Finns play host to FIS World Cup slalom in Levi

Poutiainen and Palander make no impression on the podium places

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After a false start in Sölden, when the racing was cancelled owing to rain and unseasonably warm weather, the FIS World Cup season got under way at the Lapland resort of Levi over the weekend, with a women's slalom competition on Saturday and the first-ever men's World Cup competition hosted in Finland on Sunday.
      By contrast with the inaugural 2004 Levi event, when Finnish #1 Tanja Poutainen took the women's slalom competition, the Finns were much more generous hosts, and neither Poutiainen nor Kalle Palander, who was returning after a long layoff from injury, could get into the top ten.
     
Poutiainen, who has normally shown a sunny disposition even when things did not go as planned, was visibly disappointed with her 14th place in the season's opener, while Palander was left with mixed feelings about his race.
      Poutiainen was fully 2.7 seconds behind winner Marlies Schild of Austria, with nearly two seconds of the gap coming on a rather erratic first run. Schild was followed home by Nicole Hosp and Katrin Zettel to give the Austrians a clean sweep.
      In recent years it has been unusual not to see Poutiainen's name among the top ten finishers. Apart from a few falls, she has been remarkably consistent and has only been outside the top ten once in the last four years, back in January 2004. She blamed her poor showing in part on early season excitement.
     
Kalle Palander, on the other hand, demonstrated eventually that he has recovered his old form after surgery on a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. His first run was something of a trainwreck, however, leaving him dangerously close to not qualifying, down in 25th place.
      But his second try at the Levi Black hill produced a much better performance and the 3rd fastest time, hauling him up to 11th overall and putting a smile on his face.
      It was also a pleasant experience for the Finn to ski home safely in front of his mother: on the previous occasion in Åre in the spring, the first at which his mother had been present to see him ski at the top level, he had the accident that obliged a visit to the operating theatre.
     
Top honours in the men's event went to Benjamin Raich of Austria, making the weekend something of a family celebration, since Marlies Schild is Raich's girlfriend.
      Raich was the Olympic gold medallist in Torino, and so his win - the 23rd of his career - came as no great surprise. Second place went to Markus Larsson of Sweden, and the other spot on the podium was taken by Italy's Giorgio Rocca, the defending World Cup slalom champion.
      The next races on the calendar will be in Lake Louise, Canada (for the men) and Aspen (for the women) in two weeks' time.


Links:
  FIS pages
  Levi

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