The 1999/2000 season of the Alpine Ski World Cup organized by the FIS began on October 30, 1999 in Tignes and ended on March 19, 2000 on the occasion of the World Cup final in Bormio . 38 races were held for the men (11 downhill runs , 7 super-G , 9 giant slaloms , 11 slaloms ). There were 39 races for women (10 downhill runs, 8 Super-G, 11 giant slaloms, 10 slaloms). There were also two combined scores for men and one for women. Hermann Maier won the overall men's World Cup with a new record of 2000 points.
This season was an interim year without a World Cup or Olympic Winter Games.
World Cup ratings
total
Departure
Super G
Giant slalom
slalom
combination
Podium placements men
Departure
Super G
Giant slalom
slalom
combination
Podium placements women
Departure
Super G
Giant slalom
slalom
combination
Nations Cup
Season course
World Cup co-founder Serge Lang has passed away
On November 21 (on the night of November 22), the French journalist and co-founder of the Alpine Ski World Cup Serge Lang , who was born on June 6, 1920 in Mulhouse (Mühlhausen), died after a heart attack in Sternenberg ( Haut-Rhin , Alsace) has been. Serge Lang last lived in Riehen (Canton Basel-Stadt). He wrote for “L'Equipe”, the Swiss “Blick”, was chairman of the Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive in the 1960s and for many decades published the annual magazine “Biorama” (published in Basel), dedicated to alpine skiing. In addition to alpine skiing, he was mainly associated with the Tour de France . On August 11, 1966, after many conversations in Portillo, the then FIS President Marc Hodler announced the "birth" of the World Cup to the press. In 1976 Lang rose to the position of President of the then World Cup Committee (as successor to Marc Hodler), ten years later he resigned and he was succeeded by Erich Demetz , co-founder of the World Cup races in Val Gardena . Lang was the inventor of the word "Crazy Canucks" for the crazy Canadian downhill skiers who practically broke into the downhill domain of the Europeans in the mid-1970s. He also created the "Serge Lang Trophy" as the successor to the "Skieur d'Or".
New slalom skis
A "revolution" began with regard to the slalom skis, which were shortened from a length of 2.05 m to 1.85 m and even to 1.76 m (Jagge drove to victory in Sestriere with this measure ), which is why these skis ( in Austria) were apostrophized as "children's skis". These short skis met the new type of slalom driving, which was known as the "carving technique". The runners of the ÖSV hesitated a little to adjust or this adjustment was not easy for certain "older people". Renate Götschl's regained slalom strength was attributed to these new skis. Obviously, as reported in the Austrian media, the ski manufacturers in Austria were not prepared for this development; For the moment, “Salomon” seemed to be the only ski manufacturer that had implemented the “signs of the times” in time. Thomas Stangassinger only decided on this new type of ski at the final slalom in Bormio.
Cancellations, postponements
Men's:
- The races in Val d'Isère fell victim to the weather conditions. The descent on December 11th was canceled because there was too much snow, the next day's giant slalom was already in the 1st run after 22 starters (Christian Mayer was 0.04 s ahead of Benjamin Raich and 0.09 s ahead of Michael von Grünigen) canceled; wet snowfall (the flakes stuck to the ski goggles) obstructed the view. The descent was added on December 17th in Val Gardena.
- The Super-G on January 30th in Garmisch-Partenkirchen could not be driven due to rain (storm “Kerstin”; the cancellation was made at 11 am).
- Also at the giant slalom at Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden (February 19) there was an interruption in the first run due to the continuous heavy snowfall; this ended after 33 runners. Stephan Eberharter , who drove with No. 1, had used the still good conditions to set a best time, with a time of 1: 07.97 ahead of Michael von Grünigen (+ 0.16 sec) and Hermann Maier and Fredrik Nyberg, who were 3rd ex aequo (+ 0.34 s) held the best time. This race was added on March 11th in Hinterstoder.
Women:
- There should have been "pre-Olympic" races on the slopes of Snowbasin , but they had to be canceled due to the bad weather. The planned event on 12./13. February in Garmisch-Partenkirchen did not materialize.
- The downhill run in Lenzerheide won by Corinne Imlig should have taken place on March 4th at 10 a.m., but was postponed by one day.
