Adelboden, Switzerland
It is one of the classic venues in all of ski racing with a storied World Cup history dating back to 1967. French legend Jean-Claude Killy won the inaugural World Cup giant slalom in Adelboden that year and defended his title the following season.
Other superstars that have won at the venerable site in front of some of the sport's most passionate fans have included Karl Schranz, Gustavo Thoeni, Piero Gros, Alberto Tomba, Marc Girardelli, Kjetil Andre Aamodt and Bode Miller.
Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark won giant slaloms here four consecutive times from 1979-1982. The Swede nabbed his fifth victory in 1984. Austria's Hermann Maier has won three times and Benjamin Raich has done so also, winning the GS in three of the past four years.
Winners from the home nation of Switzerland have included Pirmin Zurbriggen (1983 & two wins in '87), Michael von Grunigen (1996), Didier Cuche (2002) and Marc Berthod (2007 & '08).
This upcoming weekend thousands of fans will once again venture to the famed Swiss village in the Bernese Oberland to see an important giant slalom on Saturday and slalom on Sunday. World Cup stars will be competing for a top prize of 40,000 CHF in each race.
Considering that Austria's Benjamin Raich who has been dominant in GS here in Adelboden, moved past Switzerland's Carlo Janka in the overall standings this past Wednesday with an 11th place finish in Zagreb, the Swiss should be very hungry.
Janka, who sat out Wednesday's slalom now trails Raich in the overall standings by 12 points, 589-577. The veteran Cuche who won here eight years ago is third with 481 points. Fellow Swissman Didier Defago lies sixth with 336 points.
Marc Berthod will be the sentimental favorite of the Swiss fans this weekend. While the 26-year-old racer is from St. Moritz, he also has roots in the Bernese Oberland. While Berthod has yet to find his form this season finished no better than 12th in giant slalom (Val d'Isere) and 16th in slalom (Zagreb), there's no denying his past success on the Chuenisbargli piste. World Cup slalom only began being contested in Adelboden in 2004 andBerthod is the lone racer to secure victories in both disciplines (slalom - 2007, giant slalom - 2008).
American Bode Miller returns to action this weekend, his first races since the Alta Badia giant slalom on December 19th. The 2002 Adelboden winner once again took some time off to rest a sore ankle. While the ankle is still not at 100 percent, the break also allowed Miller to improve his conditioning. U.S. teammate Ted Ligety, who was second in the slalom in 2006 and lies third in the GS standings could also contend.
Italy's Massimiliano Blardone has been red hot recently in GS coming off a victory at the last race in Alta Badia in December, improving upon a second in Val d'Isere. The veteran Italian who won here in 2005 and was runner-up to Raich last year will likely challenge for the victory.
Blardone's teammates, Giuliano Razzoli and Manfred Moelgg should be among the toughest contenders fighting the Austrians in Sunday's slalom. Razzoli, 25, is fresh off his first World Cup victory Wednesday night in Zagreb, Croatia. Moelgg was second in that race and currently sits fourth in the World Cup standings.
Austria's Reinfried Herbst is the defending Adelboden slalom champion having finished ahead of teammate Manfred Pranger by 0.18 seconds last year. Despite making a huge mistake in the second run on Wednesday, Herbst still leads the World Cup slalom standings 245-141 over France's Julien Lizeroux.
Lizeroux, who grabbed the third spot in Zagreb seeks to become the first Frenchman to win in Adelboden since Patrick Russel did so in the giant slalom back in 1971.
38,500 spectators attended the Adelboden races in 2009 and considering that it is an Olympic year, this weekend's total, depending upon weather could possibly exceed 40,000.
The first run of Saturday's giant slalom is scheduled for 10:30am local time/CET with the second at 1:30pm. Times are the same for Sunday's slalom.
By Brian Pinelli
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