Recovering from the injury

It also seems that Kalle is still going strong after all these years. Last season was a clear disappointment though – a fracture in shinbone (so called repetive stress injury) required an operation in the spring and Palander had to stop the season before it ended in early February. However, recovering from the injury has been going on very well and at the moment, already in August,  Kalle feels like there is no worries at all for the upcoming season.

Palander states: The best season is yet to be seen

Quote and (loose) translation from the Finnish news says:

“Be warned. I have this certain feel that I am already in the very strong shape. And the going is only getting tougher from now on. I can surely say that I am more dangerous than ever before. This is going to be the best season ever for me”

That is the way to talk the talk. No need to suspect that the guy can also walk the walk! You don’t go for chasing fourth places in the World Cup!

Lately Kalle has been doing better in GS but Slalom skiing is what brought him really to the limelight. It seems like he is always very sharp when the conditions are the worst possible – loose snow, stormy and very low visibility.

Here a video of Kalle in action in Alta Badia, Italy.

Latest news of Scott Macartney tell that he is recovering and is not unconscious anymore. He suffered concussion, but didn’t breake any bones or suffer other injuries. Macartney is still in hospital in Innsbruck and doctors expect him recovering 100%.

As Scott Macartney approached the last jump of the run, commentator in television was singing “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to…“, but quickly stopped when Macartney crashed. The day when he crashed was his 30 years birthday. Macartney lost his control in the last jump, fell on ground with 140 km/h speed and hit his head heavily on Streif slope.

Scott Macartney was born in January 19th. in 1978 in Seattle and grew up close to Crystal Mountain in the state of Washington. While Scott went skiing every weekend, his parents were members of the volunteer ski patrol organization of the mountain. With almost no funding Macartney worked his way up through regional teams and became one of the skiers in the Alpine Skiing World Cup.

In January 2006 Scott Macartney became second at the Super G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The 2006 Winter Olympics were his second Olympics. Now in January 2008 Macartney crashed in Kitzbühel, but has quickly regained consciousness and is recovering from the accident.

Scott Macartney crashed on his 30 years birthday. He lost his helmet, glided over the finish line and unconsciously on ground. Macartney’s body was shaking and cramping when doctors arrived. He was given first aid and transported to hospital by helicopter.

Even though Scott Macartney’s crash looked very bad, he is now in relatively good condition. According to the news, Macartney suffered concussion, but does not need surgery. He is being monitored in hospital in Innsbruck.

Scott Macartney was second skier in difficult Streif slope. His crash caused half an hour break in the race. In the same spot where Macartney lost his control, also Werner Heel and Bode Miller had difficulties, but were able to keep their control. Kitzbühel race is known as very challenging. Macartney was fifth skier who has injured in this slope this year.

Kitzbühel downhill winner was Swiss Didier Cuche who also took the leading position in in the alpine skiing world cup. Second position in Kitzbühel was shared by American Bode Miller and Austrian Mario Scheiber.

Kitzbühel race is different from other races, because the prizes are much higher and there is more audience than in other races. Total amount of prizes is 550.000 euros and the amount of audience is 85.000 to 90.000. Total budget in Kitzbühel race is about 5 million euros.

The second one in Alta Badia was Austrian Benjamin Raich, 0.42 seconds behind Kalle Palander, and the third one was Swiss Marc Berthod, 0.45 seconds behind Palander. For Kalle Palander this was 14th victory in the world cup, from which four are from Giant Slalom races.

Kalle Palander was truly amazed with his victory. He repeated word “unbelievable” often and was very surprised with his victory. “I cannot believe that I had velocity enough to win. I was really amazed after the finish line“, said Palander in Finnish media. Kalle tried too much and made few mistakes during his run, but he was still able to win.

Ted Ligety, who leads Giant Slalom sup, was penalized for being late from getting his number, was fifth in Sunday’s race. Ligety has 235 points, Raich 212 points and Palander 200 points. Raich leads the whole cup with 241 points ahead of Palander who is in position seven.

Third was Marco Büchel from Liechtenstein, who was also very fast. Büchel lost only 0,04 seconds to Didier Cuche. Race continues in Val Gardena with men’s downhill skiing on Saturday. Friday’s superG results are below.

