Kjus and Maier tied for gold

February 14, 1999
He came, he skied, he conquered. Norway's Lasse Kjus might be mild-mannered, but he was simply rude to his fellow competitors in the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships, winning medals in all five events he raced in.

Kjus spoke softly but carried a big stick. No pre-race hype, no in-your-face smack. It was all just see-if-you-can-beat-me sucker. And few did.

"I'm so happy about this. It's going to be a big party tonight..." —Kalle Palander (FIN)

Before Sunday's final event of the two-week Worlds, Kjus had already tied history, matching Pirmin Zurbriggen with four medals in a Worlds. On a glorious Colorado Sunday, Kjus—who'd only finished on a slalom podium once in his career, just a few weeks before rolling into Vail when he finished third in a World Cup race—was cool running once again. He was fastest in the first run and fast enough in the second to take the silver medal and become the first skier in World Championships history to win five medals.

"I always try my best, but I could never have dreamed," said Kjus. Kjus was edged for the final gold by just .11 seconds by Finland's Kalle Palander, who skied like a reindeer possessed to win in 1:42.12. Austrian Christian Mayer was third at .13 seconds back.

"Maybe I could have skied faster in the second run, but I didn't want to be too aggressive. I knew I could get a podium, and that's all I wanted," Kjus said. Gee, awfully nice of you, Lasse. How many more do you want? He skied away with an armful. The final count: two golds and three silvers.

While Kjus was thinking how he was going to remodel his home to make more room for his Vail '99 trophies, Palander was celebrating his first. An aggressive skier who's been close before, Palander won Finland's first men's Worlds gold with an electrifying final run, simply ripping the icy steeps of Pepi's Face on Vail Mountain.

"I always try my best, but I could never have dreamed...maybe I could have skied faster in the second run, but I didn't want to be too aggressive. I knew I could get a podium, and that's all I wanted..." —Lasse Kjus (NOR)

"It's like a dream," said Palander, who was taking full advantage of the many cases of free beer the Carlsberg beer people were handing out to the thousands of fans who turned out to watch the final race of a wild Worlds.

"I'm so happy about this. It's going to be a big party tonight," he said.

As for the US Ski Team; they came, they skied, they didn't conquer. Bode Miller lifted America's hopes with a spectacular 8th-place finish, another sign that the young New Hampshire skier is the real deal. A strong opening run put him in 13th place. His second run was clean on the top, and, except for one mistake on the bottom half, a good overall run by America's slalom hope of the future.

"I gotta give credit to these guys who beat me. The speeds were really high on the course today. I didn't ski as well as I could, but I had to hold back a little bit coming into the final steep. A lot of guys were doing that, it was so icy," said Miller, who posted into the top-15 in the men's GS. Vail's Sacha Gros posted his career-best in 19th at 1:45.60.

But Miller was the United States' last hope for a medal on the home turf.

"Maybe I felt a little bit of pressure. I wanted to perform well. My day was over in the first run of the giant slalom, so today I knew after the first run I had a chance," said Miller. "It's not so bad. It's my first Worlds. I got some good experience. I'll be back."

In the end, the two-week Worlds wasn't a battle between Kjus and Hermann Maier. Instead, it was Kjus vs. the Austrians. Maier came in and won two big golds, matching Kjus in the super-G in a rare tie and winning the downhill with a superb run. He skied out in the giant slalom and Kjus kept on truckin'.

The Austrian women's team cleaned up where the Austrian men didn't. They swept the podiums in the both the downhill and super-G, and won medals in every discipline until the final slalom.

To put a wrap on it, the Vail Worlds is history. The racers head back to Europe for more racing by next week, while in Vail, exasperated volunteers head to the beach.

Final medal count: Austria: 13; Norway: 9; Sweden: 2; Switzerland: 2; France: 1; Liechtenstein: 1; Australia: 1; Finland: 1. Best US men's result: Chad Fleischer, 6th, super-G. Best US women's: Megan Gerety, 8th, downhill.

— Andrew Hood, Mountain Zone Correspondent