Cortina: Italians roll in GS, Mancuso podiums again

By Published On: January 21st, 2007Comments Off on Cortina: Italians roll in GS, Mancuso podiums again

The homestanding Italians pushed four skiers into the top 10 of the women's giant slalom Sunday, including Karen Putzer for the win and Denise Karbon in third, sandwiched around Julia Mancuso, who notched her fifth straight podium result in four disciplines.
    Fog shrouded the Cortina track, but Mancuso said the snow conditions were the best the World Cup women had seen all season. Still, 28 skiers failed to finish the first run, including defending World Cup champion Anja Paerson. "You don't see anything," the Swede complained. "That is why it's a lot of crashes. It's really hard to find the timing with the gates."
    Tour leader Marlies Schild went out in the second run. Mancuso sits third overall in the standings and fourth in the GS standings.
    Putzer won both legs of the race and was relieved to have made it back to the top of a finish order after struggling for three seasons with a bad hip she had surgery on last May.
    "After the first run I said to myself, 'Who knows what will happen? It seems unreal'."


CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — The homestanding Italians pushed four skiers into the top 10 of the women's giant slalom Sunday, including Karen Putzer for the win and Denise Karbon in third, sandwiched around Julia Mancuso, who notched her fifth straight podium result in four disciplines. She gained 260 points in three days racing at Cortina and 420 for the past two weekends.
   Fog shrouded the Cortina track, but Mancuso said the snow conditions were the best the World Cup women had seen all season. Still, 28 skiers failed to finish the first run, including defending World Cup champion Anja Paerson. "You don't see anything," the Swede complained. "That is why it's a lot of crashes. It's really hard to find the timing with the gates."
    Tour leader Marlies Schild went out in the second run. Mancuso sits third overall in the standings and fourth in the GS standings.
    Putzer won both legs of the race and was relieved to have made it back to the top of a finish order after struggling for three seasons with a bad hip she had surgery on last May.
    "After the first run I said to myself, 'Who knows what will happen? It seems unreal'."
    The Italian women got some help from the men's squad as Max Blardone, one of the top GS skiers on the men's circuit, tested the course as a forerunner for both runs and radioed up advice.
    The five-podium streak is a U.S. record. Lindsey Kildow — who skipped the race with bruises after a DH crash — had three podiums in three days earlier this season, placing 2-1-2 at Lake Louise Dec. 1,2 and 3 in DH-DH-SG respectively. In 1982, Phil Mahre also recorded five podiums in 10 days, but Mancuso has done it in consecutive races.
    "What Julia's doing right now is unbelievable," said U.S. head coach Patrick Riml. "The last two weekends she's had five podiums, won two races … in four different events. It's impressive; she's having fun right now and skiing unbelievably well, no matter what event. And she was the only one out of the top 10 today who skied in all three races in Cortina … plus the training run. That's a lot of skiing, and Julia's not only doing it, she's doing it at such a high level."
    It also doesn't seem to matter what gets thrown at her. She has been skiing in conditions that have sent other races to the excuse mill, yet despite delays (such as in the Cortina DH), rough conditions (such as Zauchensee) or the fog here, she has found an ability to keep the hammer down.
    "My skiing's just feeling really comfortable," Mancuso explained. "It was tough in the first run because I hadn't trained GS so much, and of course, it was really foggy.
    "But the snow was just awesome and the fog probably helped keep the snow cold. You always see only two gates. It wasn't that cold, at least it didn't feel that much colder … but conditions were perfect, a good race for girls at the back to get in there."
    It was not as perfect a day for many of the other competitors, particularly the Austrians, who failed to put a woman in the top 10 of a World GS for the first time since March 2003. GS tour leader Nicole Hosp told the Austrian Standard she would not have to worry about beard growth after scrapping her face in a first-run fall. And Schild, despite running a course set by her coach, missed a second-run gate for no apparent reason. "A total blackout of me," she said in rough translation.
    Hosp still leads the GS standings with 230 points. Tanja Poutiainen, who finished fifth, moved into second with 214 points. Kathrin Zettel, suffering from a virus, finished a distant 25th and dropped down to third in the standings with 206 points. Mancuso is fourth with 166 points. Schild leads the overall by 53 over Hosp but Mancuso has closed to third 87 points behind Schild.
    Defending Cup champion Anja Paerson has struggled this season following knee surgery. She hasn't won since the final downhill last season in Are, the Swedish resort that will host the World Championships Feb. 3-18. Paerson said she planned to fly home to Sweden to prepare for the worlds, meaning she will skip three races at San Sicario.
    "In the fog, people got confused," Mancuso said. "there are some rolls in some spots and people didn't handle it very well. … Definitely, the visibility was a problem, but I think if you're skiing well, it didn't matter. The snow was so smooth …
    "It was definitely a day to take advantage of skiing well — any [start] position was good because you could ski in there" to qualify for the final run.
    A number of women did take advantage, scoring their first World Cup points, and perhaps most impressive of those was American Megan McJames.
    McJames said she lost her pole when she came onto a pitch at the bottom. "There was just a blind turn and I came over the knoll and headed pretty straight for the next gate, so I had to adjust quickly. I made it past the gate…but my pole didn't," she said.
    "Megan held it in there even when she lost the pole maybe 10 gates from the end of the run," said gate coach Chris Knight. "Some girls would lose it but she stayed focused right through the finish. She's a real competitor and it's good to have other girls getting results besides Julia and Lindsey."
     There can be no doubt it was the best day of World Cup racing for the Italians in a very long time, and particularly so for the women's team, which has not won more than one race per season since 2003. Having Mancuso — with Italian heritage — in second made it an unofficial podium sweep.
    Italy has been good to Mancuso in many ways. Her first two World Cup podiums, a pair of second-place finishes, came at Cortina last season, she added three this season, and, of course, she won the Olympic gold medal in GS in Italy, at Sestriere, last season.

