STELVIO, February 12, 2005, Italy. Benjamin Raich of Austria has won the world championship slalom, surviving soft-snow conditions that wiped out many of the top racers. It is Raich's fourth medal in the four disciplines he started at this two-week event in Bormio. He also won gold in the combined.

"I knew I was in good shape before the world championship," said Raich. "But I've been a little bit sick, so most of my energy is finished."

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia (the reigning world champion before today) and Kalle Palander of Finland skied out on the same gate first run after a large hole developed in the track there.

"Everyone can see they should have prepared it better," said Palander, who slammed his pole on a gate and cursed after blowing out. "There was no chance."

Raich's time was 1:41.34. Second place went to his teammate Rainer Schoenfelder (1:41.58), who prevented Atomic from sweeping every step of every men's podium here in Bormio. Schoenfelder, who was reprimanded last year by his federation for testing positive for a banned stimulant, was last year's World Cup slalom leader. "I am very happy about my performance today, because in many ways it was not 100 percent," said Schoenfelder, who has not won a race yet this year. "Today makes everything okay."

Third place went to Giorgio Rocca of Italy (1:42.08). A native of Livigno, Rocca was racing only 36 kilometers from his hometown. "I was not under pressure because the bronze medal from the combined was already in my pocket," said Rocca.

Raich's rival on the World Cup, Bode Miller, finished fourth with a conservative first run, but crashed on the second run. The three other American followed suit with DNFs (Erik Schlopy skied out on the first run, and Tom Rothrock and Ted Ligety both went out on the second run).

By Nathaniel Vinton, skiracing.com