Italy's Massimiliano Blardone won the giant slalom race in Crans-Montana on Sunday for his second success of the 2012 World Cup campaign. Marcel Hirscher of Austria extended his lead in the Overall World Cup standings after finishing in second place behind the Italian, while another Austrian, Hannes Reichelt, was almost a full second behind Blardone in third place thanks an excellent second run. It was Blardone's second victory this season following his spectacular comeback in Alta Badia in December after two barren seasons.

A lot was for sure at stake for Hirscher, winner of the last two races in the discipline, as his two main rivals for the overall World Cup were out of contention. World Cup defending champion Ivica Kostelic of Croatia is recovering from a knee injury sustained two weeks ago in Rosa Khutor, near Sochio, and Swiss Beat Feuz was unable to qualify for the second run after clocking the 31^st best time in the morning leg. USA's Ted Ligety, the defending GS World Cup Champion ended in 9^th place and lost more ground on the leading Austrian.

As a result, the young Austrian scored 80 vital points in the Overall and Giant Slalom World Cup standings to reinforce his lead with only two more weeks of racing left prior the Finals at Schladming, in Austria, only an hour drive away from his home town.

7^th win for Blardone

The fact that Massimiliano 'Max' Blardone is becoming a dad within a few months seems to have positively influenced the life and the attitude of the Italian giant slalom specialist who celebrated his seventh career victory beating by only 16/100 of a second Austria's Marcel Hirscher after a fierce battle in both runs.

The racer from the region of Domodossola, in the Northern part of the country, enjoyed his fourth consecutive top-3 finish in the Swiss resort and strongly reinforced his chances to end the season among the best three giant slalom specialists.

2^nd a week ago behind Hirscher at Bansko, in Bulgaria, Blardone seemed more comfortable than usual on the soft spring snow that covered the lower part of the renowned 'Piste Nationale' to become the first skier this year to beat the Austrian prodigy in the specialty. "I trained a few days on the upper part of the 'Piste de l'Ours' in the nearby resort of Veysonnaz to get used to this kind of soft snow, I guess it was the right choice," explained the Italian champion who has now won a total of 24 World Cup podiums in his career.

"Two months ago, I was not part of the first seed in giant slalom when I won at Alta Badia and now I'm battling with Hirscher and Ligety for the crystal globe, this is pretty exciting I must say. To win that race today is huge for me. I'm very proud to have been able to ski so consistently in both runs."

"When I was young I watched Alberto Tomba on TV winning his last race here in March 1998. Next time I'll meet him, I'll tell him that I'm very excited to be the next Italian after him to have excelled here."

"This stage here has been quite exciting for my fans and me, the atmosphere at the arrival was great and we all enjoyed it. I hope things will go even better from now on to help me perfectly preparing the next event at Kranjska Gora in two weeks. The Podkoren course is one of my favorites on the tour and I certainly would enjoy reaching another podium there prior the Finals at Schladming. My confidence is at the highest possible level now and there'll certainly be many fans there to encourage me."

A strong lead for Marcel Hirscher

Hirscher now leads Kostelic by 92 points and Feuz by 95 in the Overall World Cup standings. "I skied at my maximum. I could not do any better. It's just that Max was too strong today. Now 80 points is important, it's better than none at all in any case," Hirscher said. "I'm not surprised at all by Blardone's performance, he is really tough to beat when he is taking all risks and achieving a clean run. He was also on the podium next to me at Val d'Isère when I won my first race there in December 2009."

With reigning World Champion Ted Ligety finishing 9th on the day, Hirscher also increased his lead in the giant slalom World Cup to leave the American 132 points adrift with only two more races to go in the discipline.

Hirscher is not planning to travel to Kvitfjell next weekend for the two Super-G races scheduled on the Norwegian downhill course along a downhill. But he said his Super-G attempt in Crans-Montana on Friday had helped.  "I wouldn't have done so well today without this Super-G test. It helped get things right today," he also explained. "I really enjoy competing here, people were really friendly and happy to attend those races. It's a good place for World Cup racing."

While Hirscher refused to be drawn into talking and speculations about the Overall championship, the Austrian coaches were making plans.  "It's stressful because it's a first for Marcel. We must be clever and play it right," conceded Austrian men's team chief Mathias Berthold. "His priorities for the moment are on his form in the technical events and his fighting spirit, " he added.

