UPDATED: Vonn and Grange take top honours at Levi

Tanja Poutiainen sixth in opening slalom of the season

Jukka Leino

print this

We omitted to mention on Monday that Levi had hosted the FIS World Cup circus over the weekend, with men’s and women’s slalom races held.
      This was very remiss of us, as we did cover the event last year, when it unfortunately had to be cancelled for lack of snow.
      This time around conditions were nigh on perfect, and the snow - albeit mostly of the cannon-generated kind rather than from the skies - held up well on the Levi Black slope to afford even the high-numbered skiers a decent surface to work with.
     
Victory in the women’s race on Saturday went to Lindsey Vonn of the United States.
      Vonn (née Lindsey Kildow) put down a serious marker for a repeat of her overall World Cup victory last season by taking her first-ever win in the slalom.
      Last winter Vonn was completely dominant in the downhill event and picked up a lot of points in the Super G and Super Combined, and if she is now also capable of winning - and winning well - in the technical disciplines like the slalom, then she will be hard to overlook when the spring comes.
      Her victory in Levi came by a respectable margin of 0.40 seconds, in spite of her almost losing it completely on the second run.
      Had she not had that wobble, she would have been streets ahead of her nearest rivals.
     
If Vonn’s presence on the top step of the slalom podium was a slight surprise, not least for the skier herself, then so were the other faces up there: Sweden’s Maria Pietilä-Holmner took 2nd spot for her first-ever podium finish in the World Cup, and 3rd-placed Maria Reisch of Germany is another like Vonn who has previously been more successful in the speed disciplines - she won last year’s Super G title.
     
For the Finnish contingent, it was a mixed bag.
      Tanja Poutiainen, for many years the nation’s number one female skier, came home in 6th after placing 2nd in her opening race (in the giant slalom) at Sölden last month.
      Tii-Maria Romar was 22nd for her first-ever World Cup points, while Sanni Leinonen was 24th.
      Poutiainen was her usual cheerful and optimistic self, and seemed well enough pleased with her slalom opener to the season, even though she was the popular local hope and actually won on this hill at the inaugural World Cup event in Levi in February 2004.
      She lost any real chance of a better position this time with a cautious first run and some mistakes on the steep section the second time down.
      Romar, 22, and 19-year-old Leinonen were both delighted to get among the points from high starting numbers.
      They will not be following Poutiainen across the Atlantic for the next World Cup rounds in Aspen and Lake Louise, but will be turning their attention to the European Cup instead.
     
Sunday’s men’s slalom was of course missing the Finnish hope Kalle Palander, out for the duration with a leg injury, but Jean-Baptiste Grange of France and Bode Miller of the United States put on a decent show for a markedly smaller crowd than had turned up on Saturday.
      Grange was the overwhelming winner, by a margin of 0.79 seconds, but Miller’s delight at following him home was plain to see.
      Mario Matt from Austria took third place a further 0.14 seconds adrift, pulling himself up with a great second run after finishing 9th on his first effort.
     
In the absence of Palander, there were still six Finnish men taking part.
      Jukka Leino was the only one to wave the Finnish flag. He did so with some aplomb, however, parlaying a high start number of 60 into 18th place overall for some valuable World Cup points.
      Jukka Rajala finished 42nd and did not make the second run, and the other four Finnish entries - Marcus Sandell, Andreas Romar, Petteri Kantola, and Tuukka Kaukoniemi - all crashed out on their first run down the hill.
     
The result on Saturday leaves Lindsey Vonn out in front in the overall World Cup standings with 129 points, with Poutiainen and Pietilä-Holmner in joint 2nd on 120.
      Grange heads the men’s table with 122 points, with Miller second on 106 and Daniel Albrecht of Switzerland 3rd on 100.
      However, it is very early days yet, with only two of the more than 30 World Cup events held.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Poutiainen frets for a brief moment after finishing second in FIS Alpine World Cup opening in Austria (27.10.2008)

See also:
  Levi World Cup slalom races cancelled: millions in losses anticipated for local entrepreneurs (5.11.2007)

Links:
  FIS pages: Results from Levi

Helsingin Sanomat