— The Associated Press and USSA contributed to this story


THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's giant slalom, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Jan. 21, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Putzer, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
2 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
3 Karbon, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Ottosson, Dynastar/Lange/Tyrolia
7 Maze, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Hoelzl, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
9 Gius, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

Women's giant slalom, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Jan. 21, 2007. … It is the 21st race of the women's 37-event World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of eight scheduled GS's, with one (Sölden) having been canceled outright. … It is the third of three races set for Cortina. … It is the 15th GS at Cortina, the 13th for women. … Heavy fog made visibility difficult.
    It is the eighth career victory for Putzer, but her first since winning a GS at Lillehammer March 16, in the 2003 World Cup Finals. … Her wins are split evenly between GS and super G. … It is the first Italian win at Cortina since Isolde Kostner who her fifth at the site, a DH, Jan. 19, 2001. … It is the second Italian win of the season, the other also in GS from Massimiliano Blardone at Beaver Creek Dec. 2.
    It is the 10th career World Cup podium for Julia Mancuso. … Her second in GS, the other a third at Ofterschwang Feb. 4, 2006. … She also won the Olympic GS last season at Sestriere, Italy. … It is her seventh podium of the season and fifth straight, having been third and first at Zauchensee (DH Jan. 13, CMB Jan 14) and first-second-second at Cortina (SG Jan. 19, DH Jan. 20 and this GS). … It is her fifth podium (of 10 total) at Cortina, having been second in both SG and DH in 2006.
    It is the seventh career World Cup podium for Denise Karbon and her first since placing second at Sestriere March 14, 2004. … Both Italian podium winners are returning from injury, Karbon from ruptured knee ligaments and Putzer from hip surgery. … It is the first time Italian women have had two skiers on the same Cup podium since Daniela Merighetti and Karbon went 2-3 at Are in a night GS March 6, 2003.
    It is the best result of the season for Genevieve Simard in fourth. … She had been fifth in SG at Lake Louise Dec. 3. … It is the sixth time in her career she has been in the top four of a Cup race, five of those in GS. … Megan McJames collected her first World Cup points in 28th. … Marusa Ferk and Anna Fenninger also got their first career points and Carolin Fernsebner got her second scoring result and first of the season.
    Marlies Schild (second-run DNF) maintains her lead in the overall standings 881-828 over Nicole Hosp (first-run DNF) with Mancuso in third at 794. … Hosp leads the GS standings 230-214 over Tanja Poutiainen (fifth in race) with Kathrin Zettel (25th in race) third at 206 and Mancuso fourth at 166. … Three GS's remain on the schedule. … Winning margin was .41. … Top three are within the same second. … Top seven within two seconds.