Premier victories
Men's:
- Within a month Didier Plaschy had a total of two World Cup victories, each in a slalom. It premiered on November 23rd in Vail . This was the first slalom victory for the Swiss men since November 30, 1991, when Paul Accola had triumphed in Breckenridge - in the overall count of Swiss victories in a men's slalom, Plaschy's victories were number 10 and 11 - and he was after Dumeng Giovanoli and Pirmin Zurbriggen the third of the SSV, who could achieve two slalom victories. (Once, along with the aforementioned Accola, Edmund Bruggmann , Martial Donnet , Peter Lüscher and Joël Gaspoz were victorious.)
- In the giant slalom in Alta Badia (December 19), Joël Chenal was astonished when he took his first and only victory in a World Cup race and left Hermann Maier behind by 0.08 s. After the first run it even looked like the first World Cup victory for a Finnish runner, but Sami Uotila , who was leading with No. 25 , fell back to 9th place.
- First and only World Cup victory for Angelo Weiss in the slalom in Chamonix (January 9th). His start no. 21 was one of the "third category" of the slalom elite.
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Mario Matt drove to his first victory in the slalom on the Ganslernhang in Kitzbühel (23 January); after the first run he was already in second place, but against his performance shown in this race, the "half-time leader" Matjaž Vrhovnik had no chance and was defeated by 0.98 s in the end. Matt's No. 47 was the highest at the time with which a men's slalom had ever been won (previously it was No. 30 by Vladimir Sabich on April 7, 1968 in Heavenly Valley ).
- In Rainer Schönfelder's maiden victory in the slalom in Todtnau , which he achieved with No. 15, the Carinthian improved from 9th place and caught the leading Kjetil André Aamodt (0.86 s behind, now with the third-best time) by 0.09 s from.
- In the "ex-aequo" victory in the Super-G in St. Anton am Arlberg (February 13th) won with his Carinthian colleague Fritz Strobl , Werner Franz "finally" achieved his first victory after he - twice just before it - had been pushed away from the top position. Strobl was with start no. 2 started the race, Franz immediately afterwards with No. 3.
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Matjaž Vrhovnik got his first and only victory, that was in the slalom in Adelboden (February 20th).
- In the slalom in Yongpyong took Mitja Kunc his first and only victory (Feb. 27).
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Daron Rahlves was able to duplicate his maiden win in the first descent from Kvitfjell (March 3rd) the very next day. When he won the first time, the American wore the starting number. 24, where he thwarted the legitimate hopes of No. 13 Didier Cuche (who had “left” Hermann Maier for 0.17 s); in the second victory Rahlves drove with No. 17. It was also the first victory ever for the men's team of the US Ski Association since that of Kyle Rasmussen , which he won on March 11, 1995 - also in the downhill in Kvitfjell (except for Chad Fleischer's second place last season at the final descent on March 10, 1999 in the Sierra Nevada , there had been no podium finish since the aforementioned Rasmussen victory).
Women:
- First and only World Cup victory for Christel Pascal on November 20 at the slalom in Copper Mountain , which she shared ex aequo with Špela Pretnar . Pascal was not yet one of the elite runners at the time, she had the start number. 20th
- In Lake Louise , Mojca Suhadolc achieved her maiden win in the Super-G on November 28th, which was the only one of her career. Obviously, the Slovenian let herself be taken by the start no. 1 don't get upset.
- Karen Putzer achieved the first of her eight victories at the Super-G in St. Moritz (December 19).
- On January 23, Anna Ottosson achieved her first (and only) victory in the giant slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo . She led after the 1st run, u. between before Birgit Heeb (+ 0.36 s) and Eveline Rohrgger (+ 0.41 s).
- In the Super-G at Patscherkofel ( Innsbruck ), Mélanie Turgeon achieved her only World Cup victory on February 26th. (However, not quite three years later, she celebrated a second victory when she became Downhill World Champion in St. Moritz.) For Canada's women, this Super G success was the first victory in a World Cup race since December 4, 1993, when Kate Pace played the Downhill in Tignes had won.