France's slalom world champion Jean-Baptiste Grange, plagued all season by back problems, showed signs of recovery by finishing a promising fourth after clocking the fastest time in the second run. He finished ahead of downhill Olympic champion Didier Defago who scored his best giant slalom result in five years. He has not done as well since finishing 3^rd at Alta Badia in December 2009. His teammate Didier Cuche came in 15^th after having clocked the 8^th best time in the morning.

Intense moments for Didier Cuche

The Swiss veteran lived several very intense moments during the weekend in Crans-Montana, especially when he received his award as 'Swiss Personality of 2011" at the Ycoor ice-rink invaded by thousands of fans.  "It has been really special for me, very emotional," said the racer from Neuchâtel who has been competing in his last World Cup races on home soil. "On Sunday the people didn't stop to call my name all the time, I'll remember this for a long time," he also commented.

Didier Cuche will be fighting for more glory and victories this weekend at Kvifjell where he will try to successfully defend his lead in the downhill standings and get closer to Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal in the Super-G classifications.

The Men's World Cup races held in Crans-Montana can be described with numerous superlatives:

• Captivating races with charismatic winners (Didier Cuche SUI, Benjamin Raich AUT and Massimiliano Blardone ITA),
• Enthusiastic spectators present (Total: 49'000 spectators! Friday 12'000, Saturday, 23'000, Sunday 14'000),
• Two ceremonies and animated parties in a passionate atmosphere on the Ice Skating Rink of Ycoor with about 15'000 spectators,
• A ceremony honoring Didier Cuche with a prize given to him for "Swiss of the year 2011" and his "Good-byes" to his last World Cup races in Switzerland.
• The events and festivities along the National ski slope, the arrivals area, the Violettes parking area as well as throughout the streets and squares of the resort.
• Two fabulous air demonstrations by the Swiss Army PC-7 TEAM
• The magical images transmitted by the TSR (Swiss Romande Television) and
• A dedicated Organizing Committee with over 600 motivated members (including the Army and the Civil Protection Service).

 Huge publicity worldwide for Crans-Montana of a value that is impossible to calculate. Over 20 TV channels and radio stations projected live coverage of the event, 152 journalists and photographers wrote positive articles accompanied by splendid photography.  In total, 350 representatives from the media, (TV technicians included), were present.

The message from the OC President, Marius Robyr, to his staff, with sincere thanks, great gratitude, professionalism and perfection was appreciated by everyone.

One conclusion only for Crans-Montana and the Alpine Ski World Cup ;
The resort needs to immediately become a candidate for more World Cup races with Swiss-Ski, organize annual events for the European Cup, true promotion for the next generation of champions, and be a candidate to hold eventual World Cup races cancelled elsewhere.

The World Cup races held this year, their enormous success and added value clearly indicate the path to be chosen by the political authorities and officials.

Hugo Steinegger
Communication and Media Director
Crans-Montana Alpine Ski Races

It's more than a dream which came through for the Austrian this afternoon at Crans-Montana where Benjamin Raich celebrated his very first victory in Super-G after a nearly flawless run that helped him to beat by a few hundredths France's Adrien Théaux and Friday's winner, Swiss Didier Cuche, while another Austrian, Klaus Kroell, came in 4^th ahead of Canada's Jan Hudec.

A slalom and giant slalom specialist since his first victory in Schladming in January 1999, Raich has also excelled in combined events in past seasons but never went on top of the podium in Super-G. On Friday, the 2006 Overall World Cup champion came in an encouraging 3^rd , an excellent performance that boosted his confidence for the next race. In fact already prior the race, the soon 34-year-old strongly believed in his chances to do (much) better today.

"I knew after yesterday's competition in which places I had lost some time on my way down. I managed to achieve a much cleaner run today even though the conditions where again pretty tough," said the Tyrolian who has not won a World Cup event for more than two years - a Super-combined at Val d'Isère in December 2009!

 "I have been aiming for that success for a long time but I still have a hard time believing I finally made it," added the Austrian veteran sidelined last season by a knee injury sustained in February 2011 during the team event at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen FIS World Championships.

