. world ski news : Defago and Maze best in Verbier High Five - 09 April 2009 - 17:28
The 10th edition of the Verbier High Five by Carlsberg represented another great conclusion of a fantastic ski season. This year's event saw amateur participants and top professionals competing for overall victory. A total of 335 amateurs and 20 professional skiers participated in the 2009 High Five under bright sunshine in Verbier (SUI). This year's line-up included 5 Olympic or World champions, 6 silver medalists and 1 bronze medalist as well as 63 FIS World Cup victors and 192 podiums among the participants.
Switzerland's Didier Défago, winner of 2009 Wengen and Kitzbuehel Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill races, managed to clinch the overall title largely thanks to his victory in the ski cross leg. He beat teammate and reigning super-G world champion Didier Cuche, who excelled in the GS run. Sweden's Mathias Hargin, one of the most promising young slalom racers on the World Cup tour, came in third - an excellent result for his first participation in this well-established end-of-season event.
The Verbier High Five by Carlsberg is composed of a series of competitions: a giant slalom, speed race, ski cross, triathlon and parallel slalom. Interestingly enough, Switzerland's retired former downhill star William Besse was the fastest in the speed event in which he beat the active specialists, such as Cuche.
For the ladies, Slovenia's Tina Maze her strong season with the overall win over reigning Olympic giant slalom Champion, Julia Mancuso (USA), whilst Great Britain's Chemmy Alcott took third thanks in particular to her success in ski cross.
In the final race, a team parallel slalom, the best amateurs partnered with a professional to race a double run. Fraenzi Auftenblatten (SUI) together with Aimee Oreiller enjoyed a victory over Germany's slalom world champion Maria Riesch, who was associated with Amanda Pirie. On the men's side, Didier Défago was again unbeatable with partner Bastien Darballay as they overcame Switzerland's young talent Sandro Viletta who raced with Colin Morrison. In the snowboard parallel team event, Switzerland's Alex Coudray raced with Christoph Vouilloz and beat Mike Aeschbach and Philippe Piccolet to win their finals.
The action was seen by several hundred fans and spectators on site. One of the busiest athletes of the day was double world champion Lindsey Vonn (USA), who took advantage of the event's friendly and relaxing atmosphere to spend time with the fans between the races. She enjoyed a special success as she beat her ex-US Olympic teammate and now husband, Thomas, in the giant slalom by a few 10ths of a second.
FIS
9.04.2009