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Raich edges Ligety for World Cup victory

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-09 09:52

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado: Olympic champion Benjamin Raich of Austria edged American Ted Ligety by one-hundredth of a second on Sunday to win an Alpine Ski World Cup men's giant slalom race.

Benjamin Raich of Austria skis to eighth place in the first heat of the men's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Beaver Creek, Colorado December 7, 2008. [Agencies]

Raich won with a combined two-run time of 2minutes 24.61seconds with Ligety just off the pace and Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal third in 2:24.71.

Svindal maintained his overall Cup lead following victories in the downhill Friday and the Super-G Saturday.

It was the 31st career World Cup triumph and first victory of the season for Raich, 30, who was eighth after the first run.

The Austrian, who won giant and slalom gold at the Turin Olympics in 2006, followed his opening run of 1:12.36 with a time of 1:12.25.

"It has been very hard for me to reach a podium in giant so it's a great accomplishment," said Raich, who had not managed a top-three giant slalom showing since March 2007 at Kanjska Gora.

"To beat the World Cup leader in his specialty is a great honor."

Ligety, second down the mountain, had the fastest opening run at 1:11.31 but timed his second run in 1:13.31 to just miss matching Raich.

"It's a little disappointing but at least there's an American on the podium," Ligety said.

"I don't know where the difference came in the times. I didn't have the impression that I had bad skis. The second run was very direct but I prefer when there are more turns."

Svindal's third podium in as many days came after a 1:12.00 opening run and a 1:12.71 second run.

Swiss Daniel Albrecht won the only prior giant slalom race this season at Soelden with countryman Didier Cuche second and Ligety third. Svindal was 13th.

Maiden win

Italian ski sisters Elena and Nadia Fanchini once carried the weight of Italian medal hopes at the 2006 Turin Olympics, and now they share another common bond.

Nadia claimed her first career World Cup win Sunday in a super-G on the same Rocky Mountain course where Elena established her World Cup credentials three years earlier by winning a downhill, at Canada's Lake Louise.

"I don't have any words to describe my happiness," said Nadia Fanchini.

"It is unbelievable for me. Even the second place finish in Friday's downhill I was not expecting. It was a surprise for me."

Fanchini, 22, clocked a time of one minute, 20.97 seconds and finished ahead of Swiss Fabienne Suter and Austrian Andrea Fischbacher, who tied for second in 1:21.25 on the Whitehorn Mountain course.

Sweden's Anja Paerson was fourth with a time of 1:21.31.

The start of the season-opening super-G was delayed 30 minutes because of poor weather as course workers had to remove 11cm of snow that fell overnight.

The race was held under a steady snowfall but with less wind than Saturday, when organizers decided to cancel the second downhill scheduled for Lake Louise because of safety reasons.

AFP