For the 14th annual men's World Cup "Night Slalom", the organizers in Schladming expect about 50'000 enthusiastic fans packing the sides of the steep race course. Back in '97, the first evening slalom at Schladming was held in front of 27'000 spectators.
This first race was held Jan. 30, 1997, and won by Italian legend Alberto Tomba. He followed that up with another win one year later. Since then however, one name has shown up on top of the leader board more often than any other, namely Benjamin Raich's. The Austrian holds the record for the most wins at this event - coming first in '99, '01, '04 and '07.
It seems like the Austrians own the Planai in Schladming. In thirteen night slaloms, they celebrated eight victories, with Mario Matt finishing first in '00 and '08, Manfred Pranger in '05 and Reinfried Herbst in ‘09.
In other words, so far only Alberto Tomba (ITA), Kalle Palander (FIN) and Bode Miller (USA) were able to conquer the Austrian phalanx. And the Austrians are definitely hungry for another victory on Tuesday, Jan. 26 after being blanked from the top of the podium in Kitzbuehel some days ago.
Last year, Austria even took a first and second place with Reinfried Herbst winning the slalom, followed by fellow Austrian Manfred Pranger in second and Croatian Ivica Kostelic in third.
Programme for Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010:
17:45 h CET night slalom 1. run
20:45 h CET night slalom 2. run
After Schladming, it will be on to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia for the final weekend of races before the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
