Men's Slalom
Today was a great day in Wengen for racing veteran Kjetil Aamodt (NOR). With his win here today, he became only the fourth skier in World Cup history to celebrate victories in all five alpine events — downhill, super G, slalom, giant slalom and combined. Before him, only "all-time greats" such as Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen, Marc Girardelli and Gunther Mader were able to excel in all the specialties of modern ski racing.

"What a great moment — I have been waiting for it for so many years," Aamodt said, with tears in his eyes. "I have not won a real race for three years, only combined (races), and it was very difficult to face. I know I could be more efficient if I would focus on a couple of specialties but that's not what I like to do. I wish that my success inspires the younger generation since I proved today that you can ski well in all events."

	Aamodt

It was a remarkable win for Aamodt, who captured the fifth slalom of the season after a tremendous effort in the second run. Aamodt beat his teammate Ole Christian Furuseth by 52/100 of a second and Drago Grubelnik, the best of the strong Slovenian team, by 61/100.

This 17th World Cup success puts him closer to Austria's Hermann Maier in the Overall World Cup standings. Yet "The Herminator," who went home Saturday night after the downhill to prepare for the next race of Kitzbuhel, still has a comfortable lead on his closest rival, who won the Crystal Globe in 1994.

Today was also a great day for American Sacha Gros, 10th after clocking the fastest time in the second run — a very promising result for the aggressive athlete from Vail, who scored his first World Cup points last month in Madonna di Campiglio. The other Americans skied out in the first run.

Aamodt was quite upset last week after missing the opportunity to be part of this legend of alpine ski racing when he came in 2nd in Chamonix in the slalom won by Italy's little-known Angelo Weiss. Today Aamodt was 4th in the opening run, dominated by Slovenia's Jure Kosir skiing on short skis (1.74m) and with the excellent bib #1. Kosir, winner of two slaloms in '98-'99, was followed by the 1998 Olympic Champion Hans Petter Buraas and Furuseth, 4th last week in France.

"I'm very proud to have reached this goal to win in all World Cup events after having accumulated so many top-3 finishes in my career. Last year I skied almost 30 times among the top-10 but I wanted more...." — Kjetil Aamodt (NOR)

Before Aamodt reached the start gate for his second run, other favorites were already far behind, including the defending slalom World Cup Champion Thomas Stangassinger. Switzerland's Didier Plaschy skied out. Angelo Weiss, the first winner of the season to use short skis (1.70m), lost almost two seconds on Kosir after a tough run on the icy and steep slope. Kjetil, a strong 11th in the downhill on Saturday, did not forget the lesson from Chamonix and he knew that the time had come to attack the course.

Pushing himself to his limits from gate to gate, the Norwegian had an aggressive, yet very clean, run through the 59 gates of the second run and established a new best time. He could not wait to see how his closest rivals would handle the course after him.

Furuseth was fast, too, in the upper part, but not as close to the gates as Aamodt, who then had to endure watching two more runs. Buraas, who had a lousy season last winter, skied aggressively, but could not beat Aamodt's time. He lost his rhythm in the middle part and crossed the finish line 1.18 seconds back.

Then it was Jure Kosir's turn. A flamboyant champion who has scored great results since 1992, including three wins and an Olympic bronze medal in 1994, Kosir has often been fast in the first runs and disappointing in the second ones. It's not so much a question of weak nerves than of the problems he has when skiing on rough courses. He could not repeat his strong first run. Aamodt raised him arms to the sky.

"I'm very proud to have reached this goal to win in all World Cup events after having accumulated so many top-3 finishes in my career," said Aamodt. "Last year I skied almost 30 times among the top-10 but I wanted more. I was really obsessed by the need to win such a race. This is a great boost for my morale. It will also give me great confidence for the future races. I should feel much more relaxed now.

"I don’t think I have a solid chance to beat Hermann Maier in the Overall World Cup, but I will try to put some pressure on him," added Aamodt. "I'm always strong in the end of the season. I almost won the cup last season during the finals in Sierra Nevada, but Lasse (Kjus) was too strong.

	Grubelnik

A winner of 13 medals in big races since 1991, Aamodt was only 22 when he clinched his first World Cup after conquering three gold medals at the Olympics (super G 1992) and World Championships (slalom and GS in 1993). His success brings him great momentum in the second half of the season. Aamodt can now be considered a threat to the Austrian stronghold at the prestigious Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, next week.

Also very excited to compete in Kitzbuhel is Gros, scoring points only for the second time today. His outstanding performance in the second run will also help him to improve his standings in the international start list. Gros was delighted by his achievement.

"It really means something for me to have done so well here on this tough course," Gros said. "I was looking for a good result after some difficult races in the last slaloms and I fought hard for this. My goal this season is to be finishing a lot of slaloms to increase my experience. Then I want to move up in the standings. I feel a lot in me and this race proves that I'm on the right track."

— Manuéle Joyce, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent