L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Vonn stuns slalom specialists to win in Levi with Pieitiae Holmer second and Maria Riesch in third.... Grange wins mens race from Miller and Kostelic .... Chemmy Alcott suffers clean break of ankle in training in North America, expected to be out till New Year .... Lindsey Vonn injures left knee in training Super G in Copper Mountain, no lay off details announced

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

Schladming: A night to remember

It was my first World Cup race and I don’t think any other race will ever be able to compare to it. It was the men’s slalom night race held at Schladming. It was an extremely eventful race with just 45 racers finishing the 1st run out of a total of 82, with some major crashes. Not only were the racers reaching breaking point but so were the gates, with about 15 gates breaking, one contributing to 2005 World Cup Champion Bode Miller coming out of the course.

The course was extremely challenging, and the slope was extremely icy. Alain Baxter, who straddled a gate on his first run, said that he could not get a grip, and he was sliding all the way down. Despite these challenging conditions there was some awesome skiing to watch.

The atmosphere at the race was incredible, with about 50,000 people turning out to watch, all equipped with air horns, flags, flares and of course their own voice. All racers were cheered for, but when an Austrian came down the slope the crowd went wild, every means possible was used to make noise, unfortunately it was not to be with the first Austrian racer, Benni Raich, coming in third position.

It was Raich’s 6th time on the podium at Schladming, finishing with a time of 1:43.15, falling just behind Japan’s Akira Sasaki, with an overall time of 1:43.13. But it was Kalle Palander from Finland who took the victory, with a time of 1:42.34.

Overall the men’s slalom night race was a great success, with 50,000 spectators returning to their homes thrilled with the experience.