Cortina women's World Cup GS results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
 1  24  295342 PUTZER Karen  1978  ITA   1:22.45  1:24.48  2:46.93  0.00
 2  6  537545 MANCUSO Julia  1984  USA   1:22.82  1:24.52  2:47.34  2.16
 3  25  295445 KARBON Denise  1980  ITA   1:22.85  1:24.76  2:47.61  3.58
 4  1  106056 SIMARD Genevieve  1980  CAN   1:23.26  1:24.87  2:48.13  6.33
 5  2  185140 POUTIAINEN Tanja  1980  FIN   1:22.84  1:25.46  2:48.30  7.22
 6  15  505187 OTTOSSON Anna  1976  SWE   1:22.82  1:25.60  2:48.42  7.85
 7  8  565243 MAZE Tina  1983  SLO   1:23.68  1:25.18  2:48.86  10.17
 8  9  205993 HOELZL Kathrin  1984  GER   1:24.14  1:24.88  2:49.02  11.02
 9  23  295435 GIUS Nicole  1980  ITA   1:23.01  1:26.41  2:49.42  13.13
 10  14  296259 MOELGG Manuela  1983  ITA   1:23.86  1:25.58  2:49.44  13.23
 11  13  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth  1981  AUT   1:24.25  1:25.40  2:49.65  14.34
 12  54  196179 BERTRAND Marion  1984  FRA   1:23.66  1:26.32  2:49.98  16.08
 13  20  55069 GOETSCHL Renate  1975  AUT   1:24.48  1:25.65  2:50.13  16.87
 14  27  505632 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica  1984  SWE   1:24.90  1:25.41  2:50.31  17.82
 15  12  505760 PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria  1986  SWE   1:24.96  1:25.49  2:50.45  18.56
 16  33  55947 FENNINGER Anna  1989  AUT   1:24.22  1:26.37  2:50.59  19.29
 17  16  195671 JACQUEMOD Ingrid  1978  FRA   1:24.88  1:25.80  2:50.68  19.77
 18  63  565320 FERK Marusa  1988  SLO   1:25.24  1:25.48  2:50.72  19.98
 19  49  296769 LONGHINI Hilary  1986  ITA   
1:24.55
 1:26.52  2:51.07  21.82
 20  19  55212 MEISSNITZER Alexandra  1973  AUT   1:25.18  1:25.94  2:51.12  22.09
 21  42  225206 ALCOTT Chemmy  1982  GBR   1:24.52  1:26.63  2:51.15  22.25
 22  17  155415 ZAHROBSKA Sarka  1985  CZE   1:24.84  1:26.45  2:51.29  22.98
 23  44  206174 STABER Veronika  1987  GER   1:24.46  1:26.86  2:51.32  23.14
 24  31  505610 BORSSEN Therese  1984  SWE   1:24.35  1:27.24  2:51.59  24.57
 25  5  55838 ZETTEL Kathrin  1986  AUT   1:25.44  1:26.20  2:51.64  24.83
 26  50  315149 LOLOVIC Jelena  1981  SRB   1:25.27  1:26.87  2:52.14  27.47
 27  51  206078 FERNSEBNER Carolin  1986  GER   1:24.97  1:27.61  2:52.58  29.78
 28  41  538284 MCJAMES Megan  1987  USA   1:24.89  1:27.87  2:52.76  30.73

Did not finish 1st run:
FIMBAUERE Liene (LAT), BERECZ Anna (HUN), PENZESOVA Nina (SVK), JELUSIC Ana (CRO), NEERGAARD Therese (NOR), STIEGLER Resi (USA), REBENSBURG Viktoria (GER), LUDLOW Libby (USA), SUTER Fabienne (SUI), RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina (SPA), DESFORGES Emilie (CAN), BARIOZ Taina (FRA), DETTLING Andrea (SUI), HITCHCOCK Katie (USA), COOK Stacey J (USA), RUBENS Shona (CAN), WEIRATHER Tina (LIE), BERTRAND Olivia (FRA), ROBNIK Mateja (SLO), AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi (SUI), ACTON Brigitte (CAN), DREV Ana (SLO), FANCHINI Nadia (ITA), STYGER Nadia (SUI), FISCHBACHER Andrea (AUT), KIRCHGASSER Michaela (AUT), HOSP Nicole (AUT), PAERSON Anja (SWE)

Did not finish 2nd run:
BRYDON Emily (CAN), SCHILD Marlies (AUT)

Did not qualify 1st run:
RALLI Sophia (GRE), NAREA Sandra-Elena (ROU), ZAKOURILOVA Petra (CZE), JANYK Britt (CAN), GINI Sandra (SUI), CAMASTRAL Aita (SUI), ZUZULOVA Veronika (SVK), CICCONE Caitlin (USA), LEINONEN Sanni (FIN), CHMELAR Fanny (GER), GRAND Rabea (SUI), ZEISER Daniela (AUT), KELLEY Jessica C (USA), BERGER Silvia (AUT), RIESCH Maria (GER), KELLY Gail (CAN), SANTON Aurelie (FRA)

 

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