Earlier This year, Raich was 2^nd in a giant slalom at Adelboden behind his teammate Marcel Hirscher confirming his capacity to return at the top of his sport.  Unfortunately for him, he didn't find back his best rhythm afterwards until Friday. "I often reached the podium in Super-G since my first race in that specialty so I knew it would be a matter of time until I could also win one," the long-time boy-friend of slalom star Marlies Schild also told the press.

Raich likes Super-G racing

"I just feel comfortable in that event which requires instinctive skiing and much determination too. I want to thank all the coached who have helped me so much in all those years and today with their precious advises. I'm really proud that I have always believed in my chances to get back at the top. The entire situation with that injury was new for me. Now I'll do my best to defend my chance to get onto the podium in the Super-G World Cup standings."

Raich is now 'only' missing a victory in downhill to join the  exclusive club of 'Superstars' like Bode Miller, Kjetil Andre Aamodt or Marc Girardelli having excelled in all four alpine World Cup specialties and in combined. "It'll be difficult, you need a lot of training in downhill to be able to seriously challenge the very experienced leaders, but why not ? It could be another goal for the rest of my career," he told the press


After this fifth Super-G this season, Raich is 5^th in the specialty standings, 86 points behind the leader Aksel Lund Svindal, only 8^th today, with three races left in Kvitfjell, Norway, and Schladming, Austria. Didier Cuche sits now on 2^nd place seven points behind the Norwegian while Beat Feuz, 10^th today, is 4^th a few points behind Canada's Jan Hudec.

500 World Cup points for Adrien Théaux 

Adrien Théaux, on the podium recently in downhill in Sochi, already reached the top-3 in Super-G three months ago at Lake Louise, was please with his latest achievement that allows him to pass the crucial limit of 500 World Cup points needed to guarantee good start positions in all alpine disciplines.

"This performance is very meaningful for me as I usually don't handle too well those kinds of course conditions," said the Frenchman who won the downhill of the 2011 Finals at Lenzerheide. "It has been an advantage for the French team to have been able to train on this slope earlier last month. It's a very difficult terrain to memorize, so it helped us a lot. I have been fighting hard today but I in the same time, always tried to ski as smoothly as possible on this springtime snow. I'm now looking forward for a good start-position in giant slalom too."

"I enjoyed being on the podium next to two legends today, it has for sure something special to stand next to them," Théaux also commented. "They have both achieved so much - one can only dream of their successes."

7^th season podium for Didier Cuche 

On Friday,  Didier Cuche was particularly fast in the lower part of the course after making a few mistakes in  the upper part ! This time it was the opposite. After clocking the fastest intermediate times, the Swiss veteran faded somehow in the lower section to end behind Raich and Théaux after making a mistake nearby the last pitch leading to the finish line.

" I made a mistake and  went too straight and had to push hard into the soft snow to get back to the line," the skier from Neuchâtel explained. "This killed my speed before the finish line. There is a lot of terrain, lots of rolls here and you have to be tight on the line, not ski too round. I think the trick is to work with the terrain instead of working against it," he also said.

"But I'm fully satisfied with this third place, I would have signed for it before the race," Cuche added.  "It's really tough to be consistent in the speed events. I would say the timing for perfect for me here. It was important to me to perform well in front of this huge crowd for my last races in Switzerland. It's also exciting to be in the hunt again for the Super-G standings, I didn't expect it at all coming here. I feel comfortable at Kvitfjell where I have done well in past years - expect when I have fight with some FIS officials there," Didier also explained with a grin.

In tomorrow's giant slalom, another spectacular battle is expected between the two top experts of the specialty, Marcel Hirscher who didn't compete today and USA's Ted Ligety, the reigning World Cup champion.  Hirscher will do his best to increase again his lead in the specialty and the Overall standings before the next seed events in Norway.

Didier Cuche, elected Switzerland's most popular athlete in 2011, celebrated another very emotional victory today on home-soil at Crans-Montana in the first of three competitions scheduled this weekend in the famous resort overlooking the beautiful Rhone valley.

