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Close friends, close race

Kjus, Aamodt combine for dramatic season finish

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Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 05:29 PM

The World Cup title highlights an exceptional season for Lasse Kjus, who became the first man to win five medals in a World Championships. AP

SIERRA NEVADA, Spain (AP) -- Lasse Kjus still isn't as popular in Norway as eight-time Olympic cross-country gold medallist Bjorn Daehlie, but the Alpine star must be gaining on him.

Kjus won his second World Cup overall title Sunday, edging childhood friend Kjetil Andre Aamodt by a scant 23 points -- after 4 1/2 months and three dozen races -- in one of the tightest men's finishes on record.

Kjus, who coughed and wheezed all winter with a chest infection, sped to a quick second leg in Sunday's giant slalom to grab seventh place -- he was 15th after the first leg -- in a time of 2 minutes, 5.48 seconds.

Needing a second place to earn enough points to overtake Kjus, Aamodt finished fifth in 2:05.13. The result: Kjus 1,465 points, Aamodt 1,442.

A close finish and an even closer friendship.

Kjus and Aamodt were World Cup roommates for 10 years, Aamodt's father, Finn, was their first coach, they're both 28, and have each won a record 13 Olympic and World Championships medals.

Daehlie, the most popular athlete in Norway where Nordic skiing dwarfs Alpine, has won a record eight gold medals -- more than any athlete in the Winter Olympics.

"The only thing I can do is congratulate Lasse," Aamodt said.

"He has been the best skier all season. For what he did here and what he did in the Worlds [in Vail, Colorado], I can only take my hat off to him."

Last month in Vail, Kjus became the first man to win five medals in a World Championships, including gold in Super G (shared with Austria's Hermann Maier) and giant slalom.

"It is unbelievable to get this title," said Kjus, who also won the championship in '96. "It was great fun to have this close fight with Kjetil. I felt a lot of pressure in the second run because I had made so many mistakes on the first. But I risked it all because I had to."

Aamodt and Kjus, whose first coach was Aamodt's father Finn -- now a sports commentator on Norwegian TV -- roomed on the World Cup circuit for 10 years until they split last year "because we got like an old married couple," said Aamodt, who won the 1994 World Cup overall.

"We'd said about all two people could to each other in that time." Aamodt added.

The Kjus-Aamodt 1-2 was the closest men's overall finish since 1991 when Marc Girardelli nipped Alberto Tomba by 20 points. But that was under a scoring system that awarded many fewer points - as was the 1980 title when four points separated the winners.

Under the system begun in the 1991-92 season, the closest men's finish prior to Sunday's near dead heat was in 1993 when Girardelli edged Aamodt by 32 points.

The season's giant slalom went to Switzerland's Michael Von Gruenigen, who won in 2:04.33 followed by countryman Steve Locher in 2:04.40 and Austria's Heinz Schilchegger in 2:04.44.

Von Gruenigen finished with 483 points to 410 for Austrian Stephan Eberharter and 371 for defending champion Maier.

Maier, who said he aggravated a back injury in Saturday's slalom and needed painkiller injections to ski Sunday, went out five gates from the finish on the first leg, losing his right ski in the process.

The defending overall World Cup and giant slalom champion, Maier was eliminated from the overall chase in Saturday's slalom, finishing behind Kjus and Aamodt with 1,307 points.

Maier blamed his bad back, picked up two months ago doing leg exercises with heavy weights, for crashing Sunday.

"I was disappointed about the situation and just didn't feel very coordinated," said the two-time Olympic champion. "When I went out, I didn't even realize what had happened. My back was even worse today than it was yesterday."

Kjus' title capped a World Cup season dominated by Austrian women. They won all five titles, a feat last accomplished in 1987 by the Swiss women.

Alexandra Meissnitzer took the overall, downhill and Super G, with Renate Goetschl taking downhill and Sabine Egger the crystal globe in slalom.

Meissnitzer clinched super-G and Egger claimed her slalom title when the two races were canceled last week by high winds and snowstorms in Europe's southernmost ski resort.

On the men's side, the Austrians -- after sweeping all five last season -- got a Super G title from Maier and a slalom title from Thomas Stangassinger, at 33 the oldest skier on the circuit. Kjus won overall and downhill, with Von Gruenigen taking giant slalom.

Final Overall Standings Finish Name Country Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 16 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 50 52 53 54 55 56 56 58 58 58 Lasse Kjus Kjetil Andre Aamodt Hermann Maier Stephan Eberharter Hans Knauss Andreas Schifferer Christian Mayer Michael Von Gruenigen Werner Franz Benjamin Raich Thomas Stangassinger Jure Kosir Paul Accola Fritz Strobl Didier Cuche Finn Christian Jagge Steve Locher Pierrick Bourgeat Josef Strobl Kristian Ghedina Fredrik Nyberg Patrik Jaerbyn Hannes Trinkl Sebastian Amiez Rainer Salzgeber Patrick Holzer Luca Cattaneo Giorgio Rocca Didier Plaschy Markus Eberle Heinz Schilchegger Chad Fleischer Bruno Kernan Marco Buechel Tom Stiansen Audun Groenvold Fabrizio Tescari Bode Miller Peter Runggaldier Kalle Palander Joel Chenal Kenneth Sivertsen Drago Grubelnik Peter Rzehak Antoine Deneriaz Hans-Petter Buraas Markus Hermann Marco Casanova Thomas Grandi Ole Christian Furuseth Lasse Paulsen Alessandro Fattori Daron Rahlves Franco Cavegn Harald Strand Nilsen Juerg Gruenenfelder Erik Seletto Mitja Kunc Siegfried Voglreiter Angelo Weiss Norway Norway Austria Austria Austria Austria Austria Switzerland Austria Austria Austria Slovenia Switzerland Austria Switzerland Norway Switzerland France Austria Italy Sweden Sweden Austria France Austria Italy Italy Italy Switzerland Germany Austria United States Switzerland Liechtenstein Norway Norway Italy United States Italy Finland France Norway Slovenia Austria France Norway Switzerland Switzerland Canada Norway Norway Italy United States Switzerland Norway Switzerland Italy Slovenia Austria Italy 1,465 1,442 1,307 1,079 913 901 766 705 614 575 566 525 494 445 436 386 386 363 361 355 354 336 320 312 288 276 273 269 252 250 243 234 223 218 216 211 204 173 169 168 166 165 162 158 157 149 141 136 129 127 127 123 114 110 109 107 107 106 106 106

 

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