- Favored by the piste getting faster, Corinne Imlig surprised on the descent in Lenzerheide (March 5th), where she with start no. 33 celebrated her first and only victory with a lead of 0.03 s over Petra Haltmayr . At first it already looked like Haltmayr (start number 30), who had distanced Renate Götschl , who had been leading up to this point by 0.30 s, could celebrate her first World Cup victory. Imlig, however, was the fastest in training ahead of Turgeon. Please refer to the source under "Cancellations and postponements".
- Obviously unimpressed by the nervousness of the competitors fighting for the giant slalom final ranking, Brigitte Obermoser came to her maiden victory at the final in Bormio (March 18); she brought together the "feat" of dividing her three World Cup successes into three disciplines (after the giant slalom, on the downhill and the Super-G).
Injuries
- On the Lauberhorn downhill run (January 15), Peter Rzehak suffered another serious injury: he fell on the "Hundschopf" and tore a cruciate ligament in his left knee.
- During training in Lake Louise on November 25th, the current World Cup winner Alexandra Meissnitzer suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament; The next day she was already in the Salzburg accident hospital by the ÖSV doctor Dr. Artur Trost operates.
- Another ÖSV runner, Silvia Berger , tore the cruciate and collateral ligament in her knee when she fell at the Super-G in St. Moritz (December 19); an incident, which was probably responsible for the fact that she never came back to the top again afterwards.
- At the end of the season, the injury to Regina Häusl, who had advanced to the Downhill World Cup winner at the same time (see also under “World Cup decisions”), had to be registered.
Other events
General:
- Both the men's slalom in Madonna di Campiglio (December 13th) and the one on March 9th in Schladming , as well as the women's giant slalom in Åre (February 17th, start at 5.30pm) were night events.
- With 107 podium placements (including the men's ex-aequo victory in the Super-G in St. Anton), the Austrian Ski Association set a new record and exceeded its (98) from the previous season.
- “Atomic” ahead of “Salomon” and “Völkl” were the ski brands with the most successes last season
Men's:
- For the first time Austria's men won a World Cup downhill run in Chamonix (this was made up for on January 8th with a quadruple success); the last downhill victory was that of Karl Schranz at the world championship (February 18, 1962).
- Surprise at the first Super-G in St. Anton am Arlberg (January 12th), because Hermann Maier (No. 5) fell out for the first time in a long time due to a fall (which had already happened in the upper part of the course).
- With the victory in the Lauberhorn slalom in Wengen (January 16), Kjetil André Aamodt, as slalom world champion in 1993, not only succeeded in "catching up" on his first (and only) victory in a World Cup slalom, but also in the circle of those three runners at the time ( Marc Girardelli , Pirmin Zurbriggen , Günther Mader ) who had won in all disciplines.
- For the first time, the Adelboden races were held on a weekend and not on a Tuesday, although the giant slalom had to be canceled on January 19th (please see the article on "Cancellations, postponements").
- At the Super-G on March 5 in Kvitfjell, which Kristian Ghedina (start number 16) won with his first and only Super-G victory in the World Cup, the ÖSV team was able to win for the first time since February 21, 1997 ( Luc Alphand in Garmisch-Partenkirchen , so 19 races en suite) did not win in this discipline.
Women:
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Michaela Dorfmeister suddenly showed great strengths in the giant slalom; on November 19th in Copper Mountain she was able to start with start no. 32 finished 3rd (in this race Anja Pärson also improved from intermediate 24th to 4th). Even with her first win in Serre Chevalier , she still had to drive with No. 18. With 4 victories of the season, the Austrian was ultimately able to secure the “small ball” in the giant slalom.
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Špela Bračun delivered a surprise on the first descent in St. Moritz (December 17th) when she started with start no. 32 pushed Renate Götschl off the podium.
- At the slalom in Lienz (December 29th) there were two notable improvements in rank: winner Sabine Egger was placed 11th after the first run, third Karin Köllerer even on rank 30 (Egger was 1.04, Köllerer 2.03 s behind to Anja Pärson, who was in first place after the first run and who fell out of the second run).
- The slalom on January 9th in Berchtesgaden was a "night slalom" starting at 3pm and 5pm.
- The downhill in Åre (February 19) was a sprint downhill run , with the winner Götschl setting the best time in both races.