The 37-year-old veteran, who is retiring in less than a month, clinched his fourth victory of the winter and the sixth Super-G of his career after a flawless run in the lower part of the sun-bathed yet demanding 'Piste National' beating my only 16/100 of a second Canada's Jan Hudec while Austrian Benjamin Raich came in 3rd ahead of the remaining favorites.

Cuche's victory was only his second on Swiss snow in his 16 years on the circuit and his first ever in the French speaking part of the country. In January 2002, he claimed his previous victory in the country at Adelboden after the 'Classic' giant slalom. In fact, the 2009 Super-G World Champion will receive his trophy as the best Swiss sportsman in 2011 at a ceremony after Saturday's second Super-G on the same course.

"It was not easy as everybody kept asking me what I felt about my last home races. It is an emotional moment but I tried to keep emotion on one side and my job on the other," said the defending Super-G World Cup champion who already raced in Crans-Montana back in March 1998, when the resort hosted the World Cup Finals. The racer from Neuchâtel was 2nd in the downhill race won by Austria's Josef Strobl.

The win was also a convincing one as Canadian Jan Hudec, starting when the piste conditions were at their best, had set a seemingly unbeatable mark. Yet Cuche accomplished an amazing performance in the final part of his run after losing nearly half a second on Hudec at the top of the slope to bag his 21st World Cup win and set another record as the oldest winner in the series, at 37 years and six months.

A great final part for Cuche

"I was not too sure what to expect as I was not on the right line at the top but my lower part was just the way I had planned it," he explained. "I struggled somehow at the beginning and went twice away from the best line, yet I managed to find back the right pace in the lower part. I was a little surprised at the end to have clocked the best time after those mistakes but also extremely happy. I was really overwhelmed by the emotion. It's something very special to compete and win in front of your home crowd," Cuche added.

"I'm not promising a double but I will do my best," he warned. "Yet I would definitely need again some luck - and the same pair of fast skis that I used today. My serviceman did again a wonderful job with them."

"They were true rockets in the final gliding sections on that spring snow. It surely was an advantage for me to have been able to train here last week. The terrain is very tricky here as one could see with all these crashes in the upper part of the run. I also spend much time watching some of the earlier racers coming down so I was able to better see and register the crucial parts of the course. "

Cuche was one of only two competitors at the start to have raced in Crans-Montana when the men's World Cup last stopped there in 1998 and the experience counted. The only other racer from that era, Raich, also competed here in 1998 - finishing the giant slalom in 10th place.
In the absence of World Cup champion Ivica Kostelic, who is nursing a knee injury, both Austria's Marcel Hirscher and Swiss Beat Feuz had a chance to score 'big' points for the Overall championship.

In fact, speed specialist Feuz, a winner in a Super-G last December at Val dGardena, in Italy, was a disappointing 20th while Hirscher, trying his luck in a discipline he is not familiar with, failed to finish in the top 30 and score any point.

Overall, Hirscher retained his 12 points lead over Kostelic while Feuz remained third, 41 points behind.

Hirscher was glad to race

"I'm glad I decided to race here. Obviously there is a lot of ground for improvement in Super-G but it was a great way to check the course before Sunday's giant slalom, "the Austrian prodigy told the press after the race.

"There's a huge difference between speed and technical events. It's like starting from scratch all over again but I intend to make Super-Gs part of my program in the future," Hirscher also said. "I didn't make any major mistake but this spring snow didn't favor my style at all. I'm happy with that safe run which helped me to get a better feeling of the course and the snow. "

On Sunday, Hirscher will be battling hard again with USA's Ted Ligety for supremacy in the giant slalom standings. Last week, he took over the lead in the specialty rankings with his seventh season victory at Bansko, in Bulgaria.

