World Ski Championships: Von Gruenigen wins giant slalom

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

SESTRIERE, Italy -- Switzerland's Michael Von Gruenigen won the World Ski Championships giant slalom today, while Italian star Alberto Tomba's title defense was dashed in the first run.

Von Gruenigen, 27, had a two-run time of 2 minutes, 48.23 seconds, edging Norway's Lasse Kjus by 1.13 seconds. Von Gruenigen piled up a 1.12-second lead after the first run over Swiss teammate Steve Locher.

"I think I deserved this world title after dominating the discipline last year and again this year," said Von Gruenigen, the defending World Cup giant slalom champion and the leader this year.

"In the second run, I was very relaxed because I had a large lead from the first run. I didn't take any chances. It's the greatest joy. I had a dream in my heart and today this dream became reality."

Von Gruenigen, third last year in the giant slalom and slalom, has nine World Cup victories - two this season - all in giant slalom.

Kjus also finished second in the downhill and super-G.

"The championships are now finished for me," Kjus said. "I'm going home to enjoy my medals."

Austria's Andreas Schifferer was third in 2:49.68, followed by Locher in 2:49.71, Switzerland's Paul Accola in 2:50.14, and Norway's Kjetil-Andre Aamodt in 2:50.17.

Schifferer was ninth after the first run on the tight 4,705-foot Sises course, but had the quickest second leg in 1:24.63, with Von Gruenigen's second run the second quickest in 1:24.92.

Tomba, the winner last year in Spain, dropped out just over a minute into the first run after almost falling three times. Starting 16th, he was the seventh racer to go out on the difficult course.

"I'm angry and disappointed, but I knew I had little chance in giant since I started from the second group," said Tomba, who will defend his slalom title Saturday. "Today was not my lucky day. Now I'm looking forward to the slalom, which is my race."

The five-time Olympic and world champion was in trouble after just 18 seconds when he leaned hard into a turn and touched his right hip and side to the snow. Ten seconds later, he also flirted with disaster - again touching his right side to the snow - and needed an acrobatic recovery to make the gate. By that time he was almost four seconds behind Von Gruenigen.

The end came at just over a minute when he lost control going through a gate and skidded to a stop near a safety fence. He stood for a minute near the fence and stared up the course shaking his head.

"I took the edge off my skis because the course was very twisty," Tomba said. "Unfortunately, there were two icy gates and I couldn't control the skis. I was also having trouble with the alternation of sunny and shady spots on the course. An icy course would have been better for me. I took some risks because I wanted to keep up speed coming into the flat part in the middle."

His failure was not unexpected. The 30-year-old injured his right wrist early in the season, had a bout with illness, and also failed to finish the only World Cup slalom he entered this season.

On Tuesday, Isolde Kostner successfully defended her women's super-G title for Italy's third gold medal in the championships.

Kostner picked up 0.40 seconds through the last half-dozen gates to edge Germany's Katja Seizinger by 0.08 seconds. Italy's Deborah Compagnoni won the slalom and giant slalom.