Kitzbuhel Slalom

Kitzbuhel Provisional Slalom Results:

1-Jean-Pierre Vidal (FRA) 0:47.21 :51.67 1:38.88
2-Reinfried Herbst (AUT) 0:47.95 :51.29 1:39.24
3-Benjamin Raich (AUT) 0:47.50 :51.88 1:39.38
4-Stephane Tissot (FRA) 0:47.950 :51.69 1:39.64
5-Rainer Schoenfelder (AUT) 0:47.67 :52.25 1:39.92
6-Ted Ligety (USA) 0:48.42 :51.70 1:40.12
18- Miller
20- Knight

Giorgio Rocca missed a gate in the first run and failed to win for the first time this season. In some ways he's probably happy to whiff one before the Olympics, but I'm pretty sure he'd rather just get more points on the board. J-P Vidal won today for the first time on the World Cup since 2001 Kranska Gora (don't forget he also won the 2002 Olympic title as well), so he has to be considered a contender in Torino now as well. Looking at the scoreboard the top five looks more like a France-Austria time trial than a World Cup result sheet. The first man to break the Austria-France barrier was Ted Ligety, who was a little off in his first run. He gutted out a tough second run, though and came back well to finish in the top 6 overall. He should hold onto second in the slalom standings and continue to carry momentum into Torino. Benni Raich really came through as he finished third overall (60 points) and put up another 100 points for taking the combined. Bode wasn't blazing fast but he got another slalom finish and 80 additional points for being second in the combined. Wonder if he is going to ski in Schladming Tuesday night since he has already said that he could sit out the Garmisch Downhill next weekend to rest his knee and work to get his equipment more dialed in. For the American Olympic team, I think Chip Knight sealed the third Olympic slalom spot with his 20th place finish today. The fourth spot will become clear after the night slalom in Schladming. My thoughts on who will be on the team: Ligety (automatically qualified), Miller, Knight and Cochran. Rothrock will be the other contender, but he hasn't been nearly consistent enough this year to really be considered. The night slalom in Schladming should be a great one to watch!!