Tomba Wins Title Without Having to Race : Skiing: Italian takes World Cup slalom crown when season’s final event is canceled. Switzerland’s Schneider is women’s winner.
The ski gods must be Italian.
Alberto Tomba didn’t make it out of the start gate Sunday. He didn’t cut his usual slalom swath. He didn’t so much as plant a pole.
It didn’t matter.
“Alberto’s magic,” as he calls it, would manifest itself in the form of a quick-moving snow storm that forced the cancellation of the men’s slalom at the World Cup Finals.
The decision handed Tomba the World Cup slalom title as he made an important wine selection for lunch.
The women’s slalom, raced as scheduled, was won by Vreni Schneider of Switzerland. It was Schneider’s seventh slalom victory this season and her 51st on the World Cup circuit.
Schneider’s two-run time of 1 minute 35.91 was 1.51 seconds faster than the one turned in by Slovenia’s Katja Koren. Germany’s Martina Ertl, winner of Saturday’s giant slalom, jumped from 15th to third with the fastest second-run time.
Granted, the men’s title was Tomba’s to lose. Entering the final slalom, he held an 88-point lead over Austria’s Thomas Stangassinger. To overtake La Bomba, Stangassinger needed to win the race and have Tomba either not finish or place 16th or worse, neither a likely scenario.
Word had it Tomba was ready to side-step down the course if necessary to secure his sixth World Cup title, his third in slalom to go with three giant slalom crowns.
“I’m glad that it is over,” Tomba said. “There has been much strain for me this season. But today, it was not luck. I was ahead by 88 points.”
While Tomba would not break a sweat, it did not prevent Roberto Brunner, his chauffeur, from dumping a silver bowl of ice water over the champion’s head in celebration.
Not a bad finish for Tomba, considering he began the week dispelling rumors he was dead.
There were apparently no hard feelings in the opposition camp. Werner Margreiter, the Austrian coach, said Stangassinger had long since conceded the slalom title to Tomba.
Besides, Stangassinger knows the greater satisfaction of having defeated Tomba at the recent Lillehammer Olympics, taking gold to the Italian’s silver.
As for the women, what more can be said of Schneider?
She entered the day having already clinched the overall and slalom titles. But that didn’t prevent the 29-year-old veteran from capping her greatest year with another victory.
“It hasn’t been as easy as it looks, getting this 51st World Cup win,” Schneider said. “I’m so tired. I really had to put everything together in my mind to still have the energy to ski. I’m overwhelmed about being able to win the last slalom under these difficult circumstances.”
Ertl, who finished third, nearly duplicated the dramatic leap made in Saturday’s GS by Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who rallied from the 13th second-run position to win the competition.
“I thought maybe I could make the top 10, not the top three,” Ertl said.
Why was the men’s slalom canceled and not the women’s?
The answer given was “salt.”
An overnight storm dumped several inches of soft snow on the two slalom courses. Using a salt-based chemical to harden the terrain, race organizers were able to set the women’s course in time. While tending to the men’s course, however, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, causing fears that the hardening treatment would not hold on the much steeper hill.
“The weather went in the bucket,” said Jim Roberts, the race director. “The front came in in an instant. We’re very sad to miss the men’s event.”
Tomba, naturally, agreed with the decision.
“I was in the middle of the course (during inspection) when somebody said, ‘No, we can’t start in these conditions,’ ” Tomba said. “I think it was too soft for this long of race.”
Skiing Notes
Shannon Nobis was the top American in the slalom, finishing 18th. Anna Parisien, the only other U.S. entry, did not finish her first run. . . . Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt finished first on the World Cup money list, earning $106,794.60 for the season. Alberto Tomba was second, earning $105,567. No other male skier earned more than $63,294. Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider was the women’s money leader with $110,256.30.
With Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg unable to ski in three of four events because of a rib injury suffered in Wednesday’s downhill, Schneider ended up winning the overall title by a margin of 1,656 to 1,343. Wiberg and Schneider entered this week separated by less than 50 points. . . . Austria ran away with the overall Nation’s Cup with 8,792 points, followed by Switzerland (6,273) and Italy (6,038). The United States finished seventh. Luxembourg, represented only by Marc Girardelli, finished 11th.
