Alta Badia, Italy. Austria's Reinfried Herbst attained his seventh career World Cup slalom victory in Alta Badia, Italy by holding off teammate Manfred Pranger and Switzerland's Silvan Zurbriggen on the steep and icy Gran Risa piste.

The 31-year-old Herbst trailed Pranger by 0.22 seconds in the morning run, but made up the difference in the afternoon session, grabbing the win by 0.08 over Zurbriggen with a time of 1:49.31. Pranger was forced to settle for third.

"It was tough today - it was a special fight," said Herbst about his win. "The course was especially tough and it was difficult to determine if the runs were good. But all in all, I was fast and that's important. I'm very lucky about this."

Herbst also won the season-opening slalom in Levi, Finland on November 15th. Last year, Herbst struggled at times only finishing fifth in the World Cup slalom standings.

"It's perfect," Herbst said about his prosperous start to the season. "Last year my start was not so good. My shape was always good, but the results weren't."

Even more impressive is that Herbst hasn't been able to train up to his potential over the past few years because he suffered a strain of knee injuries.

"I had some pain because I was training too hard," he said. "In fact, I had to take it easy and they asked me not to ski more than three runs a day when I train. I have to be more focused and aggressive when I ski, but not ski as much as I used to. Today, I had no pain so that's a good feeling."

Pranger, last season's World Slalom Champion from Val d'Isère seemed satisfied with his performance despite sacrificing a first run lead.

"The tactic was different between the first and second runs," said Pranger. "I really appreciated the course setting of the first run. The second run had slow and lazy turns and it was not really what I like."

Pranger's second run time of 56.13 was only the twelfth fastest of the 30 racers.

"I made a few mistakes, but I don't want to complain and blame it on the course or conditions," he said. "I tried my best and I'm really happy."

Switzerland's Zurbriggen, a combined specialist, matched his best-ever slalom result from Sestriere in 2005. It was also his third career slalom podium. His second run time of 55.46 was the fastest of the day.

"I was surprised because I made such a big mistake on the upper part," said the Swiss skier. "I thought the race was over and I was out, so I gave my best on the lower part and to have the best second run is very exciting. I'm more than happy with this."

Austria's Benjamin Raich, third after the first run, fell and landed on his back. The World Cup leader will skip the downhill in Bormio, Italy next week opting to rest and possibly train at home over the holidays.

Herbst will attempt to go three for three in his specialty, when slalom racing resumes in Zagreb, Croatia on January 6th.

"In Zagreb, there will a lot of people, a nice atmosphere and a good hill," said the Austrian winner. "Having two wins is a good feeling and I'm ready for the next race and to fight in January."

By Brian Pinelli
FISalpine.com
Monday 21 December 2009