Canada's Simard gets first World Cup win; Lalive fourth, Mancuso 10th for U.S.

Canada’s Simard gets first World Cup win; Lalive fourth, Mancuso 10th for U.S.Canadian Genevieve Simard savored the first World Cup win of her skiing career on Wednesday, an unexpected victory in a women’s super G at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

The 23-year-old from Val-Morin in Quebec beat Germany’s Maria Riesch by 0.65 seconds with a time of one minute 13.05 seconds in perfect conditions down the sparkling Olympia delle Tofane course.

Germany’s Hilde Gerg, winner of the last super G in Veysonnaz, was third as the pre-race favorites failed to shine on a crisp and bright morning in the Dolomites.

Caroline Lalive, in fourth just 0.13 seconds off the podium, led the way for the U.S. team, which saw four skiers score points. Julia Mancuso was 10th, Kirsten Clark was 16th and Libby Ludlow 24th.

For Lalive, it was her best finish of the season and her 23rd World Cup top-10. Mancuso picked up her third top-10 finish on the World Cup, and best ever in super G. She’d been fifth twice, in a combined at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in December 2002, and in a downhill at Altenmarkt, Austria, in March 2002.

U.S. skiers Jonna Mendes and Lindsey Kildow had off days, finishing 37th and 53rd, respectively.

Joining Simard in the points was teammate Emily Brydon in 14th. Kelly Vanderbeek was 42nd and Ann Marie LeFrancois 48th.

Simard, who won from the 17th starting position, showed her promise in that previous race in Switzerland on Sunday with a strong sixth place finish.

She was also fourth in super G at last year’s world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and her win, five years after her World Cup debut, was the first in super G for a Canadian woman since Melanie Turgeon at Innsbruck in 2000.

It also provided a boost for the team a day after 2003 world downhill champion Turgeon, third in last year’s Cortina super G, announced that she would miss the rest of the season due to a back injury.

“When I crossed the line I thought it was not so bad,” said Simard. “It was a solid run and I just had to wait and hope for the best.”

She was right to be cautious, with several big names following her down the mountain.

But Austrian Renate Goetschl, challenging Sweden’s Anja Paerson for the overall World Cup lead, finished only tied for seventh, while teammate and world champion Michaela Dorfmeister was tied for 25th.

World Cup super G champion Carole Montillet of France started 28th, just ahead of Dorfmeister, and was fifth.

“I felt very confident coming here, I like this slope a lot and I knew that I had a chance to reach the podium which I missed by only half a second on Sunday,” Simard said. “I was very calm and focused this morning and very aggressive on the course afterwards. The skis ran smoothly and I nailed the upper part almost perfectly. It’s a key moment in my career but hopefully also a nice start for much more.”

Paerson, a slalom specialist who started 15th, had expected more from her race but still led Goetschl by 164 points. Gerg leads the super G standings with 265 points to Dorfmeister’s 226.

Lalive, who had a horrendous crash March 1, 2003, in a downhill outside Innsbruck, finished in 1:13.90 with Mancuso’s time 1:14.42. It was the second top-five in less than a week for Lalive in a speed event; she was fifth Saturday in a downhill in Veysonnaz.

“It felt great,” Lalive said. “The course was on the fast side. I’ve been trying to approach racing lately with the thought of focusing on the skiing and just the technical things I want to work on, and then the results will follow. I keep reminding myself of that. I’ve always done well in Cortina, got my first World Cup points in super G here [1998, before the first of her two Olympics] and I had three top-10s last year. I like this place.”

She said the course was in near-perfect shape. “Cortina always does an incredible job in making it buffed,” Lalive said. “The course was in awesome shape; the snow was aggressive but it was hard, too.”

U.S. head coach Patrick Riml said, “I’m smiling a little bit, especially for Caroline. She said the other day she wanted to keep skiing like she’s been doing in training, keeping it simple and staying relaxed. She gave it her all today and it was great. Good for her!

“Julia had a good race after a good training [run, Tuesday in downhill]. She really stepped it up, and so did Libby … another great job as she keeps improving in this comeback from October. And Clarky made some little mistakes, especially at the bottom — nothing big, nothing she won’t correct and she should be fine this weekend.”

The Cortina schedule has the women training downhill again on Thursday, racing a second super G on Friday and downhills on Saturday and Sunday.

