Forty days of physical rehab in the middle of the summer have paid off for Kalle Palander. Ten races without a victory for Austria's "Wunderteam" spell crisis.
Palander won a giant slalom on Sunday for his 13th World Cup victory and the first since tearing knee ligaments in March.
"It was horrible, so this is nice payback," Palander said. "I didn't think I would be back at the top this fast," Palander said. "I think it's one of my biggest victories. Now I understand all the other guys who had operations, because this was my first. I didn't know how hard it is to come back."
PHOTO: AFP
The Finn, who led after the first run, covered the steep and narrow Gran Risa course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 28.82 seconds.
Bode Miller moved up from seventh after the first run to finish second, 0.51 seconds behind. Didier Defago of Switzerland was third, 0.59 back, for his first GS podium.
Austria's top finisher was Benjamin Raich in fourth position. The men's team has not won a race since Raich took the season opening slalom in Levi, Finland more than a month ago.
The last time Austria went 10 races without winning was 12 years ago, when Alberto Tomba was dominating the circuit.
"I don't think anyone expected it. It's not like they're skiing terribly," Miller said. "But you can't put it all on them. A lot of other countries have had great race days."
The US team has had two victories and three podiums over the past three days. Miller won a super-G on Friday in Val Gardena and Steven Nyman posted his first career win in the downhill on Saturday.
The Swiss team has had podiums by Defago and Didier Cuche in the past two days.
Raich is the defending overall World Cup champion but he's only seventh in the current standings, which are led by Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.
Palander's win moved him atop the giant slalom standings with 136 points, ahead of Italy's Max Blardone with 120.
Palander had surgery following a fall at last season's World Cup finals. He also won in Alta Badia in 2003, with his only other giant slalom win coming at Adelboden, Switzerland, in 2004. His other 10 World Cup wins all came in slalom.
"I love this hill. It's one of the most technical slopes on the World Cup," Palander said. "Ten years ago I never thought I would have placed on the podium in GS, it was just training for slalom."
At 29, Palander isn't satisfied now that he's won again.
"I'm the kind of guy that likes to win. I'm not going to be going for a top 10 in my next race," he said.
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