Alpine Skiing - Lenzerheide

Firstly - the Men's Downhill (16 Mar): This actually turned out like something from a Hollywood script! Going into the race the "side issue" was who would win the crystal globe for the downhill discipline - contenders were Michael Walchofer (on 474 points) and Didier Cuche (460); whoever won would become the second most successful downhiller (with 4 downhill titles) ever, behind the legendary Franz Klammer, with 5 titles! Just to stop the two of them getting complacent, Kraus Kröll also had an outside chance of winning if disaster struck the others.

Not the best of days - quite mild and lots of green and mud around, and a technical course with some tight turns, but no jumps (should please Didier!). Joachim Puchner from Austria was an early leader, but then Adrien Theaux (Fra) nicked the lead by 0.01 seconds. A couple other skiers who might have threatened (Sporn, Jerman) didn't complete the course, and Axel Lund Svindal could only manage to get into third. With the light fading the course became more difficult to negotiate - Kröll's outside chance went with the changing conditions as he was 1.41 seconds off the pace; luck of the draw but I suspect that's little consolation.

Attention then shifted to the battle for the overall win - Michael Walchofer had an "interesting" run with a very impresssive recovery, but that cost him time and he ended in 10th at that stage. All to play for and Didier Cuche needed to be 5th or better - "pour le plaiser" time and at about midway the split time suggested to me that he wasn't going to make it. He must have skied the rest really well because he came in just 0.31 seconds behind Theaux to go into joint 4th with Christof Innerhofer. Furious clicking of calulators, and "what if Ligety goes ahead" calculations, but Ted's postion wouldn't have made a difference and it was all academic as he also had a bad run. That left Theaux, Puchner and Axel to take the podium spots, and Didier won the crystal globe - his 4th downhill title . Sorry for Walchofer as I admire him too; Didier had already announced that he will race next year - I wonder if Micheal is also tempted now?

Women's Downhill: Pretty much the same technical, bumpy course but whereas the men had some good light, it was flat all the time for the women. There was some understandably tentative skiing early on, until Lotte Smiseth Sejersted (Nor) really went for it and took the lead by just over a full second - lovely to watch, "right on the edge of her game" as they say! All credit to Dominique Gisin (Sui) who skied with flu ("a nose like Rudolph's", as Chemmy told us!) - obviously upset with her finish but in the circumstances she should be proud of just completing the run, and she wasn't last!

Fischbacher looked as though she might threaten but spun out just before the finish, and then Lara Gut went even faster and stayed on the course to take the lead. Merighetti had a nasty fall, losing her helmet en route but, like Fischbacher, seems to be all right? By this stage the piste was really starting to break up; Paerson nudged into third behind Lotte but was knocked back off the podium by Fenninger. Maria Riesch, desparately seeking points to hold off Vonn, had a bad run looking very tired and went into 12th place. Not a good result with 5 racers to come and points only awarded for the top 15 today. Lizzie Görgl made things worse by going into 2nd and then Tina Maze (very fast in practice), who apparently hates flat light, went 7th - Maria now down to 14th. Lindsey Vonn took full advantage with a really gutsy, risky trip down the rutted piste to go third. Just when we might have thought that the excitement was over, Julia Mancuso pulled out a fabulous run, giving it everything to take the lead from Gut by 0.81 seconds; that dropped Vonn to 4th but by now Maria Reisch was out of the points. That's how it stayed - Mancuso, Gut and Görgl taking the top places, and Lindsey Vonn taking over the overall WC lead by 27 points from a very disappointed Reisch.

Disappointing day today (17th) as both men's and women's Super G races were cancelled due to persistent rain. This was however really good news for Didier Cuche as it confirmed his first position in the Super G overall standings and he won the crystal globe for this discipline - 2nd one in 2 days! As he said, "easier than the downhill"

More cancellations - the Men's GS has also been cancelled, which leaves Ted Ligety as the crystal globe winner; his third time as the title holder in this event? The Women's slalom, which unlike the Men's GS, can affect the overall WC placings has been postponed until later this morning - more later hopefully!

