Tina Maze of Slovenia wins second giant slalom; North Americans 2-3-4

By Published On: January 8th, 2005Comments Off on Tina Maze of Slovenia wins second giant slalom; North Americans 2-3-4

Tina Maze of Slovenia wins second giant slalom; North Americans 2-3-4Slovenia’s Tina Maze won the World Cup giant slalom Saturday at Santa Caterina, her second victory in a row. She was followed by Canadians Genevieve Simard and Allison Forsyth while Julia Mancuso of the United States was fourth for the best result of her career.

Maze covered the two runs on the new Deborah Compagnoni course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 36.78 seconds. She held her first-run lead while most of the other top finishers from the morning faltered in their second trip down the slope.

“It was the first time I led after the first run and so I was a little bit nervous,” Maze said after winning the third title of her career. “I just tried to ski like in training. I knew that some of the girls were making mistakes. There were some points where you had to ski really carefully.”

Simard, the runner-up, was 1.16 seconds back, and Forsyth was 1.22 seconds behind the winner. Forsyth, who had the fastest second run, said her team was motivated by Canadian Thomas Grandi’s recent back-to-back wins on the men’s circuit.

“The team stays very close together,” Forsyth said. “They put only four races on Canadian TV all year and this was one of them, besides all Thomas’ races now.”

Tanja Poutiainen of Finland finished sixth and kept her lead in the overall World Cup standings with 666 points. Defending overall champion Anja Paerson of Sweden, who fell and injured herself during training Friday, tied Poutiainen for sixth and remained third overall with 579 points.

“I hurt my hip bone and there is bleeding around it,” Paerson said. “I didn’t know if I could race today.”

Croatia’s Janica Kostelic, second overall with 613 points, came in 22nd. She posted top-10 finishes in downhills Thursday and Friday.

Austria’s Nicole Hosp trailed Maze by 0.02 seconds after the first run and fell near the end of her second trip. Another Austrian, Michaela Kirchgasser, third after the first run, made a mistake at the end of her second run and finished 13th.

Saturday’s race was the first giant slalom held on the course that will host the world championships from Jan. 28 to Feb. 13. Men’s races for the worlds will be held in nearby Bormio.

“It will be nice to come back here and have a good feeling,” Maze said.

Maze won a giant slalom in St. Moritz last month and shared a giant slalom victory at Soelden in 2002. She was third in a super giant slalom at Altenmarkt on Dec. 11.

A slalom is scheduled for Santa Caterina on Sunday. -The Associated Press

World Cup

Women’s Giant Slalom
Santa Caterina, Italy
Jan. 8, 2005

1. Tina Maze, SLO 2:36.78
2. Genevieve Simard, CAN 2:37.94
3. Allison Forsyth, CAN 2:38.00
4. Julia Mancuso, USA 2:38.23
5. Sonja Nef, SUI 2:38.24
6. Tanja Poutiainen, FIN 2:38.41
6. Anja Paerson, SWE 2:38.41
8. Nicole Gius, ITA 2:38.54
8. Michaela Dorfmeister, AUT 2:38.54
10. Kathrin Zettel, AUT 2:38.58
11. Nadia Fanchini, ITA 2:38.63
11. Elisabeth Goergl, AUT 2:38.63
13. Michaela Kirchgasser, AUT 2:38.74
14. Maria Riesch, GER 2:38.81
15. Anna Ottosson, SWE 2:38.86
16. Karen Putzer, ITA 2:39.04
17. Manuela Moelgg, ITA 2:39.06
18. Gail Kelly, CAN 2:39.18
19. Alexandra Meissnitzer, AUT 2:39.41
20. Emily Brydon, CAN 2:39.49
21. Brigitte Acton, CAN 2:39.63
22. Jancia Kostelic, SUI 2:39.82
23. Karina Birkelund, NOR 2:39.98
24. Maddalena Planatscher, FRA 2:40.21
25. Eveline Rohregger, AUT 2:40.73
26. Andrine Flemmen, NOR 2:41.51
other North Americans:
DNQ 2nd: Britt Janyk, Sophie Splawinski, Emilie DesForges, Kelly Vanderbek, CAN; Sarah Schleper, Resi Stiegler, Kristina Koznick, Jessica Kelley, Lauren Ross, Kirsten Clark, USA.
DNS: Lindsey Kildow, USA.
DNF 1st: Caroline Lalive, USA

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

equipment
Women’s GS, Santa Catrina, Jan. 8, 2005
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Maze, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Forsyth, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
4 Mancuso, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Nef, Volkl/Lange/Marker
6 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Gius, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Dorfmeister, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women’s Giant Slalom, Santa Caterina, Italy. … It is the 16th of 32 race (plus 1 combined) women’s World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of eight scheduled GS’s. … The race is relocated from Berchtesgaden, German, due to lack of snow. … A huge margin of victory at 1.16 seconds. … Next 17 finishers are within the same margin.

It is the third career World Cup win for Tina Maze. … All in GS. … It is her second win of the season, the previous at St Moritz 12/22. … She is the lone Slovene winner this season. … It is the 23rd Slovene World Cup win. …

It is the third career podium for Genevieve Simard, the others a win at Cortina SG 1/14/2004 and 3rd at Berchtesgaden GS 1/19/2002. … It is the fifth career podium for Allison Forsyth. … Her first since 11/21/2001 at Copper Mnt. … It is the first time the Canadians have had two skiers on the same podium since Ed Podivinsky and Cary Mullen were 1-2 in a two run DH at Saalbach 1/6/1994. … For Canadian women since Liisa Savijarvi (2nd) and Laurie Graham (3rd) Badgstein DH 1/10/86.

It is a career best result for Julia Mancuso. … She has been fifth three times. … It is her fifth top 10 of the season. … It is the sixth career scoring result for Gail Kelly. … Her third this season. … It is the 42nd career scoring result for Emily Brydon. … Her fifth this season. … It is the third career scoring result for Brigitte Acton. … Her second this season, the first at Semmering 12/28. … The last five skier score for Canadian women in GS was at Are 2/22/2004.

Tanja Poutiainen (tied for sixth) maintains the lead in the women’s World Cup overall standings 666-613 for Janica Kostelic (22nd). … Anja Paerson (tied for sixth) is third at 613 and Michaela Dorfmeister (tied for 8th) is fourth at 504. … Lindsey Kildow (did not start) is the top American in the standings in sixth at 435. … Poutiainen leads the GS standings 345-300 for Paerson. … Maze is third at 228. … Julia Mancuso is the top American in 14th at 106. … Austria leads the Nations Cup (including men’s race) 6476 over USA 3243. … Austrian women lead the standings 2551-1581 for the U.S.

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