Alpine World Cup

Women’s Super G

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

January 14, 2004

1. Genevieve Simard (Canada) 1:13.05

2. Maria Riesch (Germany) 1:13.70

3. Hilde Gerg (Germany) 1:13.83

4. Caroline Lalive (U.S.) 1:13.90

5. Carole Montillet (France) 1:14.14

6. Nadia Styger (Switzerland) 1:14.21

7= Renate Goetschl (Austria) 1:14.34

7= Katja Wirth (Austria) 1:14.34

9. Daniela Ceccarelli (Italy) 1:14.37

10= Melanie Suchet (France) 1:14.42

10= Julia Mancuso (U.S.) 1:14.42

12. Alexandra Meissnitzer (Austria) 1:14.45

13. Isolde Kostner (Italy) 1:14.46

14. Emily Brydon (Canada) 1:14.54

15. Fraenzi Aufdenblatten (Switzerland) 1:14.57

16. Kirsten Clark (U.S.) 1:14.64

17. Brigitte Obermoser (Austria) 1:14.67

18. Ingrid Jacquemod (France) 1:14.68

19. Tanja Schneider (Austria) 1:14.70

20. Anja Paerson (Sweden) 1:14.73

21. Mojca Suhadolc (Slovenia) 1:14.74

22. Silvia Berger (Austria) 1:14.83

23. Martina Lechner (Austria) 1:14.84

24. Libby Ludlow (U.S.) 1:14.85

25= Michaela Dorfmeister (Austria) 1:14.90

25= Sylviane Berthod (Switzerland) 1:14.90

27. Martina Ertl (Germany) 1:14.91

28. Petra Haltmayr (Germany) 1:14.94

29. Magda Mattel (France) 1:15.07

30. Lucia Recchia (Italy) 1:15.09

Other North Americans:

37. Jonna Mendes (U.S) 1:15.45

42. Kelly Vanderbeek (Canada) 1:15.77

48. Anne Marie LeFrancois (Canada) 1:16.13

53. Lindsey Kildow (U.S.) 1:16.86

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Women’s Super G

Cortina, Italy, January 14, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

2 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

3 Gerg, Volkl/Lange/Marker

4 Lalive, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

5 Montillet, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

6 Styger, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

7 Goetschl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

7 Wirth, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia

9 Ceccarelli, Dynastar/Lange/Look

10 Suchet, Dynastar/Lange/Look

10 Mancuso, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

It is the 17th race of the 36 scheduled women’s races and the fourth of eight super Gs. … Serves as a replacement for a race cancelled twice, first at Laax and then at St. Moritz, Switzerland. … Large margin of victory at 0.65 seconds. … Genevieve Simard gets her first career victory and just her second podium, after a third in GS at Berchtesgaden, Germany, 1/19/02. … It’s the 56th Canadian World Cup win and the fifth in SG. The last Canadian SG win was by Melanie Turgeon at Innsbruck, Austria, 2/26/2000. … No Canadian has ever won two SG’s. … Simard’s next best result this season is sixth in SG at Veysonnaz 1/11/04.

A career-best for Maria Riesch, who h
as been second twice: in combined at Lenzerheide, Switzerland in December 2002 and at St. Moritz in DH 12/20/03. … The 50th career podium for Hilde Gerg, and 21st in SG. … It’s her sixth podium in 12 races this season.

It’s Caroline Lalive’s best result of the season; she was fifth in the Veysonnaz, Switzerland, DH 1/10/04. … It is the second-best career finish for Julia Mancuso. … Her only better results are a pair of fifths, one in combined 12/22/02 at Lenzerheide and in DH 3/6/02 at Altenmarkt, Austria. … Her previous best this season had been 20th at Lake Louise SG 12/7/03. … Third scoring finish of the season for Libby Ludlow, who now has 12 for her career.

Emily Brydon has her second best result of the season, behind a fourth in a Lake Louise, Alberta, DH 12/6/03.

Anja Paerson maintains the World Cup overall lead 763-609 over Renate Goetschl. … Clark leads U.S. skiers in ninth at 329. … Gerg leads the super G standings 265-226 over Michaela Dorfmeister. … Clark leads U.S. skiers in ninth at 112; Simard is sixth at 147. … Austria leads the Nations Cup 4884-1521 over Italy with the U.S. third at 2219. … Austria leads the women’s standings 3417-1772 over Germany with the U.S. fourth at 1152.