Many racers will be aiming for revenge in Saturday's second Super-G on the 'Piste Nationale' including Hudec who enjoyed his first career Super-G podium after finishing 4th at Lake Louise last November. Canada's red-hot men's speed team racked up a fifth podium in as many races Friday as Jan Hudec secured his first career super-G World Cup top-three finish with a second place result in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

The 30-year-old Czech born 'Canadian Cowboy' from Calgary took full advantage of an early start position in warm conditions and soft snow to lay down a lightning-fast time that only Swiss superstar Didier Cuche was able to overcome. Starting in sixth position, Hudec took an aggressive line and attacked the course to claim his fourth career World Cup podium and his second this season following his victory in the downhill in Chamonix, France, on Feb. 4. It's the fifth consecutive Canadian podium finish in a speed event since Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

First Super-G podium for Hudec

"Thank goodness. I'm glad I finally got one in Super-G," said Hudec, It was a little bit bumpy when I went down but it really deteriorated for the other guys. It was like plus-10 on the hill. "The streak is pretty awesome. We just need to keep the momentum going. The other guys who have been part of the streak are really disappointed today but Erik definitely knows he can be in there. I think he will be out to get one tomorrow. "

"I had a feeling it wasn't enough," also commented Hudec, who is now ranked 4th in the World Cup standings in Super-G. "I was a little bit conservative at the bottom and I know that left a window open for someone else. No one was really close to me at the top but if anyone can sneak in there, it's Cuche."

Interestingly enough, Hudec was a far 45th in Super-G a year ago at the end of the season and only 26th in downhill - which prevented him to qualify for the World Cup Finals at Lenzerheide after the last competitions at Kvitfjell, in Norway.

And now he'll be fighting for more podium finishes in the remaining speed events. "The season is ending soon yet there are still some interesting races left, especially those in Norway, they perfectly suit my style," Hudec also explained. "I'm very motivated and looking forward for more great results. I feel well - finally no more pains at my back or my knees."

Benjamin Raich too believes in his chance for an even better result tomorrow -and of course also Beat Feuz who has been aiming to take over the lead in the Overall standings with another strong result.

Only 20th place for Beat Feuz

"I know what went wrong today, I didn't ski well enough on this soft spring snow which required much more feeling," the young Swiss explained. "I was too hard on my skis this time, I should have been a little smoother here and there," Feuz added.

" I felt OK, I was not more nervous than usual, yet I may have tried to hard this time," the recent winner at Rosa Khutor admitted. He didn't want to try to explain his poor performance of the day by the slight knee injury he sustained earlier this week at Moscow while racing the parallel event.

"The doctor checked the knee as I felt same pain after the race but no major problem was discovered," he told the press. "I didn't feel any pain this morning and didn't need to take any pain killers, only some anti-inflammatory pills to heal the knee. It should be fine soon."

The stats are already pretty impressive - in the fifty-four World Cup races in which he scored points in the last four years, Austria's ski prodigy Marcel Hirscher reached twenty-one podiums in giant slalom, slalom or combined, celebrating nine victories including six during the present season.

At the end of his first season on the tour, the three-time junior World Champion in 2007 and 2008 had truly stormed on the World Cup scene as he surprisingly finished 3^rd in slalom at Kranjska Gora and Bormio at the tender age of 19!

A year later, the passionate dirt bike rider only missed by 7/100 of a second the bronze medal in giant slalom at the 2009 FIS World Championships at Val d'Isère - finishing 4^th behind Switzerland's Carlo Janka, Benjamin Raich and Ted Ligety - his toughest rival this season.

At the beginning of the flowing season, the now 23-year-old skier from Annaberg-Lungötz, south of Salzburg, enjoyed a nice revenge on the same slope when he claimed his first giant slalom race on the treacherous "La Face" slope after ending a promising 11^th in Super-G and 2^nd in a combined event there. He won another giant slalom later on in March 2010 - and finally also his first slalom - again in Val d'Isère - in December 2010.  He was twice 2^nd in Adelboden and Wengen and also 4^th at Kitzbühel later on that season.

Unfortunately, an injury sustained early February 2011 at his left foot during a crash in Hinterstoder prevented him to fight for medals the following weeks at Garmisch-Partenkirchen where his team didn't clinch any gold medal.

A positive attitude

Marcel showed once more his mental strength in the way he dealt with that misfortune taking it as a simple incident among many others in his career. This positive attitude also helped him to handle the annoying time of rehab that took place in the springtime and early summer and get back with great pleasure to team for snow training.

What was considered by him and his dad Ferdinand, a ski instructor who has since ever taken care of Marcel's technical skills, as a "comeback  winter" soon turned out to be an amazing season for the young Austrian who also has a Dutch passport as his mother was born in The Netherland.

