L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

Mickel consolidates with 4^th top 20 result

“That felt good and it could have been even better had I nailed that one big turned,” grinned Finlay Mickel as he gained more respect from his peers with another top 20 result in Chamonix.  Watched by Konrad Bartelski, Mickel is fast closing in on Bartelski’s best result of second in a downhill.  Mickel’s confidence is sky high at the moment and a top 10 result is not that far away on this form.

Despite being delayed at the start due to the crash of Frenchman Sebastian Fournier that saw the Frenchman helicoptered off the hill with a severe ankle injury, Mickel used his strong gliding skills to good effect as he posted strong split times inside the top ten in three of the six sections.  “That big corner has been my nemesis this week,” rued a delighted Mickel!  “I am now getting consistent and the next step up is a top ten placing.”  Head coach to the British Team, Christian Schwaiger added that “this is not far off happening.”

The respect that Mickel is now commanding has not gone unnoticed.  Rudi Huber, the racing manager of his ski suppliers, Atomic, commented:  “To be able to ski very fast on as difficult a slope as here shows great ability.  Mickel’s performances are improving with every race and he is still young.”

The Chamonix downhill is acknowledged as one of the hardest on the circuit and thus Mickel’s performance is even more encouraging.  While Mickel acknowledged that “the run of personal bests had to come to an end sometime” this was a remarkable run considering the circumstances that occurred as he psyched himself up in the start gate.  Fournier’s crash delayed proceedings for a few minutes, yet still Mickel did not let this upset his mind.

This result places Mickel further up the World Cup points list, he now is in 31^st place in the race for qualification for the end of season World Cup Finals, where the top 25 qualify. If he can continue placing in the top 20, the reality of racing in Lenzerheide at the end of the season is possible.  Indeed had Mickel made a smooth turn on the big turn halfway down, “it could so easily have been a top ten result,” Mickel admitted.  Just over a second out at the bottom and half a second quicker would have seen him place 10^th!

Johann Grugger won his second successive race ahead of Kristian Ghedina and Michael Walchhofer.  Walchhofer all but won the race with a good lower section but lost it in the final turns.  This result however takes him into the lead in the season long competition.  After his make or break run, Hermann Maier gave Grugger a handshake but the look on Maier's face was one knowing that his chances of making the Austrian Team for the World Championships at Bormio at slipping away with every race.  Today Maier came in with Miller in joint 8th place, with the strength of the Austrian team at the moment Maier must be wondering how he can make one of the four spots.

1 Johann Gruger (Aut)                       1.56.93

2 Kristian Ghedina (ITA)                     1.57.04

3 Michael Walchhofer (AUT)             1.57.07

17 Finlay Mickel (GBR)                       1.58.05

Further reports from Chamonix