Maze and Rocca win last World Cups before Christmas break

By Published On: December 22nd, 2004Comments Off on Maze and Rocca win last World Cups before Christmas break

Maze and Rocca win last World Cups before Christmas break{mosimage}The young Slovenian Tina Maze won the World Cup giant slalom at St. Moritz today, edging out Anja Paerson of Sweden for the win at the upscale Swiss resort. Meanwhile in Austria, Giorgio Rocca of Italy was the winner in a tough World Cup slalom in which the favorite, Bode Miller, failed to finish the first run.

The top American performance in the women’s run came from Julia Mancuso, who ended up jumping from the 46th start postition to sixth place on the day, largely on the strength of her second run.

“Second run, on a clean course, I’m able to take my own line and charge,” said Mancuso. “That happened in slalom too, so I think I just need to work on taking my first run in the groove so that I can charge it again second run.”

Kristina Koznick lacerated her tongue, biting down on it while she tumbled in an ugly crash just four gates from the finish of the first run. Complaining of pain in her ribs and her jaw, she left the mountain on her feet.

In Flachau, Austria, Giorgio Rocca beat out the host-nation’s Rainer Schoenfelder by a quarter of a second. Alois Vogl of Germany was third.

On the first run, American Bode Miller, who won the most recent slalom of the season last week in Sestriere, Italy, was leading by 0.75 seconds at the final interval when he leaned in and slid out of the course. No Americans scored points.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh