Semmering: Schild looks to stay stellar

The Austrian women’s team has ruled the World Cup tour since the season start, winning seven out of the 10 events held so far in Finland, Canada, USA, Austria and France.
     Only Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso, both from the United States, and Maria Riesch from Germany have been able to beat — yet only in downhill — the powerful Austrians. Led by Marlies Schild, Kathrin Zettel, Renate Goetschl and Nicole Hosp, the Austrians have amassed an impressive series of victories and podium finishes during the past six weeks.
SEMMERING, Austria — The Austrian women’s team has ruled the World Cup tour since the season start, winning seven out of the 10 events held so far in Finland, Canada, USA, Austria and France.
     Only Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso, both from the United States, and Maria Riesch from Germany have been able to beat — yet only in downhill — the powerful Austrians. Led by Marlies Schild, Kathrin Zettel, Renate Goetschl and Nicole Hosp, the Austrians have amassed an impressive series of victories and podium finishes during the past six weeks.
    Schild, unbeaten in slalom so far, leads the overall standings by a wide margin after her latest triumph in Val d’Isere. She could be ready for more this week in Semmering, Austria, where a giant slalom and a slalom will take place Thursday and Friday.
     The girlfriend of defending overall champion Benjamin Raich, Schild enjoys racing in the small resort located near Vienna that has regularly hosted World Cups since 1995. In fact, the skier from Saalfelden, near Salzburg, is the only skier to have won both technical races organized on the newly redesigned racing course that can attract 20,000 spectators.
    “Racing in Austria is something very special for me and I’m looking forward for Semmering,” Schild said in Val d’Isere after her 11th career victory propelled her into the lead of the overall standings — one of her main goals this season. “In Reiteralm, the crowd motivated me a lot during the slalom run of the super combined; it encouraged me well and helped me to take a lot of risks in that leg.
    “My double win there remains a highlight in my career,” added the 25-year-old, who has not clinched a major title since getting back on the international circuit four years ago after being slowed down by a series of bad knee injuries.
    Schild has collected several silver and bronze medals since 2003 and she also finished three times second or third in the slalom World Cup standings, but this winter, she may well be out of reach for her rivals in that specialty.
     Yet she skied out in the first giant slalom at Aspen, Colorado, where her teammate Zettel celebrated her first World Cup win.
    Only a handful of skiers, such as Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen, second in Aspen, Tina Maze from Slovenia, Anja Paerson, the reigning world champion, and USA’s Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic champion, who just nabbed her first World Cup win in a downhill at Val d’Isere, have the potential to seriously challenge the Austrian in giant slalom.
    The field is wider in slalom, but Schild has a big lead in that specialty dominated by Janica Kostelic and Anja Paerson in the past six years. The two superstars captured all the gold medals since 2001 and most of the World Cup hardware, too.
    But Kostelic enjoys now a year far from the slope after achieving another phenomenal season last winter, and Paerson struggles getting back her past form in the technical events after undergoing knee surgery last spring — so the path to more triumphs is wide-open for Schild and her teammates.