 After an encouraging start at Sölden where he came in 6^th Marcel suddenly begun to ski at another rhythm in Beaver Creek, Colorado, where he won the following giant slalom ahead of Ligety prior being 2^nd in the next one behind him and then 3^rd in the slalom captured by Ivica Kostelic.

Ten days later, he was a solid yet not so happy 5^th in the giant slalom at Alta Badia - he had clocked the second best time in the first leg - before fighting back in the slalom that he eventually won ahead of Italy's Olympic Champion Giuliano Razzoli and Germany's Felix Neureuther.

It was the start of another "tornado" tour as he also won the four next events that he properly finished at Zagreb, Adelboden and Schladming - after straddling gates in Flachau, Wengen and Kitzbühel. In Switzerland, he became the very first athlete to win both technical races set on the challenging "Chuenisbärgli" course within twenty four hours. No champion since Sweden's Skiing Legend Ingemar Stenmark was able to win the first three races in the New Year.

A remarkable win at Schladming

Marcel's last triumph at Schladming was particularly remarkable as it was a major goal for him to finally excel in front on his fans and friends.  He achieved that dream despite the huge pressure that he had to face following the nerve-breaking controversy which had started a few days before when an anonymous text message sent to an Austrian newspaper accused him to have won the slalom at Zagreb after straddling a gate during his second run. It made big headlines and created much confusion around him for a while until FIS World Cup Director Günter Hujara showed slow-motion and enlarged videos from that race at the Team Captains Meeting the evening before the competition.

It ended any arguing between the parties even before Hirscher achieved his impressive demonstration the next day on the '"Planai"run surrounded by nearly forty thousand spectators. He became the sixth Austrian to win that prestigious race after having set the best time in the opening run after fighting his way down the damaged course in the second run.

Even though he presently focuses on the slalom and giant slalom World Cup titles, Marcel remains a top contender for the Overall crown as there are still seven technical events left on the calendar. He also aims to enter a couple of Super-G races at Crans-Montana (February 24/25) and has trained a few days in that specialty at Reiteralm during the two-week-long break he took after Schladming.

"I have already reached so much this season that I don't feel any pressure on me to win more races, I just want to go out there and have fun skiing as hard as possible," he told the press after his triumph at Schladming.  "I have nothing to lose and this will help me to give my best in the remaining events."

As he was injured a year ago, Hirscher doesn't know the 'Alberto Tomba' run at Bansko, yet the difficult Bulgarian course should suits his style and his aggressive skiing.

With a total of fifteen competitions left on the World Cup calendar until the end of the season, the battle for the big crystal globe awarded next month at Schladming is entering its most tense time as three top-champions are still in the hunt for the most significant trophy in alpine ski racing.

The men's tour resumes this weekend at Bansko, Bulgaria, with two tech events while two Super-G races and a giant slalom are planned in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, next week (February, 24-26). In-between the best 15 skiers from the Overall standings and one Russian receiving a 'Wild-Card' from the organizers will compete in Moscow on February 22^nd for the first City Event of the season after the cancellation of the race planned at Munich on Jan. 1^st 2012.

Then the racers will move up to Norway for two Super-Gs and a downhill, then come back to Kranjska Gora for the noted giant slalom and slalom races held on the difficult Podkoren slope prior traveling to nearby Schladming for the Finals organized on the courses of the 2013 Alpine Ski World Championships.

It's a balanced program with seven so called 'speed-events' and seven 'technical' races and one parallel slalom raced on an impressive ramp constructed within the Luzhniki Olympic Complex.

Kostelic out for three weeks

Ivica Kostelic, a winner in six events this season, sits for the moment in first place with 1 043 points - only 70 more than Beat Feuz, who won three races this season and 218 more than Marcel Hirscher, also crowned in six occasions in past months.

After injuring himself at his right knee while racing the combined event on the Rosa Khutor slope, Croatia's Ivica Kostelic will be out of contention for at least three weekends. So it's pretty probable that he will be caught in the Overall standings by his nearest rivals, Switzerland's Beat Feuz and Austria's Marcel Hirscher. The skier from Zagreb, who underwent a successful surgery on Monday at the meniscus of his right knee, will try to get back on the tour early March in Slovenia.

