poker Face " by his teammates because of his endless calm, was not impressed by his performance earlier this morning. "In the race, I didn 't really have the impression I was going fast, I was only hoping not to loose too much time on Ted Ligety. In fact, once in the finish area, I realized I had done a very good time and was therefore reassured. I really feel good on this slope, especially after having won here, last December, but the racing conditions are quite different today, notably because of the aggressiveness of the snow due to the cold temperatures. I am going to try my best to make a good second run's time this afternoon."

Benjamin Raich, a veteran of this discipline, has now the opportunity to free Austria by wining their first men's medal. "I have made a satisfying first run but I will have to attack much better this afternoon if I really want to stay on the podium, because we are numerous wanting to get on it. It is a very selective slope and only the best will shine on it."

PL
Friday, 13 February 2009
www.valdisere2009.org

Janka does it again at Val d'Isere for world title

Val d'Isere, France - Carlo Janka of Switzerland won the world championship giant slalom on Friday, two months on the day after getting his first World Cup win on the same hill. Janka, 22, led the way after the first run and hung on to it in the second despite a mistake, winning in a combined total 2 minutes 18.82 seconds for gold six days after a downhill bronze.

Olympic champion Benjamin Raich gave the Austrian men their first medal in Val d'Isere at last, a silver in 1:19.53. Ted Ligety of the United States rose from ninth to third in 2:19.81 minutes.

"I knew after the first run that something was possible today. I had to attack after the mistake but knew that I should have a margin if I mastered the lower part in the same way as in the first run," said Janka.

Janka claimed his first career World Cup win on December 13 on the Val d'Isere hill. He also won a super-combined event in Wengen in January and has now emulated the likes of Michael von Gruenigen and Pirmin Zurbriggen.

It was the second gold for the Swiss in Val d'Isere, following Didier Cuche's super-g title. The Swiss also have three silvers and Janka's downhill bronze to top the medal table going into the final two races, the women's and men's slalom.

Cuche missed a third medal in sixth place and so did defending champion Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway, who came ninth. Ex-champion Bode Miller of the US suffered another disappointment as he went out in the second run.

But there was relief in the Austrian camp as Raich finally delivered a medal for the men's team, which also marked his 13th big event medal and Austria's 250th overall at the worlds.

"I took every risk, skied for victory. But that didn't work out and I must be happy with silver," said the 30-year-old Raich.

Janka's win, meanwhile, was the second good news for the Swiss ski team as doctors in Innsbruck, Austria, said earlier Friday that the 2007 combined event world champion Daniel Albrecht won't suffer permanent lung or neurological damage from a horror crash in training for the Kitzbuehel downhill last month.

Swiss ski supremo Urs Lehmann spoke of "a joyful day" as Albrecht was starting to sit up in his bed the day after waking up from an induced coma.

DPA
The Earth Times
Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:17:58 GMT