The big story on the World Cup this year is American skier Bode Miller, who became only the second skier in history to notch victories in all four alpine disciplines in the same year and its not even Christmas yet.
Miller won the opening GS in Soelden, Austria in October, a downhill and super G at Lake Louise in November, another downhill two weekends ago at Beaver Creek, and both the giant slalom and slalom titles at Sestrieres, Italy last weekend, on the same slopes that will be used in the Torino 2006 Olympic Games.
The only other skier to win all four disciplines in a season was Marc Girardelli in 1989.
Although the attention early in the season went to Millers skis, leading to a minor controversy over the practice of manufacturers giving their best equipment to their top skiers, there doesnt appear to be any big secret Miller is just skiing a lot better than everyone else, letting his skis run in the speed events and making smooth turns in the technical disciplines. Aside from two DNFs in the technical events at Beaver Creek, Millers other two results from this season are a silver medal in a super G and a fourth place in the downhill last week at Val dIsere.
In the giant slalom on Sunday Lasse Kjus of Norway finished second to Miller by 0.31 seconds over two runs. Hermann Maier of Austria was third, 0.04 seconds back of Kjus.
The top Canadian was Canmores Thomas Grandi, who padded his points with a solid 11 th place finish, 1.4 seconds back of the leader.
"I think it was a good race but Im shooting for better right now," said Grandi. "I think I over-skied the second run a little bit."
Cracking the top-30 for only the second time after an injury in the 2002-2003 season was Jean-Philippe Roy of Ste-Flavie, Quebec. Roy was 11 th after the first run, but dropped back to 22 nd .
"Im pretty happy to have qualified in the first run," said Roy. "Second run I was a little more tired and I wanted to finish so I didnt risk as much as in the first run. I could have been a lot better but Im happy; 22 nd is good for me and I needed the points "
Roy has been frustrated since returning from his injury by his late start position, which means he generally has to ski in more challenging course conditions. As a result, he has been having a hard time finishing races, much less improving his rankings. A top-30 result this week puts him in better position for his next start.
Francois Bourque of New Richmond Quebec was 42 nd .
In the night slalom on Monday, Miller was unstoppable once again. He led after the first run, keeping things conservative from start to finish. With his closest competitors just a few hundredths of a second back, Miller was far more aggressive on his second run. His main competitors dropped back while the top skiers in the second run werent close enough to make things interesting.
Miller took his first slalom victory of the season in one minute, 39.03 seconds. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland was second in 1:40.30 and Kalle Palander of Finland third in 1:40.44.
The top Canadian was once again Thomas Grandi in 13 th place, improving from his 15 th place first run. It was the 32-year-old veterans fourth top-15 finish for the season.
The biggest surprise for the Canadian team was the performance of Whistlers Michael Janyk, who overcame his 53 rd start position to post the 24 th fastest first run of the day. He followed up with an incredible second run the sixth fastest to move up into 16 th place overall.
Not only was it a personal best in a World Cup, it also represented the 22-year-olds first ever World Cup points. Although Janyk is the reigning Canadian slalom champion, alongside his older sister Britt, Janyk has had to contend with injuries, a slow comeback on the European Cup circuit, and a talented World Cup field that made it difficult to climb the rankings.
Michaels feat followed the example set by his sister two weeks before when she broke out of her own slalom slump and finished 19 th in Aspen.
JP Roy and Ryan Semple did not qualify for a second run.
In a downhill at Val dIsere on Saturday, Mont Tremblants Erik Guay finished 13 th , his fourth top-15 result in a speed event this season.
He nearly didnt finish at all, losing control coming out of a compression and onto a jump. He flew off sideways, but somehow managed to get back under control, stay on course and finish in the points.
"I really nailed the turn coming into it, the compression turn, and I just carried so much speed out of it I didnt have time to make a move off that jump," said Guay. "The result was I was heading toward the left when I had to be going right so I was really hard on my edges and I was late so I lost quite a bit of time."
Up to that point Guay was posting the fastest split time of the day on the top section.
The near-crash was also almost identical to a crash last year where Guay injured his knee and was forced to miss the rest of the season.
Werner Franz of Austria was first in the Val dIsere downhill, followed by Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein and fellow Austrian Michael Walchhofer.
Whistlers Jeff Hume had a better race than previous weeks, finishing 40 th , less than a second out of the top-30.
Jan Hudec of Banff didnt finish his first run, pulling off-course with a wrenched knee. He flew back to Canada the next day and will undergo tests to see if there is any ligament damage. If so, he will likely miss most of the season.
Hudecs injury was a blow to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, which has already lost Julian Cousineau and Vincent Lavoie to injuries.
The next stop for the mens team is a downhill at Val Gardena, Italy.
Meanwhile, in the Nor Am Cup downhill at Lake Louise, Canadian skiers took the lions share of podiums. John Kucera of Calgary won the mens event, followed by Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus Manuel Osborne-Paradis. Roger Cruickshank of Great Britain was third. Rosslands David Anderson was fifth.
In the womens downhill, Caitlin Ciccone of the U.S. took the win, followed by Shona Rubens and Sherry Lawrence of Alberta. WMSC alumnus Christina Risler was seventh,
In the womens World Cup last weekend, Britt Janyk and Emily Brydon failed to qualify for a second run at a slalom in Altenmarkt, Austria.
The win went to Tanja Poutiainen of Finland, followed by Marlies Schild of Austria and Janica Kostelic of Croatia.