More than two years after his success in Nagano in 1998, Norway's Olympic Champion Hans-Petter Buraas won his first World Cup slalom at the end of an exciting night event in Sestrière.

The extravagant gate dancer - for sure the first and only World Cup winner to paint his fingernails black before racing - beat Austria's Kilian Albrecht by 29/100 of a second and France's Pierrick Bourgeat by one second 24/100.

"I like the action, man!"

The "snow punk" became the third Norwegian in a row to capture a slalom in Sestrière since 1997. Another Olympic Champion, Finn Christian Jagge, won in 1998 and 1999.

It was a crazy race. Two Japanese skiers made it into the top-10 while many of the favorites skied out in the second run in which Austria's Heinz Schilchegger straddled a gate while clocking the fastest total time. He was disqualified by the race jury later on. No US skier scored any points, but a lot of outsiders did, including two Brits and Croatian Janica Kostelic's brother Ivica. After three hard years of injuries and accidents, he finally scored his first World Cup points a day after his sister's greatest win.

This long-awaited success put Buraas back in the spotlight and in the lead for the slalom World Cup standings. Slalom races such as this should award bonus points to the winner and the other survivors - it was an exciting event from the beginning to the end — and even after it, when it was announced that the winning Schilchegger had made the mistake on the middle of his second run and was disqualified.

The standings after the first run were more predictable. France's Sébastien Amiez, a silver medal winner here in 1997, was leading in front of two Austrians: Mario Matt and Benjamin Raich. Buraas was in 4th place, only 23/100 behind Amiez. In 30th and the last to qualify for the second run was Finland's World Champion Kalle Palander!

The excellent racing conditions helped many late starters to show their potential and qualify in front of more established athletes. This was the case for Kostelic, who wore bib 68, Great Britain's newcomer John Molder-Brown, who entered his first World Cup race in 55th position not far behind his teammate Alain Baxter, bib 50. Slovenia's Rene Mlekkuz started in 64th position and finished among the elite as well as our friends from the Far East, Japan's Kentaro Minagawa and Kiminobu Kimura. The defending slalom World Cup champion Kjetil Aamodt was a far 9th at that point, only 23/100 ahead of the amazing Baxter.

Palander, first on course in the second run, remained in the lead for some time before handing it over to Bourgeat, 21st in the first leg. Twenty minutes after ending his second run, the Frenchman was still at the top of the standings as many skiers had serious problems handling the difficult snow conditions while other skied out.

Albrecht, 6th earlier, was the first to beat Bourgeat's time by only 5/100 followed a minute later by Schilchegger.

The Austrians already started celebrating their third success in three days after the double triumph of Hermann Maier at Val d'Isère, but their joy lasted only a few minutes— until the race jury meeting at the finish line.

It appeared that Schilchegger, winner in Park City, skied over a gate and was taken out of the standings. This produced a new winner - a hilarious Hans-Petter Buraas, who finally realized his dream since his Olympic triumph in Japan in February 1998.

"I wanted badly to win a World Cup slalom," said the Norwegian, who lives in sunny Monte Carlo not far from his teammate Kjetil Aamodt.

"Burre," as he calls himself, reached the podium five times during his best years, when his hair would change from black one week to blue the next and then fluorescent red. But he wanted much more.

"I felt at Park City, where I finished 4th, that my form was improving. I had a fun time after my Olympic medal and then some problems with a knee, but I trained hard last summer to come back. Racing is quite fun now with these short skis and I have a great time on course. I like the action, man!"

It will not be too fun for his rivals if Hans-Petter keeps his mood and rhythm in the coming months - Buraas is a true artist in his own way and he excels when the moment is right.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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