ALPINE SKI. The European Cup Finals were held in the Valley of Aosta (ITA) last week. The men were racing speed and giant slalom in La Thuile, whilst the ladies were in Pila whilst Both concluding slaloms took place in Courmayeur last Sunday . The overall European Cup winners are Florian Scheiber (AUT) and Lisa Magdalena Agerer (ITA).

Italian Lisa Magdalena Agerer was already confirmed as the overall ladies European Cup champion before the finals finished. With eight victories in a row across three different events, 7 of those within a fortnight, the 20-year-old also won the event rankings in giant slalom, city parallel and downhill, and competed in the ladies' giant slalom on Sunday in the World Cup Finals in Schladming where she finished 20th. Altogether Agerer collected 15 top ten finishes, of which nine were wins, one second and one third place. With her 1029 points she won with over 400 points in the overall standings. "I cannot explain this run of form myself. At the moment it is hard to believe what is going on - it is simply fantastic," said the Nauders native.

The ladies EC overall rankings were solidly in Italian hand this year. Behind Agerer, the 2nd place went to Enrica Cipriani with 661 points ahead of Sofia Goggia (515 points). The first non-Italian is Simona Hösl (GER) followed by Jennifer Piot (FRA) in 5th.

On the men's side, the rankings were led by Florian Scheiber (AUT) with 871 points, ahead of Stefan Luitz of Germany with 759 points. Sergei Maitakov of Russia was ranked 3rd with 703 points. Scheiber won five races in downhill and super-G this season along with additional five podiums. In the overall standings, he came second in the downhill ranking, beaten by Johannes Kroell, also from Austria, but had a clear victory in super-G with 450 points over 2nd placed Mattia Casse of Italy with 256 points.

Despite a difficult start for the European Cup this season due to the lack of snow, the season could conclude with an overall positive note. The athletes competed in a total of 18 different venues, and the cancelled events were rescheduled to other Organizers.

Contributed by Sofie Olsen
FISalpine.com
Thursday 22 March 2012