Men's Slalom
Switzerland's Didier Plaschy celebrated an unexpected victory in a slalom at Beaver Creek today when he beat some of the best ski racers in the world after two impressive runs. The 26-year-old Plaschy beat, by almost a second, the 1994 Olympic champion Thomas Stangassinger, the best slalom skier in the field and the defending slalom World Cup champion.

	Didier Plaschy

"I have never skied so fast on the flats — in fact, they were so quick that I had a hard time keeping up with them," Plaschy said after the race.

Norway's Kjetil Aamodt, who again took 3rd, took over the lead in the Overall World Cup standings, his main goal this season. Aamodt tied with Italy's Matteo Nana, the only athlete to use very short skis in this competition.

"This is a great moment in my life and I want to dedicate this success to all the people who helped me a few years ago when I decided to quit ski racing because of poor results..." — Didier Plaschy

No US skier managed to qualify for the second run: Bode Miller, the best technical skier of the US team, skied out in the first run. Austria's Benjamin Raich, 2nd in the first run, skied out in the second run while fighting for his first season victory.

Quite a character in his own way, Plaschy has been known for a long time as a very fast slalom skier, but also a very inconsistent one. Last year, he reached his first podium when he came in 2nd at Kitzbuhel, but he didn't finish the World slalom in Vail in February.

This summer, Plaschy focused mostly on slalom during the off-season snow training. At the same time, he worked hard with his ski supplier, a modest Swiss company which manufacturers just 25,000 pairs of skis in a year, to produce high performance slalom skis.

"I think we have found the best line," he explained after the race. "It's a medium-short model with a length of 1.86m, but a very dynamic one with some side-cutting."

This is a great moment in my life and I want to dedicate this success to all the people who helped me a few years ago when I decided to quit ski racing because of poor results. A group of people, mainly vignards, got together and raised some money for me. They enjoyed seeing me race and wanted me to continue competing. Their money and their confidence gave me great momentum. I fought hard afterwards to honor them. My victory is also theirs."

	The Podium

Last winter, after a disappointing season start, Plaschy also learned to better handle the pressure and his concentration by reading a book on human behavior. "I was another man after I read this book," he said. "But I kept on improving on my mental attitude during the summer. I was quite confident coming here and I was aiming for a top-3 place. The course was fine, a litle sloppy in the afternoon but the people here did a good job. Now I have to organize a great party with my teammates; we all deserve it I guess. It's been a long time since the Swiss won a slalom — eight years!"

The 34-year-old Stangassinger confirmed his motivation in coming back from 4th to 2nd place after a strong second run. Yet the Austrian didn't want to take too many risks on the second run which by then was in bad shape.

"I wanted to finish on the podium in order to reinforce my confidence," Stangassinger said. "I had a tactical second run which was just good enough for a top-3 place. In December, I will ski more aggresively to win some races."

	Kjetil Aamodt

In the giant slalom on Wednesday, Kjetil Aamodt will try to successfully defend his lead in the overall World Cup standings. "I'm happy with the result here because I didn't have the feeling that I was skiing so well," he said. "I have to take more risks to win races but so far I'm pleased with my season start. I'm happy to be racing again on this course which brought me luck in February. It will be a tough yet interesting week."

The man to beat will again be "The Herminator" who won the opening race in Tignes. Bode Miller will try to finish among the top-10 this time.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent