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Matt finally wins gold for Austria

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ARE, Sweden -- Mario Matt rescued the Austrian men's team in the nick of time on Saturday, winning the men's slalom to give them their first gold medal of the Alpine skiing world championships.

Matt, the 2001 world champion in the explosive technical discipline, won by the huge margin of 1.81 seconds from Italy's Manfred Moelgg in the final individual event of the two-week championships.

"Ever since my title in St Anton (2001) I knew that it would come back, that I would taste success again," said Matt.

"I've been through hard times with injuries and many problems to overcome. It was tough but I never doubted I would be back at the top. This is a crazy feeling."

France gained their first medal of the fortnight as Jean-Baptiste Grange took the bronze medal.

The last time Austria failed to win a men's gold medal was in Sestriere in 1997. Nicole Hosp won Austria's only women's gold when she triumphed in the giant slalom.

The slalom descended into near farce when 11 of the top 20 starters tumbled out of the first leg.

Swedish fans had turned out in force to cheer on 21-year-old Jens Byggmark but their hopes of the country's fourth gold medal to guarantee top spot in the medals table were dashed when he became the first big-name casualty after straddling a gate.

With the tough slope made even more demanding by flat light conditions which meant the skiers could not pick out the contours of the course, Byggmark was soon joined by a succession of favorites including American Bode Miller, Austria's Rainer Schoenfelder and Swiss super-combined winner Daniel Albrecht.

The 27-year-old Matt took full advantage of the carnage to carve out a 1.14-second lead from the first run and it seemed just a matter of staying upright in the second run to win gold.

The unheralded Moelgg put down a formidable second leg, however, and for a while it looked as though he might become a most unlikely winner despite having woken up with a bad back.

"It was only right before the first run that I decided to race," he said. "In some ways I was more relaxed because my back was so painful that I thought maybe it would not be possible to even race."

Instead of simply defending his lead Matt blasted down his second run and roared across the finish line almost two seconds better than anybody else.

"In slalom, you have to attack if you want to be fast," he said. "It's a tricky situation, when you're so far ahead after the first run. I thought that the others behind me would risk it all and I decided to do the same."

Grange said he was relieved with his bronze medal, the first of any color at a world championships by a Frenchman since 2001.

"I'm 22 and had never won a race...now I come here and I have a bronze medal," he said. "I went to Stockholm for three days during the championships because of the pressure here."

Olympic champion Benjamin Raich could not improve on his fourth-quickest first leg, finishing one place off the podium with fellow Austrian Manfred Pranger in fifth.

Miller completed a miserable championships, both for himself and the American men's team, when he abandoned his first run three-quarters of the way down.

The 29-year-old former World Cup champion, without a win in slalom since 2005, has failed to make the podium in all four events he has entered here.

His team-mate Ted Ligety also succumbed, meaning that for the first time since the 1999 world championships the U.S. will have no men's medallist.

The championships conclude on Sunday with the Nations Team Event which has now taken on extra significance because it could decide whether Austria or Sweden top the medals table.

Anything other than an Austrian win would leave the hosts top thanks to Anja Paerson's three golds.

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