Val Gardena, Italy. Men’s superG:

1. Didier Cuche Switzerland 1.36,62
2. Bode Miller USA 1.36,64
3. Marco Büchel Liechtenstein 1.36,66
4. Didier Defago Switzerland 1.36,84
5. Erik Guay Canada 1.36,86
6. Patrick Staudacher Italy 1.36,91
7. Benjamin Raich Austria 1.36,92
8. Hermann Maier Austria 1.37,08
9. Jan Hudec Canada 1.37,12
10. Hannes Reichelt Austria 1.37,15

Michael Walchhofer was the first non-US citizen winning in Beaver Creek since 2002 when Stephan Eberharter took the gold medal. Walchhofer was very happy with his victory because this is one of the most difficult races in the whole world cup.

Third one in Beaver Creek’s race was Swiss Didier Cuche with time 1.13,84. Although Svindal crashed and injured himself, he is still leading the world cup.

American Lindsay Vonn won ladies downhill in Lake Louise. Second in this very cold race was Austrian Renate Götschl and third one was Canadian Britt Janyk. Temperature in ladies race went down to -26 centigrade. This was third victory for Lindsey Vonn in Lake Louise.

Marc Gini was 0:0.28 seconds faster than the second skier, Finnish Kalle Palander. “Very good race, I must be happy with this“, said Palander in Finnish media. Kalle must be satisfied with the first two races in this season because he is now leading the world cup 20 ahead before Aksel Lund Svindal. Third one in today’s race was Italian Manfred Mölgg who was 8th after the first run. He lost Marc Gini by 0:05 seconds.

Gold medal in Reiteralm was a true surprise to many of us, including Marc Gini himself. His best position before this one has been ninth in Kranjska Goran slalom this year. “This is awesome, amazing result. I never expected this“, said Mr. Gini to Finnish media. Marc Gini’s victory was surprising for Kalle Palander as well, although Palander said that the Swiss have been fast in training.

The next race will be held in Lake Louise in Canada on November 24.-25.

Marlies Schild’s gold medal was 16th. for her in the world cup and 14th. in slalom. In the last season she won seven out of nine slalom races, and it looks like she might do it again. The situation in ladies world cup after Reiteralm race is as below.

1. Marlies Schild 112 points

2. Denise Karbon 106 points

3. Nicole Hosp 102 points

4. Tanja Poutiainen 82 points

5. Kathrin Zettel 74 points

6. Resi Stiegler 66 points

FIS officials  said that they couldn’t be sure of the slope base holding up through the whole race. Especially the steep parts of the slope didn’t have enough snow to impress the FIS controllers. Most likely at least the last racers would have suffered too much from the softened and/or very rough course (those world cup courses are usually pretty close to concrete hard snow - this making the conditions more even for every racer).

All in all, the estimate is that the snowmaking was only late for about one day. Talk about bad luck with the weather!

This won’t be the last an alpine skiing race in Finland is canceled

This won’t be the last time when races are going to be canceled/moved. I guess that in the near future this is going to be even more common. Sharp weather changes seem to be more common every year (whether this is due to permanent climate change is yet to be seen IMHO). Anyway, Levi has a contract with FIS until 2011/2012. So, I’m pretty sure we’re going to see another race next year (next year’s race is also planned to be one week later in November).

The CEO of Levi Area, Jouni Palosaari, says that the biggest lost is made for the general image of Lapland as a very snow-sure place. Also, when all the losses are calculated together one can talk about tens of millions of Euros.

The alpine skiing world cup race will be moved to Reiteralm, Austria. If I’m trying to be positive: good for them, and good for skiing in general that Austria is already having nice conditions. Last year we had good snow up north through the year but the whole central Europe was from suffering the warmest autumn/early winter for about 1000 years!

Second place was taken by American Ted Ligety with time 2.18,19 and the third one was Finnish Kalle Palander with time 2.18,26. Kalle performed almost perfect skiing with a couple of mistakes in the beginning of the track, but it was not enough to win Ligety. I was a bit surprised with Palander’s third place because as Kalle says, training season has been difficult.

American Bode Miller was 17th. after the first round but finally climbed to the fifth place. It will be interesting to see if Miller is going to stay among the top skiers.

American Julia Mancuso took the second place with time 2.23,54 and the third one was Austrian Kathrin Zettel with time 2.23,73. Finnish Tanja Poutiainen led the race in the beginning but was not able to keep the first place until the end of the race. She took the fourth place with time 2.23,78.

The Finnish female Alpine Ski Team is stronger than ever, and Tanja Poutiainen is challenged by her teammates. Poutiainen is satisfied with this and says that she can always learn new things from teammates. Last year’s troubles with the slalom should now be over and Poutiainen aims to win this season.

Notice also that Finnish alpine skier Kalle Palander is also preparing for the upcoming World Cup.