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Men's Slalom Technical Analysis [click for audio]

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Transcribed from Audio:
The winner of this slalom, the first leg of the combined event, was the Austrian slalom specialist Mario Reiter, known as "Super Mario," by a massive margin of nearly two seconds ahead of the defending Olympic combined champion Lasse Kjus of Norway.

In a surprising third place was Polish skier, Andrzej Bachleda, a newcomer to the ski circuit, who's father was also a successful Olympic slalom skier.

The medals in this event will not be decided until the competitors times from the slalom are added to their times in the downhill section of the event, due to be held on Thursday the 12th of February, weather permitting.

Most experts agree that Kjus is quite capable of overtaking Reiter in the downhill leg due to his superior skills in the high speed events. But the gold medal will probably be decided between these two. The other medal contenders, 3.5 seconds behind Reiter, are Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway, the current world combined champion, and Guenther Mader of Austria, a 33 year old veteran all-arounder, who has achieved World Cup victories in all four disciplines over the last 12 years.

Austria's new superstar, Hermann Maier, could only manage 8th place after a serious mistake on the first run, and with a 4 second deficit compared to Mario Reiter, he can surely no longer win gold, although bronze could still be within reach if he produces the excellent downhill form he has shown this season. The U.S. ski team's Matt Grosjean disappointedly crashed out just 10 seconds into his second run, after an encouraging third place on his first run. Swiss hope, Paul Accola, also crashed out on the second run after lying in seventh place.

The race was held in a driving snow storm. The race hill was very steep and icy, and the first run in particular was set in an extremely tight and difficult gate pattern.

— Martin Bell, Mountain Zone International Correspondent