- On the downhill run from Lenzerheide, already mentioned under “Premier Victories”, other runners with higher starting numbers benefited from the faster conditions: Alongside Olesja Alijewa , who came in 3rd with No. 41 (ex aequo), Veronika Thanner (AUT) was there too No. 35, Marta Antonioli (ITA) with No. 36 and Kerstin Kerstenhofer (AUT) with No. 31 on ranks 5, 6 and 7.
World Cup decisions
Men's
Overall:
It was a coincidence that Hermann Maier won with 2000 points in the 1999/2000 season; Just a “sensible driving style” in the final giant slalom in Bormio would have brought him over this mark, but the Flachauer (apart from the fall at the first Super-G in St. Anton and the failure in the first run in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora ) hardly any slip. He improved the 1699 points achieved by Paul Accola in 1991/92 in this season, which was then changed for the first time with the 100-point award for a win. With 9 wins this season, seven second and three third places, Maier left little room for maneuver for his competition; Pursuit Aamodt could only record three wins, three second and two third places. Except for the combination, which already consisted of only two decisions, and the slaloms, which Maier only competed in when it came to combination points (and which earned him 140 of them), the overall winner also won the other three discipline ratings, which is the first time since 1986 / 87 ( Pirmin Zurbriggen ) a runner was able to receive four trophies.
After the Todtnau weekend, Maier was 1,510 points ahead of Aamodt (1086); Josef Strobl on rank 3 had no chance with 728 points. A "curiosity" could be noted with regard to the races in Yongpyong , since Maier did not make the trip to South Korea, but Aamodt on the other hand did not manage to catch up there with only 14th place in giant slalom and slalom (Maier listed with 1,570 points, Josef Strobl Third place was 852 - and Aamodt had improved from 1,224 to 1,260). Although Maier was so dominant, the overall success was only "officially" perfect after the giant slalom in Hinterstoder (March 11th), in which Aamodt failed in the second run, because the Norwegian was 420 points behind Maier with 1,400 points.
Combination:
Kjetil-André Aamodt won (in addition to the slalom classification) as one who was among the absolute top in all disciplines, both decisions and thus confidently this "challenge".
Ladies
Overall:
After the previous year with Alexandra Meissnitzer there was another victory for Austria; in the absence of the injured defending champion, a double victory was achieved, with Renate Götschl achieving her first (and only) overall success. Although Götschl's lead looked clearly clear at the end, there was a long chase for points. After the Lienz races at the end of 1999, the ranking was: Götschl 491, Kostner 481, Dorfmeister 469, Kostelić 420, Cavagnoud 395. After the last race in January, the giant slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo (23 January), Dorfmeister led with 757 ; Götschl (702), Cavagnoud (601) and Kostner (532) followed. The decisive factor for Dorfmeister's relapse was her failure in the first run at the giant slalom in Åre (February 17th), because Götschl took 6th place and again took the lead with 953 points; Dorfmeister had 947, Cavagnoud 746 and Kostner 692. After Innsbruck it was practically only the duel between the two Austrians (Götschl 1,333, Dorfmeister 1,111), because Cavagnoud had only 864 points. Götschl went into the final with 1,407 points against Dorfmeister 1,184.
Downhill:
Without having won a win of the season, Regina Häusl was able to win the “little ball”, with 9th place in the final race. However, Schneizlreuther, known as “Resi”, had bad luck at this final, because she had a hard fall after crossing the finish line and suffered a broken tibia and fibula on the right. Götschl had missed the overall victory by 0.06 s, because by this difference she finished third in Bormio behind Corinne Rey-Bellet , which cost her 20 points. With such a tight decision, it would have been a different race or, conversely, it could have been a bigger plus in points in favor of Häusl, although Götschl had just started to catch up anyway. For the time being, other runners were ahead - after Cortina d'Ampezzo (January 22nd) Kostner led with 268 points ahead of Häusl 228, Rey-Bellet 222, Tanja Schneider 210, Cavagnoud 225, Gerg 166 and only in 7th place was Götschl with 164 Find. Even after Santa Caterina still rank 7 with 204 points (now Kostner 368 ahead of Häusl 308, Rey-Bellet 282, Cavagnoud 237, Tanja Schneider 222). After the descent on Patscherkofel (February 25), Häusl (468) was in the lead for the first time, Götschl was third with 344 points behind Kostner (432). Häusl entered the final with 500 points ahead of Götschl with 464.
