Slalom, Men

The last few World Cups had gone to Austrian Benjamin Raich and Norwegian superstar Kjetil André Aamodt, but leading the 2001-2002 World Cup race was Croatian Ivica Kostelić, brother of Janica Kostelić, who would win three Alpine gold medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics. On the first slalom run, France’s Jean-Pierre Vidal, third in the 2001-02 World Cup standings, took the lead over the top American, Bode Miller, with Raich in third and Kostelić in fourth. On the second run, Miller caught a gate early and did not finish. The best second run was posted by Vidal’s teammate, Sébastien Amiez, who had been equal eighth after the first run. He was followed by British Scot Alain Baxter, who moved up from a tie with Amiez on the first run. Vidal placed sixth on the second run, good enough to keep him in the lead and win the gold medal, Amiez placing second, and Baxter apparently winning Britain’s first-ever medal in Alpine skiing.

But Baxter had a positive doping test for methamphetamine, the result of using an over-the-counter nasal spray. He was disqualified and Benjamin Raich moved up to the bronze medal position. Baxter appealed his doping positive to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and was cleared of any intentional attempt at using PEDs, which lifted the potential two-year ban from competition, but he was still disqualified in the Olympic slalom.