Semmering: Zettel edges teammates; Mancuso 4th

Kathrin Zettel beat Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild in a 1-2-3 sweep for Austria in a World Cup giant slalom on Thursday.
    Zettel, who also won the season-opening giant slalom in Aspen, Colorado, completed the Austrian team's eighth World Cup victory this season in an aggregate time of 2 minutes, 9.50 seconds.
    Hosp placed second, 0.1 seconds behind, to reclaim the lead in the overall World Cup standings from Schild, who led after the first run but was 0.16 seconds back in third.
    American skier Julia Mancuso was fourth in 2:09.82, while Jessica Kelley finished 30th. Teammate Lindsey Kildow did not finish the first run.

SEMMERING, Austria — Kathrin Zettel, Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild gave Austria a sweep of the top three spots at a World Cup giant slalom on Thursday.
    American skier Julia Mancuso finished fourth after being fastest in the second run. Her teammate Lindsey Kildow didn't finish the first run. Jessica Kelley placed 30th.
    Zettel, who also won the season-opening giant slalom in Aspen, Colorado, completed the Austrian team's eighth World Cup victory this season in a combined time of 2 minutes, 9.50 seconds.
    ''I am astonished. I really did not believe I could beat Marlies in the second run,'' Zettel said. ''I am so happy to win a giant slalom in Austria. This victory caps a great season.''
    Hosp took second, 0.1 seconds behind, to reclaim the lead in the overall World Cup standings from Schild, who led after the first run but was 0.16 seconds behind Zettel.
    ''What a tough battle it has been,'' Hosp said. ''We all have been training very hard lately and were well-prepared for this race. There was hardly any difference between the three of us.''
    Schild lost time on the second run as she took risks in a bid to keep her lead.  
    ''It went wrong in the final part of my race,'' Schild said. ''I badly misjudged some curves and lost too much speed. Those mistakes came very costly.''

Mancuso wins second run
    Mancuso was the first skier on course in the morning run and with the icy conditions, conceded she was "a little nervous. It's pretty tough starting first in GS, especially when it's this icy. You don't know what to expect and you don't get a course report" because no teammate has been down the run.
    "I definitely could have had a faster first run … but, yeah, I could have gone out, too. I'm totally happy with this," she said.
    "It was sweet. They just had to slow down a little for me," Mancuso said. "It's sweet to know, though, that I won the second run. I'm really excited. I just needed to clean up some things from my first run."
    "… The first run I didn't get my timing down. The second run, I focused more on being clean and smooth with my skiing," she said. "It was super icy and bumpy, so I'm psyched."
    Women's head coach Chris Knight said, "It was definitely not an advantage to run first today. Two forerunners fell over, so Julia didn't get much of an idea what was what … and she really did well to be where she was on that first run. But she had a mistake and a couple of small bobbles on the second run … and yet she still was fastest, so she's coming on hard. It was a really good day for her.
    "And then Jess ran first on the second run; she skied it clean but didn't attack like she did on the first run; she had some really good sections … so this is two [GS] races and she's been in the second run each time; that's outstanding for her and should help her confidence. It's a long season and Jess is off to a good start," Knight said.
    "We trained GS the last two days and they were good sessions," the coach said.
    He said Kildow was about 15th at her final timing split before she skied off course about 10 gates from the finish. "She sat back and got spun around; you needed to be on the ski today on this ice," he explained.
    The women complete their annual visit to Semmering, west of Vienna, with a slalom Friday before heading to Zagreb, Croatia, for the Snow Queen Trophy slalom on the night of Jan. 4 and then the yearly World Cup GS/SL weekend Jan. 6-7 in Maribor, Slovenia.

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THE SCOOP 

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's giant slalom, Semmering, Austria Dec. 28, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
3 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Karbon, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
8 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Putzer, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Ottosson, Dynastar/Lange/Tyrolia

Women's GS, Semmering, Austria, Dec. 28, 2006. … It is the 12th race of the women's 37-event World Cup schedule. … It is the third of eight GS's on the women's schedule, the second held due to Solden's cancellation in October. … It is the fifth women's GS at Semmering, held in even Decembers since 1998.
    It is the second career win for Kathrin Zettel and the second consecutive GS win, the other coming at Aspen Nov. 25. … Half of her 14 World Cup GS results are top-four placings. … It is the eighth win of the season for the Austrian women.
    It is the 28th career podium for Nicole Hosp. … Her 14th in GS. … It is her fourth second-place result of the season without a win. … It is her second career podium at Semmering, having placed third in GS Dec. 28, 2002.
    It is the 27th career podium for Marlies Schild, just her third in GS, but second in GS at Semmering. … Schild won both the slalom and GS at Semmering Dec. 28 and Dec. 29, 2004. … Those were her second and third career wins (now at 11). … It is the third podium sweep of the season by the Austrian women, after Levi slalom Nov. 11 and Reiteralm combined Dec. 15.
    It is the 10th career top-four placing for Julia Mancuso. … Her third of the season. … It is her third fourth-place finish in GS and she has just one GS result better, a third at Ofterschwang Feb. 4, 2006. … It is her first scoring result at Semmering. … It is the 70th career scoring result for Genevieve Simard. … The third for Jessica Kelley, but second of the season, both in GS. … Six U.S. skiers and three Canadians failed to qualify for a second run.
    There were some excellent back-of-the-pack performances: Tina Weirather 13th from 35th start; Olivia Bertrand 18th from 43rd start; Fabienne Suter 22nd from the 67th start. … Top three finishers in race also control the top of the World Cup standings. … Hosp leads at 5
40 with Schild second at 537 and Zettel third at 460. … Lindsey Kildow (first-run DNF) is the top American on the overall list in fifth at 435. … Zettel holds the GS standings lead 200-130 over Hosp with Tanja Poutiainen (ninth in race) third at 109. … Mancuso in fifth is top American at 86. …Winning margin is a tenth of a second. … Top six are within a second. … Top six are also within two seconds (Anja Paerson in sixth is .97 out; Denise Karbon in seventh is 2.05 out). 