Super-G:
Although other runners were in the foreground in the first races, Götschl continuously scored with 6th place (Lake Louise), 5th place (Val d'Isère) and 9th place (St. Moritz) before she consistently made the podium and celebrated 3 victories. - After St. Moritz (December 19) Isolde Kostner (182) arrived; the next places were taken by Hilde Gerg (178), Mojca Suhadolc (136) and Régine Cavagnoud (124), Götschl was fifth with 114. The victory in Altenmarkt (January 16) brought her to the top for the first time with 214 points; the other places were taken at this time by Kostner (194), Suhadolc (194), Schneider & Gerg (178) and Cavagnoud (160). As of February 11th ( Santa Caterina ) the intermediate ranking was: 1. Götschl 274; 2. Cavagnoud 240; 3. Suhadolc 231; 4. Kostner 230; 5. Michaela Dorfmeister 211; 6. Tanja Schneider 196; 7. Brigitte Obermoser 184; 8. Gerg 178; 9. Alessandra Merlin 152. Mélanie Turgeon with 121 points (5th place in Lake Louise, 14th place in Val d'Isère, 19th place in St. Moritz, 10th place in Altenmarkt and 6th place in Santa Caterina) only came along with her others 180 points in Innsbruck in the spotlight, but Götschl already fixed the championship victory with her first place on February 27th.
Giant slalom:
The surprise of the season Michaela Dorfmeister soon made it clear that her failure in the floodlight race in Åre reduced her lead over Sonja Nef to 544 to 466 (Wachter 425 and Ottosson took 366) - and Nef's “intermediate sprint” continued; she caught up 40 points in Sestriere, so that there was an exciting finale in Bormio with a score of 566 to 604 from her point of view, where Brigitte Obermoser was leading after the first run in front of Christiane Mitterwallner and Dorfmeister, but Nef was only a hundredth of a second behind 4th place. The Swiss did not get a good second run, however, “only” drove to the finish line in fifth place (behind Heeb, Ertl, Putzer and Wachter), which was practically not enough, in any case meant that the Dorfmeister would be eliminated - but she could not be deterred. (Mitterwallner's fallback to 9th place was a minor matter, and the fact that Obermoser was 0.24 s faster only meant that there was an Austrian one-two.)
Combination:
For the only decision, winner Götschl was sixth in the downhill and 20th in the slalom.
Race outside the World Cup
In the “invitation race” by the Italian sports newspaper “Gazzetta dello Sport” on January 4th, a “super slalom” (3 rounds, of which the two best came into the classification), there was a triple victory for Austria by Michael Walchhofer ahead of Thomas Stangassinger and Killian Albrecht . It was noticeable that in contrast to the new trend, this time the long skis prevailed.
Web links
- World Cup men
- World Cup women
Individual evidence
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↑ "But Benni Raich & Co. renounce children's skis" in "Kronenzeitung" of November 22, 1999, pages 11 and 10 from the back
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↑ "Duel in Bormio - Maier or Mayer" with the top line "Premiere in the slalom final - veteran Thomas Stangassinger on short skis for the first time" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 65 from 18./19. March 2000, page 37
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^ "Snow stopped Eberharter" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 42 of February 21, 2000, page 25, POS .: column 3, below
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↑ "Surprise in the final training" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 53 from 4./5. March 2000, page 39
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↑ heading "Sportmix" titled "Question Day" in "Tiroler Tageszeitung" no. 66 of 20 March 2000, page 25, pos .: Right
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↑ “Maier forced one hundredth happiness” in “Tiroler Tageszeitung” No. 6 from January 10, 2000, page 25
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↑ “Aus für Raich” in “Tiroler Tageszeitung” No. 3 from 5./6. January 2000, page 27; POS .: Column 2, below
Hermann Maier
Regina Häusl
Kjetil André Aamodt
Špela Pretnar
Kristian Ghedina
Ed Podivinsky
Daron Rahlves
Didier Cuche
Fredrik Nyberg
Joël Chenal
Marco Büchel
Olesja Alijewa Renate Götschl
Carolina Ruiz Castillo
Janica Kostelić