After more delays the first run of the women's slalom started at 11:15 (alpine time) - the piste preparation team have apparently been out since 03:00 local this morning trying to repair the damage done by rain and then light snow; lots of work but hopefully they have a "best solution". As there are only 29 racers (actually 28 now as Mölgg is not starting) I understand they will use the same course for both runs - sounds odd but as the "line" has been best prepared it should hold up better than the rest of the piste? Maria Riesch goes 2nd today and briefly holds the lead before Marlies Schild (who has already wrapped up the crystal globe in the slalom discipline) takes it away. With 6 skiers down it seems the course is already cutting up a bit especially at the lower level, and the times seem to reflect this. However, Tina Maze (amazing Maze as ZDF called her) showed that a good run was still possible by taking third place only 0.21 seconds behind Maria from start number 15. Start 16 was Lindsey Vonn who looked a little unsure but certainly didn't hold back - not her best slalom run however and she dropped into 13th place; by the end of the first run she had slipped into joint 14th - just in the points, but with the second run to come at 12:30 alpine it's rash to predict anything at this stage!! Now I have to go out and miss the live action

Haven't managed to catch the repeats yet, but the results are out. Apparently Maria Riesch had a slightly epic second run, nearly missing a gate but recovered to finish fourth overall; "amazing Tina" Maze obviously had a better day as she took the win - her first career slalom win, dropping the overall discipline winner Marlies Schild into second. Zuzulova was third while Lindsey Vonn pulled up slightly from her first run into 13th place; not too unlucky for her though as she did at least get some points! At the end of today's event Maria has taken back the overall lead from Lindsey but only by 3 points; there are 100 on offer for the winner of tomorrow's GS, providing the weather holds!

Some people are apparently moaning that Lindsey has been disadvantaged by the cancellation of the Super G, but that's a fact of life with outdoor sports; I seem to recall that earlier in the year the federation cancelled a couple events that might have suited Maria? Let's just hope they can race the GS and settle the duel there - great end to the season in prospect!

See http://www.fisalpine.com/news/tina-maze-lands-first-ever-world-cup-slalom-win-lenzerheide,1271.html

Conditions were really awful for this race, which needed a lowered start and huge efforts by the staff to get a vaguely skiable surface. No doubts that the women's GS was totally out of the question, but many will wonder if it couldn't have been rescheduled. However, worth noting that this time last year Lindsey Vonn won the super combined series when the final race was cancelled due to the weather!

Meanwhile in the slalom the race for the discipline globe was really between Ivica Kostelic and Jean-Baptiste Grange, trailing by 36 points - Andre Myhrer was also just in with a highly theoretical chance as he lay 95 points behind with 100 available for the win. In the first run, with visibilty so bad that it was hard to see the skiers from the commentary boxes, Mario Matt took an early lead from start number 2, and held on to it all morning despite the conditions briefly improving. Jean-Baptiste had a rather worse day though with a massive error early on the course; he continued but was obviously unable to settle and skied out lower down - all a comparatively slow Kostelic had to worry about now was Myhrer!

The second run seemed to be in even worse conditions; early starter Nolan Kasper had a good run with a spell as leader, followed by Michael Janyk and then Marc Gini. Kostelic had a disappointing run and sat at the bottom of the slope wondering if Myhrer could really spoil his day. In the event Myhrer went 4th with 5 skiers to go and even though Kostelic finished out of the points in 18th today his previous form was good enough to add the slalom title to his haul this year. Meanwhile there was still a race to finish, with Giuliano Razzoli holding top spot. Felix Neureuther finished 0.25 seconds down on his time with just Mario Matt to come. Mario had skied beautifully on the first leg but wasn't quite so fluent (as far as we could see through the clag) on the second, missing the win by just 0.03 seconds. So well done to Giuliano Razzoli for the win, ahead of Matt and Neureuther, and well done Ivica for a good season. Just the team event to come, IF the conditions allow it.