Pranger secures maiden World Cup win with slalom victory 

KITZBUEHEL, ( 23/01/2005 14:51 ) Austria (AP) _ Austria's Manfred Pranger secured his maiden World Cup victory, winning a men's slalom in 1 minute, 31.51 seconds Sunday _ his first time back on the podium in over a year. Pranger's last podium result was a second place in Flachau on Jan. 4, 2004. His teammate, 2001 world slalom champion Mario Matt, was runnerup, just .12 behind. Croatia's Ivica Kostelic prevented an Austrian sweep, crossing third, .24 back, for his second podium finish in a row, after he was runnerup in Wengen's slalom. World Cup slalom champion Rainer Schoenfelder, second after the opening leg, dropped to fourth in 1:31.84. Kalle Palander, third after the opening run, fell back to 15th place after struggling with the deteriorating snow conditions.
Overall World Cup leader Bode Miller failed to qualify for the second leg. Losing his balance and nearly swerving off course a few gates from the bottom on the opening leg, Miller was forced to finish the gates from the reverse direction, leaving him 2.11 off the pace. It was the fifth slalom Miller has failed to finish this season. The only one he completed was the night race he won in Sestriere, Italy, in mid-December. "I was getting stuck a lot," Miller said. "The snow changes the whole way down. It's little parts of really grippy snow and little parts of icy snow.
"I haven't been skiing enough slalom to feel super-comfortable on that, but you see guys like Raich and Palander who ski a ton slalom and they're still having problems there. The snow favors the people who don't make mistakes." Austria's Benjamin Raich, only 22nd after a error-filled opening run, finished eighth in 1:32.58 after a brilliant second trip down. Miller's early exit allowed Raich to close the gap a little in the World Cup overall standings. The Austrian collected 32 points and is now 166 behind Miller, who leads with 1,048. Miller has collected 60 points in the last four races, while Raich has accumulated 192. Rotten weather wiped out Saturday's classic Hahnenkamm downhill and Friday's super-G, which was moved to Monday. 

Downhill canceled due to unsafe weather  
 
KITZBUEHEL, ( 22/01/2005 09:16 ) Austria (AP) _ Poor weather wiped out Saturday's traditional World Cup downhill on the Hahnenkamm for the first time in 12 years. Snowfalls, fog and rain have plagued the classic World Cup stage all weekend, also wiping out Friday's super-G race. The super-G has been tentatively rescheduled here on Monday, but the International ski Federation will attempt to reschedule the downhill later in the season. Bad weather is also expected for Sunday's slalom. With a shorter course and skiers carrying less speed, slalom races are rarely endangered by poor weather. However, should more rain destroy the course, the slalom would be moved to Monday, with priority over the super-G as television installations for the gate event would already be in place. In this case, the super-G would have to be rescheduled to a later date. Accommodation is expected to be a challenge, as an estimated 2,000-3,000 overnight stays will need to be extended by one night at short notice. The week began with bad conditions. Training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday were run in bad conditions in an effort to guarantee Saturday's downhill could be staged, as FIS rules require. Thursday's training was halted after 33 skiers completed their runs because of increasingly heavy snowfalls and poor visibility. Heavy snowfalls and fog hinder visibility on the slope, posing a danger for racers, who reach speeds of over 100 kph (62 mph). Two years ago, a super-G was postponed from Friday to Monday because of fog and snow. Hermann Maier then staged his remarkable comeback victory two weeks after returning from a motorcycle accident in which he nearly lost his leg. The last time a World Cup race was outright canceled in Kitzbuehel was in 1993, when a downhill, slalom and combination were all wiped out by bad weather.  
 
