Alain Baxter (28, Aviemore) was among a host of World Cup stars, including the 2002 Slalom Champion Ivica Kostelic, in Obereggen, Italy as preparation continues for the 2nd Menšs World Cup Slalom of the 2003 season to be held on Monday 16th Dec in Sestrieres. The Europa Cup circuit is a competitive mix of current World Cup stars and the aspiring athletes hoping to steal their starting places.

Best in group
Starting well outside the top 30, Baxter (Alain) was clearly the best in his group, recording the 19th best time on the first run. A storming 2nd run saw Baxter narrowly miss out on recording the fastest time by just 0.02 secs, a mere 0.04 sec off the podium.

After the race, coach Christian Schwaiger said, 'That was an important result for Alain. We knew he was skiing well in training and in the opening World Cup, prior to straddling. With the snow so soft right now, it is really tough for slalom skiers to make it in from outside the top 30.'

British team strong throughout
British Team colleagues Noel Baxter (21, Aviemore), John Moulder-Brown (24, Chelsea) and Gareth Trayner (22, Ladybank) also raced, although their later start numbers made even qualifying for the second run a tall order. Noel Baxter and Johnny Moulder-Brown made it though to the second run, with Noel ultimately improving on his start position by a total of 30 places, finishing 38th.

All will compete again tomorrow in Obereggen, where the organisers will host the first ever Europa Cup 'Knock Out' (KO) Slalom. This new format involves a standard qualifying run, thereafter, racers are pitted against an opponent, the fastest going through to the next run. This will be a trial run for the World Cup boys who will face this new format of competition for the first time at World Cup level on Monday.

Results
1 PRANGER Manfred AUT - 50.29 - 51.57 - 1:41.86 - 9.29
2 KARLSEN Truls Ove NOR - 49.90 - 52.23 - 1:42.13 - 10.80
3 DRAGSIC Mitja SLO - 49.90 - 52.25 - 1:42.15 - 10.91
4 IMBODEN Urs SUI - 49.46 - 52.71 - 1:42.17 - 11.02
5 BAXTER, Alain GBR - 51.02 - 51.17 - 1:42.19 - 11.14
6 LARSSON Markus SWE - 51.07 - 51.15 - 1:42.22 - 11.30
38 BAXTER Noel GBR - 52.62 - 54.05 - 1:46.67 - 36.21
MOULDER-BROWN, J GBR DNF2
TRAYNER, Gareth GBR DNQ

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