Rienda Contreras of Spain wins Are giant slalom; Julia Mancuso fourth

By Published On: February 20th, 2005Comments Off on Rienda Contreras of Spain wins Are giant slalom; Julia Mancuso fourth

Rienda Contreras of Spain wins Are giant slalom; Julia Mancuso fourthARE, Sweden – Maria Jose Rienda Contreras of Spain secured her first career World Cup victory on Sunday, easily winning a giant slalom on the same hill where she was runnerup a year ago.

“Finally it happened,” Rienda Contreras said. “I’ve had a tough career, but I’ve improved step by step every year. Today, I was able to ski two really good runs.”

Julia Mancuso of the U.S., a four-time winner of the Sprint/Ski Racing Junior of the Year Award, finished fourth, 0.93 behind.

“It was fun. I’ve been skiing well lately,” Mancuso told the U.S. Ski Team news service, “and I skied liked I’ve been skiing in training. I just skied relaxed…This hill is very flat. You have to be clean all the way down.” In between runs, she said, she watched the men’s super G from Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Mancuso was third in the world championship super G on January 30, and third again in the world championship giant slalom on February 8.

Rienda Contreras, who has skied 11 seasons on the World Cup circuit, had a combined two-run total of 2 minutes, 4.68 seconds down the Olympia course.

Nicole Hosp, the first-run leader from Austria, was second in 2:05.26 and Anja Paerson of Sweden took third, 0.89 off the winner’s pace.

Paerson’s podium finish, coupled with an 11th-place finish by Janica Kostelic, enabled Paerson to overtake the Croat in the overall standings.

Paerson, the defending overall champion who won the GS in this northern Swedish ski resort the last two years, moved to 961 points atop the standings. Kostelic has 953.

Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen skied out early in the first run and dropped to third overall with 909 points.

-The Associated Press, USST news service, staff

b>World Cup

Women’s Giant Slalom
Are, Sweden
Feb. 20, 2005
1. Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, SPA 2:04.68
2. Nicole Hosp, AUT 2:05.26
3. Anja Paerson, SWE 2:05.57
4. Julia Mancuso, USA 2:05.61
5. Elisabeth Goergl, AUT 2:05.73
6. Renate Goetschl, AUT 2:05.75
7. Genevieve Simard, CAN 2:05.86
8. Allison Forsyth, CAN 2:06.07
9. Michaela Dorfmeister, AUT 2:06.14
10. Maria Pietilae-Holmner, SWE 2:06.26
11. Janica Kostelic, CRO 2:06.28
12. Ingrid Jacquemod, FRA 2:06.39
13. Anna Ottosson, SWE 2:06.42
14. Silvia Berger, AUT 2:06.46
15. Tina Maze, SLO 2:06.47
16. Kristina Koznick, USA 2:06.55
17. Martina Ertl, GER 2:06.56
18. Brigitte Acton, CAN 2:06.61
19. Alexandra Meissnitzer, AUT 2:06.67
20. Sarah Schleper, USA 2:06.76
21. Kathrin Zettel, AUT 2:06.89
22. Gail Kelly, CAN 2:07.01
23. Karen Putzer, ITA 2:07.04
24. Andrea Fischbacher, AUT 2:07.07
25. Emily Brydon, CAN 2:07.14
26. Eveline Rohregger, AUT 2:07.18
27. Annemarie Gerg, GER 2:07.19
28. Sophie Splawinski, CAN 2:07.28
29. Manuela Moelgg, ITA 2:07.39
other North Americans:
DNQ 2nd: Lindsey Kildow, Kirsten Clark, Bryna McCarty, USA; Kelly Vanderbeek, CAN.
DNF 1st: Caroline Lalive, USA.
DNS: Libby Ludlow, USA.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

equipment
Women’s Giant Slalom, Are, Sweden, Feb. 20, 2005
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Rienda Contreras, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
3 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Mancuso, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Goergl, Blizzard/Lange/Marker
6 Goetschl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Forsyth, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Dorfmeister, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Women’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Are, Sweden. Feb. 20, 2005. … It is the 26th race of the women’s 32 race, 1 combined schedule. … It is the seventh of eight scheduled GS’s. … Winning margin is over a half second (.58). … fifth place is more than a second out.

It is the first career win for Maria Rienda Contreras. … She was 2nd at Are in GS last season. … She owns six Cup podiums, all in GS. … 2 at Solden, 2 at Are. … And three of them from this season. … It is the first Spanish win since Blanca Fernandez-Ochoa won Lech slalom 12/1/1991. … She is just the third Spaniard to win a Cup race and the first not from the Fernandez-Ochoa family.

It is the 14th career podium for Nicole Hosp. … eighth in GS. … It is her first podium of the season outside of the team result at Worlds. … She is the 19th Austrian to podium this season.

It is the 51st career Cup podium for Anja Paerson. … It is her seventh podium of the season. … She also won 2 gold and 1 bronze medal at the World Championships.

Julia Mancuso matches her career best World Cup result from Santa Caterina’s GS 1/8/2005. … She also won two bronze medals at the World Championships. … It is the sixth best career Cup finish for Genevieve Simard and her second best of the season behind a 2nd place finish in the 1/8 Santa Caterina race. … It matches the 15th best career result for Allison Forsyth and is her second best result of the season after 3rd in the 1/8 Santa Caterina race. … She had the second fastest second run behind Rienda. … It is the 11th best GS result for Kristina Koznick. … 2nd best GS result of the season behind 4th at Solden. … It matches a career best result for Brigitte Acton. … It is the 11th scoring result of the season for Sarah Schleper. … It is the eighth career scoring finish for Gail Kelly. … Sixth this season. … It is the 10th scoring result of the season for Emily Brydon. … It is the fourth scoring result of Sophie Splawinski’s career. … Canada has never had six GS scores in the same race before.

Anja Paerson takes the lead in the World Cup overall standings 961-953 for Janica Kostelic (finished 11th in race). … Tanja Poutinainen (1st run DNF) drops to third at 909. … Kildow in sixth is the top American with 727 points. … Paerson also leads the GS standings 410-381 for Poutiainen. … Tina Maze (15th in race) is third at 344. … Mancuso is the top American in the GS standings at sixth and 201pts. … Paerson can finish second in the final GS and be assured the GS title. … Austria leads the Nations Cup 11510-5093 for the U.S. … Austrian women lead 4651-2718 over the U.S.

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