Super-G wiped out by fog, snow, rain 
 
KITZBUEHEL, ( 21/01/2005 11:08 ) Austria (AP) _ Fog, freezing rain and unrelenting snowfalls forced race officials to call off a men's World Cup super-G on Friday on the hallowed Hahnenkamm. The race will likely be rescheduled here Monday, after Saturday's traditional downhill and Sunday's slalom. Poor weather has plagued the classic World Cup leg all week. Training sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday were run in bad conditions in an effort to guarantee Saturday's downhill could be staged, as International ski Federations rules require. Thursday's training was halted after 33 skiers had their run, because of increasingly heavy snowfalls and poor visibility. More bad weather is expected Saturday. Heavy snowfalls and fog hinder visibility on the slope, making it dangerous for the racers, who attain speeds of over 100 kph (62 mph). Few races fail to run in Kitzbuehel. The last time a World Cup race was outright canceled here was in 1993, when a downhill, slalom and combination were all wiped out by bad weather. Two years ago, a super-G was also postponed from Friday to Monday because of fog and snow, allowing Hermann Maier to stage his remarkable come back victory a mere two weeks after his return from a motorcycle accident that nearly cost him a leg.  

Men's downhill training halted due to snowfall. Streif conditions tougher than ever  
 
KITZBUEHEL, ( 20/01/2005 18:47 ) Austria (AP) _ Heavy snow forced officials to abandon training for the men's World Cup downhill on Kitzbuehel's Hahnenkamm course midway through the session. Italy's Kristian Ghedina was leading the training, negotiating the fierce Streif course in 2 minutes, 0.80 seconds, when the race jury called off the practice, flagging Matthias Lanzinger in the middle of his run. Only 33 of the 53 skiers entered had started. The heavy snowfalls and the flat, dim light made visibility increasingly difficult for the later skiers. "The conditions were almost at the limit. If they'd been any worse, it would have been pushing the limit. It's nice for the spectacle but not for us," Ghedina said.
The tough weather conditions make an already tough race even tougher on the Streif. The course includes the Mausefalle (Mousetrap) near the start with a 60-degree drop and sharp turns. In the Steilhung section, skiers reach speeds of about 100 kph (62 mph) before approaching the Laerchenschuss and Hausbergkante corner near the bottom of the hill, where final speeds can top 121 kph (75 mph). "It was really hard, right on the limit because the light was not so good, and for the younger racers you can see it's hard," Austrian skier Michael Walchhofer said. "I think they will have more respect, maybe too much, for the race Saturday." Walchhofer's teammate, Thomas Graggaber, broke several ribs and punctured a lung in a dramatic training crash Thursday. "I think today we should have taken a day off; we already had two training runs. But at least I'm now in the finish and that's good," Walchhofer said.
A super-G is slated for Friday, while the infamous classic downhill is scheduled Saturday and a slalom Sunday. More bad weather was expected Friday and organizers delayed the scheduled start of the super-G by an hour until 12:30 p.m., hoping for a window of clearer weather. If the bad weather wipes out Friday's super-G, organizers have plans to stage it Monday. Five former Kitzbuehel downhill champions will be attempting to repeat their successes this year. Others will seek to finally have their names painted on the gondolas that slowly sway up and down the majestic Hahnenkamm alongside other champions such as Rahlves, Franz Klammer, Karl Schranz, Hermann Maier and Jean-Claude Killy. With an insufficient number of skiers completing final practice before it was halted, the top-30 finishers from Wednesday's training session will start in reverse order in Saturday's downhill race. That would place World Cup overall leader Bode Miller, third in Wednesday's training, to start 27th barring any injuries or last minute withdrawals. Fellow American Daron Rahlves, still recovering from last week's giant slalom crash in Adelboden, was still undecided to race either Friday's super-G or Saturday's downhill.  

 
General Standing
 
World cup Leader

Miller Bode
12.10.1977 (Franconia)
Ski: Atomic
 
  Miller Bode  1048
  Raich Benjamin  882
  Walchhofer Michael  641
  Maier Hermann  595
  Rahlves Daron  436
  Kjus Lasse  425
  Cuche Didier  395
  Grandi Thomas  389
  Grugger Johann  386
  Palander Kalle  382 
  
Next Races

23.01.2005 Kitzbuhel (AUT) SL
23.01.2005 Kitzbuhel (AUT) K
23.01.2005 Maribor (SLO) SL
25.01.2005 Schladming (AUT) NSL
29.01.2005 Bormio (ITA) SG
30.01.2005 Santa Caterina (ITA) SG
03.02.2005 Bormio (ITA) K