European Report: Paerson keeps long skis; Turgeon down but not out

European Report: Paerson keeps long skis; Turgeon down but not out{mosimage}Overall World Cup leader Anja Paerson insists she will keep racing in selected downhill events despite finishing out of the points in just her second career downhill over the weekend.

“For me right now the problem is to find the right line and get comfortable with the long turns. It is just experience and every day I am learning something,” Paerson told Eurosport. “I am just doing it for experience right now so I am not expecting to do well at all. It is just getting my head into it and learning everything. And every point counts.”

The Swede, who holds a 166-point lead in the overall World Cup, made a promising downhill debut in St. Moritz, Switzerland, last month and looked to have a podium finish in the bag when she missed a gate in the lower section of the hill.

Paerson said she plans to compete in two downhills at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, this weekend and in Austria at the end of January.

“I am planning to go to Cortina and Haus,” said Paerson. “I am really looking forward to Cortina and I hope it is good weather and then I can be near the top.”

She will also race super G in Cortina, which she believes will bolster her chances of taking the overall title. “As long as I do well in my super-G, get in the top 10, then I don’t think it will be too much of a problem for me,” said Paerson. “I will just be happy to take one or two points in the downhill.”

>> Aamodt comeback on ice

Kjetil Andre Aamodt’s comeback from a broken ankle is being pushed back as far as March after advice from doctors who say his injury is not healing as hoped.

Norwegian television reported that Aamodt, who broke his left ankle training in October, has been told not to expect to race until March, perhaps in the Kvitfjell races planned in Norway. Aamodt said before the holidays he was hoping to race at Kitzbuehel later this month, but complications are delaying his return.

>> Turgeon says she won’t retire

World downhill champion Melanie Turgeon ruled out retirement Monday despite admitting over that two herniated discs in her back will end her 2003-04 season.

“I’m not thinking of (retirement). As of now, it’s not career-ending,” she told Canadian Press. “I see it as an opportunity to get better and stronger for the last three years of my career.”

Turgeon, 27, who has battled back problems for much of her 14-year career, had planned to retire after the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. But because she will miss this season, she said she is now considering staying on through the 2006-07 campaign. “There’s so much more I want to accomplish,” she said.

The latest injury came from a fall at a training camp in Colorado on November 14 in which she tweaked a knee, re-injured one disc that gave her trouble in the past and hurt a second disc.

Doctors who examined her recently all recommended she not compete this season, but continue following a rehab and exercise program that should have her back on form by the spring. They agreed she would not need surgery.

>> Scott says gold medal deserved

Canadian cross-country skier Beckie Scott, recently awarded the gold medal after two other skiers failed doping tests, told the Portland Tribune she took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport because “somebody had to speak up on behalf of clean athletes.”

Scott took bronze, but moved up to silver in June 2003 when second-place finisher Larissa Lazutina was suddenly stripped of her medal when it was discovered she also had committed a doping infraction before the Olympics. Then, on December 18, the court told the IOC to strip Olga Danilova of the top medal and award it to Scott instead.

She’ll officially receive the gold medal in a ceremony in Canada in March.

“The fight was worth it,” said Scott, who lives in Oregon with husband Justin Wadsworth, a three-time U.S. Olympian who retired from professional skiing this year. “I learned the importance of standing up, even if you are one small voice against what seems like an incredibly powerful group.”

Scott resumes World Cup racing this month and said she might continue to race through the 2006 Olympics in Italy.

“For now, I’m looking forward to finishing this season, and making that decision in spring,” she says.