Men's Giant Slalom
The long trip from Europe to Korea was worth it for Austria's wonderboy Benjamin Raich, who won his first race of the season on the demanding giant slalom course, after two consistent runs.

	Benjamin Raich

The Tyrolian from the valley of Pitz, loudly supported here by three members of his fan-club from Pitztal, beat Switzerland's Michael von Gruenigen by 25/100 of a second and Joel Chenal from France by 79/100.

Raich clocked a total time of 2:27.56 at the end of the second run. The competitions took place in cold, yet clear weather in front of a few local spectators. It's the second World Cup tour stop in Yong Pyong. A giant slalom raced here in 1998 was won by von Gruenigen.

Mitja Kunc from Slovenia achieved his best performance in a long time, taking 4th ahead of Marco Buechel from Liechtenstein. Sweden's Fredrik Nyberg, in the lead after the first run, skied out in the second run while fighting for the sixth World Cup win in his career. He has not won a race since December, 1996.

"I felt that my day would come. I appreciate this success even more because I had to fight harder and wait longer than last season...." — Benjamin Raich (AUT)

Norway's Kjetil Aamodt, the leader in the slalom standings, came in 14th, scoring only a few points in the Overall World Cup standings. Two American skiers scored points: Dane Spencer was 19th, and Bode Miller 26th.

With this top-3 win, Switzerland's Michael von Gruenigen was able to get closer to Hermann Maier in the giant slalom World Cup standings. Maier, who is resting at home to prepare for the upcoming speed events at Norway's Kvitfjell, retains the lead with an advance of 84 points on the Swiss veteran, winner of a total of 16 World Cup races since 1993.

With two giant slalom races officially left on the World Cup calendar, von Gruenigen's chances of beating "The Herminator" are quite low. He hopes now that the race cancelled last week in Adelboden will be rescheduled in Hinterstoder in two weeks.

Last year, the 30-year-old Swiss racer beat Hermann Maier, winning the last race at Sierra Nevada where the Austrian crashed in the first run.

Raich's win today was anticipated for quite a while. A three-time winner last season, the Austrian who will celebrate his 22nd birthday next week was not able to confirm his impressive technical potential during these recent months. He's been clocking fast first runs in GS and slalom, but has been losing his lead at the end of the race. He missed the slalom victory at Madonna di Campiglo by only 2/100 of a second against Norway's Finn Christian Jagge.

	Aamodt

He reached the podium five times since the season start — but he was aiming for more today, especially since the last slalom in Adelboden, where he skied out in the second run while fighting for another top-3 position.

"It was about time that I win this race, I was often unlucky in the past months," he said after the race. "I don't know why it took so long; maybe I felt too sure, or I was too tense," he added. "Fortunately, I remained confident and motivated. I felt that my day would come. I appreciate this success even more because I had to fight harder and wait longer than last season.

"But it's better late than never — there are still some important races left and I'm looking forward to the night slalom in Schladming, which I won a year ago. Then it will be an exciting giant slalom at Hinterstoder on another difficult slope."

Raich was the only skier last winter to win in both technical events — a performance he can repeat, as he aims for his first slalom win tomorrow.

"The conditions are quite demanding here and I like it," he said. "I should be quite relax tomorrow."

After skiing poorly in the first run, Michael von Gruenigen was satisfied by his final position

"I made a few mistakes and I was not aggressive enough this morning," he said. "The course was really rough because of the icy snow. I had a better run in the afternoon, but Raich was very consistent this time. It's my third 2nd place this season — there is always an Austrian in front of me. I'm still motivated and I will keep on fighting until the end."

The Swiss veteran confirmed his plans to keep racing next year, eventually on another brand of skis. But he will make some test runs next spring before making a final decision.

Joel Chenal was as glad as he was surprised by his achievement today, placing 3rd. It's his first top-3 finish since winning the treacherous giant slalom race at Alta Badia last December. He was only 12th in the first leg today and fought hard to improve his standings.

"I could not be pleased with my first run, I was too passive," he said. "I took more chances in the second run, which was very demanding, too. The conditions were better for me, there were less ruts than for the last skiers on course. It was my goal to reach another podium before the season's end. I felt sorry for Nyberg when he skied out, because he was skiing really well, but this race was much more difficult than expected."

In Sunday's slalom, another battle should oppose the best slalom teams on the tour, the Slovenian and the Norwegian, which took all of the podium spots here in 1998.

Aamodt will do his best to defend his lead in the slalom standings against Matjaz Vrhovnik, the winner last week in Adelboden. But Raich is also very motivated now.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com European Correspondent