High temperatures and thick fog created unusual weather conditions in Levi, Finland, which today hosted the second round of the Alpine Ski World Cup with the Men’s Slalom.
A fairly flat first run saw the Italian team somewhat subdued, except for a fantastic performance by Moelgg, who finished in fourth place with an excellent chance of making the podium at the end of the race.
The second run featured a slope in equally unusual conditions: the temperature of 3 degrees affected the snowpack, making it softer, though this did not stop the slalom racers from battling fiercely and putting on an extraordinary show.
The first of the Italians to come down was Olympic champion Giuliano Razzoli, who moved into second place with a solid run; after him, the other skiers slotted in behind as they encountered some difficulties on the course, but it was with the top 16 from the first run that the standings began to come alive with dramatic twists.
After Razzoli, Stefano Gross came down but was unable to ski at his best and finished near the bottom of the standings. Lifting Italy’s spirits was a (surprise) performance by Patrick Thaler: an excellent run put him first in the provisional standings, and he managed to hold onto the lead until Manfred Moelgg pushed out of the start gate. Building on his strong first-run result, Moelgg beat everyone, unseating his teammate Thaler and giving Italy a provisional one-two lead.
However, Manfred was followed by 3 more skiers who, one after another, reclaimed the podium positions, leaving the Italians with a bitter taste in their mouths over the missed podium despite their outstanding performance.
Winning this second stop of the Alpine Ski World Cup was Sweden’s MYHRER with a time of 1:49.55, followed in second place by Austria’s Marcel HIRSCHER just 6 hundredths of a second behind, and in third place by the “Swedish acrobat” Jens BYGGMARK, who despite several mistakes managed to stay in contention, leaving Alto Adige native Moelgg behind him by 0.12s.
It was a great disappointment for Manfred to miss the podium by a whisker, but the Italians put on a great show and proved they can contend for this 2012/2013 Ski World Cup!
Final results: http://www.fisalpine.com/race-results/levi,70935.html
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