Anja Paerson wins final women's World Cup; Rienda Contreras wins race; Tanja Poutiainen wins GS discThe winner of the final Alpine World Cup competition of the 2004-2005 season is Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, of Spain, and the winner of the women's giant slalom discipline title is Tanja Poutiainen, of Finland. But Rienda Contreras did more than win the race - she decided which skier would win the sport's most important trophy: the World Cup overall.

Anja Paerson held on to that lead, finishing the season three points ahead of her friend and rival, Janica Kostelic of Croatia. Paerson skied conservatively in the final women's GS of the season and finished 17th, which was 0.05 seconds out of the points.

The only woman challenging her for the trophy today was Croat Janica Kostelic, who entered the day just 35 points behind. As the second run wore on, Kostelic was in seventh place with one racer to go: Spain's Rienda Contreras.

Had Rienda Contreras crashed, Kostelic would have scored 36 World Cup points. But Rienda Contreras won, knocking Kostelic back to eighth, which gave Kostelic 32 points. If the Croatian had been just 0.09 seconds faster she would have won the World Cup by one point.

Rienda Contreras skied the 2004-2005 season's final run aggressively, gunning for the discipline title.

Despite her win, Rienda Contrera didn't completely eclipse Tanja Poutiainen, who finished well enough to secure the giant slalom title.



Why the season turned out this way...
While Paerson had not clinched the giant slalom title at the start of day, she had a pretty good shot at it, leading the standings 410-381 over Poutiainen (Paerson only needed to finish second to be mathematically assured of the title, no matter what Poutiainen did).

Tina Maze of Slovenia, the 12th-place finisher, actually had a flashier season in the GS than the title winner did. Maze won three GS races: St. Moritz , Santa Caterina and a home-crowd win at Maribor. But the young Slovenian who was sick at world championships lacked the consistency to pull off a title this year.

Women's giant slalom is one of the last categories where the powerful Austrian ski team cannot quite establish its dominance. Were it not for Marlies Schild, who won the giant slalom during a weekend where she had back-to-back victories for the home crowd at Semmering, then the Austrians would not have had a single win in this discipline this year (among women).

Ten years ago, this title went to Vreni Schneider of Switzerland. Since then it has gone to Martina Ertl of Germany twice (1996 and 1998), Deborah Campagnoni of Italy (1997), Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria (1999), Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria (2000), Sonja Nef of Switzerland (2001) and Anja Paerson of Sweden (2003 and 2004).


Click on these links to see results from each of this year's World Cup giant slaloms:
Soedlen, AUT (winner: Anja Paerson, SWE)
Aspen, USA (winner: Tanja Poutiainen, FIN)
St. Moritz, SUI (winner: Tina Maze, SLO)
Semmering, AUT (winner: Marlies Schild, AUT)
Santa Caterina, ITA (winner: Tina Maze, SLO)
Maribor, SLO (winner: Tina Maze, SLO)
Are, SWE (winner: Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, SPA)
Lenzerheide, SUI(winner: Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, SPA)



World Cup Finals

Women's Giant Slalom
Lenzerheide, Switzerland
March 13, 2005
1. Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, SPA 2:20.18
2. Tanja Poutiainen, FIN 2:20.48
3. Nicole Hosp, AUT 2:20.69
4. Elisabeth Goergl, AUT 2:20.76
5. Renate Goetschl, AUT 2:21.28
6. Genevieve Simard, CAN 2:21.39
7. Martina Ertl, GER 2:21.41
8. Janica Kostelic, CRO 2:21.50
9. Julia Mancuso, USA 2:22.01
10. Ingrid Jacquemod, FRA 2:22.08
11. Kathrin Zettel, AUT 2:22.12
12. Tina Maze, SLO 2:22.23
13. Nadia Fanchini, ITA 2:22.36
14. Gail Kelly, CAN 2:22.51
14. Karen Putzer, ITA 2:22.51
16. Michaela Kirchgasser, AUT 2:22.53
17. Anja Paerson, SWE 2:22.57
18. Anna Ottosson, SWE 2:22.77
19. Eveline Rohregger, AUT 2:22.79
20. Allison Forsyth, CAN 2:22.91
21. Kristina Koznick, USA 2:23.17
22. Michaela Dorfmeister, AUT 2:23.30
23. Nicole Gius, ITA 2:23.41
24. Sonja Nef, SUI 2:23.55
25. Manuela Moelgg, ITA 2:24.64
other North Americans:
DNS 2nd: Lindsey Kildow, USA.
DNF 1st: Sarah Schleper, USA.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

equipment
Women's Giant Slalom, Lenzerheide, March 13, 2005 Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Rienda Contreras, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
3 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
4 Goergl, Blizzard/Lange/Marker
5 Goetschl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Ertl, Rossignol/Nordica/Rossignol
8 Kostelic, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Mancuso, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol 10 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Women's GS Lenzerheide, March 13, 2005. ... It is the final race of women's 33 event schedule. ... The last of 8 giant slaloms. ... Winning margin is .29 of a second. ... Top 4 skiers are within the same second. ... The top 5 skiers are on different brand skis.

It is the second career win for Maria Jose Rienda Contreras. ... both in GS. ... Her second win of the season after the Are GS 2/20. ... She was the first run leader. ... She is just the third Spaniard to win a World Cup and the only Spaniard not from the Fernandez-Ochoa family to win. ... She is the first Spaniard to win more than one GS.

It is the 16th career podium for Tanja Poutiainen. ... Her 10th this season, not including silver medals in GS and slalom at World Championships.

It is the 16th career podium for Nicole Hosp. ... Her third of the season. ... She was also fourth on 3 occasions. ... She broke her left ankle 2/26/04 losing the remainder of the 04 season.

Genevieve Simard matches her fourth best career score. ... It is her second best result of the season after a 2nd in GS at Santa Caterina. ... It is the 17th career top 10 for Julia Mancuso. ... Her 13th of the season. ... She also won two bronze medals at the World Championships. ... It is the second best career result of 9 scoring finishes for Gail Kelly.

Anja Paerson wins her second consecutive overall World Cup. ... By 3 points 1359-1356 over Janica Kostelic. ... Renate Goetschl is third at 1164, Michaela Dorfmeister fourth at 1122 and Tanja Poutiainen fifth at 1039. ... Lindsey Kildow is the top American in sixth at 914. ... Julia Mancuso is ninth at 659. ... Kristina Koznick is 15th at 432 and Sarah Schleper 17th at 423. ... Emily Brydon is the top Canadian in 20th at 341. ... Tanja Poutiainen wins the GS title 461-410 over Paerson. ... It is her second discipline title of the season having won the slalom crown as well. ... Rienda Contreras is third at 384. ... Genevieve Simard is the top North American in fifth at 241 and Mancuso the top U.S. skier in 7th at 230.