01 March 2004

Continuing his recent form of qualifying in the lower places, Alain Baxter was just a few gates away from a scintillating result in this weekend's World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, before disaster stuck.

On a slope that is not among his favourites, Baxter looked to have pulled a run out of the bag that would have given him his ticket to the World Cup Finals. Through the split on the second run, Baxter's time was second quickest before he put a hand down and his outside ski slide away enough to lose valuable time.

As his ski slide away so to did any chance he had of making the World Cup Finals in Sestriere next month. "It has been a funny season," reflected Baxter afterwards. "I have been skiing well but not getting two runs together."

As it is Alain and Noel both stay on in Kranjska Gora for the final two Europa Cup Slaloms and then will fly to Canada to compete in the North American Finals before returning for the British Land British National Championships at the end of March. We are also hoping that Noel and Alain will be able to take a break from their schedules to join us for the Natives Dual Slalom race in Courchevel.

Disappointment for both brothers
For Noel it was a day of disappointment as he failed to add to his World Cup points tally for the season and finished in 36th. "It was hard to let the skis go and also to hold an edge. I could have let them go a bit more but I was caught out by the bumps so I guess I am disappointed by this!"

Despite the heavy overnight snow, hard work by the race organisers meant that the race got underway on time. After the first run, Austria had the top three racers but nobody could foresee the rise of the Norwegian attack! Truls Ove Karlsen came from 5th after the first run to win from his compatriot, Tom Stiansen (12th after first run). With Bode Miller skiing out on the first run and Benni Raich coming to grief on the second, the final few races have left the Overall World Cup wide open.

[Report by Neil McQuoid, Editor, Racer Ready]

Men's World Cup Slalom, Kranjska Gora, SLO

1 KARLSEN Truls Ove NOR 49.82 52.90 1:42.72 0.00
2 STIANSEN Tom NOR 50.45 52.35 1:42.80 0.44
3 MATT Mario AUT 49.42 53.57 1:42.99 1.50
4 SASAKI Akira JPN 50.41 52.63 1:43.04 1.78
5 SCHOENFELDER Rainer AUT 49.74 53.55 1:43.29 3.16
6= PALANDER Kalle FIN 49.78 53.57 1:43.35 3.50
6= GRUBELNIK Drago SLO 51.10 52.25 1:43.35 3.50

25 BAXTER Alain GBR 51.34 54.38 1:45.72 16.65
DNQ BAXTER, Noel GBR

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