Interestingly enough, Beat Feuz is skipping the coming races at Bansko to train for Moscow and for Crans-Montana. He has shown in past combined slalom that he has the potential to score 'big' points in Russia if he survives one or two rounds. He might also do well in giant slalom and for sure his relaxed attitude and his confidence should strongly help him to excel in downhill in the coming weeks.

The Swiss is particularly motivated by the idea to return in three weeks at Kvitfjell where he has celebrated his very first World Cup win a year ago in downhill. The Overall Cup is not his most immediate target for the moment. As Hirscher who aims to keep on challenging Kostelic and USA's Ted Ligety in the slalom and the giant slalom standings, Feuz has a great chance to put heavy pressure on his teammate Didier Cuche in the downhill standings and on Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal in the Super-G classifications.


Hans Pum bets on Beat Feuz

Austria's Alpine Director Hans Pum considers the 25-year-old Swiss from Schangnau as the skier to beat in this year's Overall standings. "Beat has the potential to keep on scoring a lot of points in the coming weeks as he seems to be on a roll," the long-time head coach said during the pre-Olympics events nearby Sochi. "He is very confident too and also very determined. We have calculated with our experts that he should be able to get close to the mark of 1 400 points or even 1 450 points at the end of the season with a series of strong results in Crans-Montana, Kvitfjell and Schladming ad a good parallel race at Moscow," also said Pum.

"The air is very thin at that level and I don't believe that either Kostelic or Hirscher could match this. Marcel is foremost fighting for the specialty standings in both slalom and giant slalom, the Overall title has never been a goal for him this wint1er. Don't forget it was supposed to only be a comeback season after his leg injury last February before the World Championships. We are already amazed by his recent achievements so far. His last triumph at Schladming was particularly impressive."


Hirscher remains cool

Even though Marcel Hirscher will mostly focus on the next tech events, starting with the giant slalom and slalom set on the demanding "Alberto Tomba" course at Bansko, he took some time last week after a nice break to train Super-G at Reiteralm, nearby Schladming.   The skier from south of Salzburg did score points in that specialty finishing 11^th at Val d'Isère in December 2009 a day after reaching the podium in a Super-G/Slalom combined event!

"I enjoyed it, I felt comfortable and I do plan now to enter the two Super-G races at Crans-Montana but don't expect from me to finish among the best-15," he explained on Monday evening during a show aired by Servus-T at Salzburg. "It'll also help me to test the course in Switzerland prior the giant slalom there," he added.

The 22-year-old prodigy also said that he remains cool when thinking about the Overall standings. "For sure there is a chance, and it's interesting but there is no better tactic than to fight each time as hard as possible," he also said. "I have already reached way more than I thought, so I'm pretty relaxed. I also hope that Ivica will manage to come back soon, he is a great champion and it would be too bad if he would be sidelined by that injury now. I know how tough it is for a racer to skip races - it happened to me last year the week before the World Championships in Germany."

What a beautiful ballet in the blue sky of Crans-Montana! An exercise of agility and precision. The PC-7 TEAM of the Swiss Army has conducted two training sessions for the air show to be presented Saturday, February 25 and Sunday, 26 to celebrate the World Cup Men's events. Further training is scheduled for Friday, February 23, after the Super-G race, from 14:45 to 15:45.

The last training of some of the Swiss Speed racers was held on Friday morning under a beautiful sun. Good omen for the three World Cup events next week?.
(Deprez Photos, Crans-Montana)

Didier Cuche

Beat Feuz

Tobias Grünenfelder

Ambrosi Hofmann

Like the other swiss organisers of Ski World Cup races, Crans-Montana also benefits from the presence of the Swiss army. Some 170 soldiers of the company montain infantry 7/3, under the command of 1st Lt Fabien product, perform multiple tasks. It is clear that without the help of the army, members of the Emergency Preparedness and volunteers, no more World Cup races can not be organized. President of the Organizing Committee, Marius Robyr, addresses his thanks for their enormous commitment.

Today's training runs from the swiss alpine racers were cancelled due to the snowfalls during the night, which brought 50 cm of snow on the Nationale slope. Just Beat Feuz, who arrived in Crans-Montana on Wednesday only, did practice some Giant Slalom runs. The athletes had a two hours long fitness training in the afternoon.