Once more Switzerland's Carlo Janka showed his class and determination in a very critical and tense situation winning the last giant slalom race of the season a day after his rather disappointing performance in Super-G which he ended in 11th place, far behind Austria's Benjain Raich 6th.
That sixth season World Cup win dramatically ended the great duel between both champions for the big Crystal globe that the Swiss unexpectedly clinched at only 23 a few weeks after his impressive Olympic triumph at Whistler Mountain and only a year after his strong gold medal triumph at the 2009 FIS World Championships at Val d'Isère.
Janka, who finished ahead of Italy's Davide Simoncelli while USA's Ted Ligety shares his 3rd place with Austria's Phil Schoerghofer, had to fight back with much ‘grinta' as his lead on Raich was reduced to 38 points after that speed event.
And this is exactly what this young man did with his usual coolness - clocking the fastest time in the first leg and staying out of reach of his closest rivals in the second one. As Raich only came in 8th, Janka increased his lead to an insurmountable 106 points - which will allow him to skip Saturday's slalom.
For once he showed more emotion than after other big wins! This time he didn't only left one arm or a finger to show his satisfaction but fell down on his back in the finish area to fully enjoy this incredible moment.
"Yes it was different this time, to win the big globe is pretty exciting and totally unexpected too, I have a hard time understanding what I just did," said Janka, the first Swiss to achieve such a performance since the victory of Paul Accola in 1992. He is only the fourth Swiss after Peter Luescher (1979), Pirmin Zurbriggem (four times in the 1990s) and Accola to win the Overall standings.
"It's comparable to the last 4-0 victory of Manchester United over Milan the other day," added the great football fan. "It's for sure incredible, especially when you think that I had to rest several months last summer because of a virus."
"It's a great way to end that great season. To win the Overall title is huge because you need to be so strong in all disciplines throughout the entire season. It's totally different than excelling at a medal event, you feel another kinds of pressure," also commented the Swiss who deserves more than ever to be called ‘Iceman' by his colleagues.
With six victories in three disciplines - three in downhill, two in giant slalom and one in Super-combined - and a podium finish in Super-G, Janka fully deserved to be considered the best allrounder of the season. His achieved his most impressive feat earlier this season winning three races in three different specialties in three consecutive days, a performance that only the great Jean Claude Killy accomplished during in unique 1967 season.
Interestingly enough, Janka has only be racing a couple of seasons on the World Cup tour. In February 2008 he skied for the first time among the top-10s in a Super-combined at Val d'Isère where he also enjoyed his very first triumph in December 2008 winning a giant slalom. Two month later, he was World Champion on the same treacherous ‘La Face' de Bellevarde course!
"He has been impressive, he is a great winner," admitted Raich afterwards. "I appreciate his technique but even more his remarkable coolness. He is very quiet - in life and on his skis. Today he showed once more his great qualities," also said the skier from Pitztal who finished for the fourth consecutive time in 2nd place. "I had a good season too, but I have not been as consistent as usual in the technical events. Yet I'm happy to be again on the podium in the Overall and the giant slalom standings. And my next goal is to ski a good race tomorrow in the slalom." Fortunately for him, Raich has captured the combined World Cup title this season.
This very last race is also the last chance for his teammate Reinfried Herbst to win a speciality World Cup title. Herbst, a four time winner this winter, has a strong lead on in nearest rivals as France's Julien Lizeroux or Croatia's Ivica Kostelic, but with some bad luck, he may also lose that title after failing to reach the podium at Vancouver last month.