Semmering women's World Cup giant slalom results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	5	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	1:04.25	1:05.25	2:09.50	0.00
2	4	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:04.35	1:05.25	2:09.60	0.68
3	12	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	1:04.04	1:05.62	2:09.66	1.09
4	1	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:04.90	1:04.92	2:09.82	2.17
5	13	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	1:04.94	1:05.33	2:10.27	5.23
6	6	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:05.31	1:05.16	2:10.47	6.59
7	23	295445	KARBON Denise	1980	ITA	1:05.50	1:06.05	2:11.55	13.93
8	16	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:05.79	1:06.00	2:11.79	15.56
9	3	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	1:06.54	1:05.36	2:11.90	16.31
10	21	295342	PUTZER Karen	1978	ITA	1:05.91	1:06.10	2:12.01	17.06
10	9	505187	OTTOSSON Anna	1976	SWE	1:0 6.06	1:05.95	2:12.01	17.06
12	8	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	1:05.54	1:06.52	2:12.06	17.40
13	35	355050	WEIRATHER Tina	1989	LIE	1:07.25	1:05.09	2:12.34	19.30
13	7	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:05.95	1:06.39	2:12.34	19.30
15	11	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:06.80	1:05.76	2:12.56	20.79
16	20	205993	HOELZL Kathrin	1984	GER	1:06.51	1:06.12	2:12.63	21.27
17	36	196026	SANTON Aurelie	1982	FRA	1:07.40	1:05.26	2:12.66	21.47
18	43	196851	BERTRAND Olivia	1989	FRA	1:06.52	1:06.15	2:12.67	21.54
18	39	565315	ROBNIK Mateja	1987	SLO	1:06.59	1:06.08	2:12.67	21.54
20	10	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:06.75	1:06.08	2:12.83	22.63
21	40	225206	ALCOTT Chemmy	1982	GBR	1:07.10	1:05.83	2:12.93	23.31
22	67	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:07.47	1:05.61	2:13.08	24.33
23	53	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	1:07.22	1:05.95	2:13.17	24.94
24	15	565268	DREV Ana	1985	SLO	1:06.32	1:06.91	2:13.23	25.35
25	24	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:06.83	1:06.54	2:13.37	26.30
26	37	196179	BERTRAND Marion	1984	FRA	1:06.78	1:06.62	2:13.40	26.50
27	34	55675	ZEISER Daniela	1983	AUT	1:07.50	1:05.94	2:13.44	26.77
28	55	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:07.59	1:05.91	2:13.50	27.18
29	2	106056	SIMARD Genevieve	1980	CAN	1:06.29	1:07.86	2:14.15	31.60
30	33	537230	KELLEY Jessica C	1982	USA	1:07.59	1:06.63	2:14.22	32.07

Did not finish 1st run:
COLETTI Alexandra (MON), PUENCHERA Jessica (SUI), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), COSTAZZA Chiara (ITA), REBENSBURG Viktoria (GER), LOESETH Lene (NOR), CAMASTRAL Aita (SUI), FERNSEBNER Carolin (GER), FENNINGER Anna (AUT), KILDOW Lindsey C (USA), BERGER Silvia (AUT), GIUS Nicole (ITA), AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi (SUI), GOETSCHL Renate (AUT), MEISSNITZER Alexandra (AUT), FISCHBACHER Andrea (AUT)

Disqualified 1st run:
JANYK Britt (CAN)

Did not qualify 1st run:
HANSDOTTER Frida (SWE), JELUSIC Ana (CRO), STIEGLER Resi (USA), LUDLOW Libby (USA), BORSSEN Therese (SWE), CICCONE Caitlin (USA), HRSTKOVA Lucie (CZE), LOLOVIC Jelena (SRB), PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier (CAN), LEINONEN Sanni (FIN), HITCHCOCK Katie (USA), COOK Stacey J (USA), STABER Veronika (GER), RICHARDSON Kaylin L (USA), GRAND Rabea (SUI), ALFIERI Camilla (ITA), RIESCH Maria (GER), ZAHROBSKA Sarka (CZE), KELLY Gail (CAN), ACTON Brigitte (CAN), STYGER Nadia (SUI)

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World Cup giant slalom standings (after 2 of 7 events)
1. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 200 points.
2. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 130.
3. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 109.
4. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 105.
5. Julia Mancuso, United States, 86.
6. Denise Karbon, Italy, 65.
7. Maria Pietilae-Holmner, Sweden, 61.
8. Marlies Schild, Austria, 60.
9. Anna Ottosson, Sweden, 58.
10. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 55.
11. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 54.
12. Manuela Moelgg, Italy, 48.
13. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 40.
14. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 33.
15. Aurelie Santon, France, 32.

World Cup overall standings (after 12 of 33 events)
1. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 540 points.
2. Marlies Schild, Austria, 537.
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 460.
4. Renate Goetschl, Austria, 441.
5. Lindsey Kildow, United States, 435.
6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 386.
7. Julia Mancuso, United States, 329.
8. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 282.
9. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 242.
10. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 208.
11. Maria Riesch, Germany, 188.
12. Kelly VanderBeek, Canada, 185.
13. Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austria, 174.
14. Andrea Fischbacher, Austria, 157.
15. Therese Borssen, Sweden, 152.