Zagreb-Sljeme: Can Schild rediscover winning form?

ZAGREB-SLJEME, Croatia — The women’s World Cup schedule resumes Thursday afternoon with a slalom on the slopes of Sljeme, near the Croatian capital of Zagreb.
    It’s only the third time that this event, named “Snow Queen Trophy” by its organizers, is included on the women's World Cup calendar, but it has quickly developed into one of the most spectacular stops on the international circuit.
    Austria’s Marlies Schild, the World Cup overall leader, is particularly happy to return to Sljeme, where she celebrated her second of three consecutive slalom wins last winter. She is eager to get back in action less than a week after failing to win her fourth World Cup slalom in a row this season in her home country at Semmering.
ZAGREB-SLJEME, Croatia — The women’s World Cup schedule resumes Thursday afternoon with a slalom on the slopes of Sljeme, near the Croatian capital of Zagreb.
    It’s only the third time that this event, named “Snow Queen Trophy” by its organizers, is included on the women's World Cup calendar, but it has quickly developed into one of the most spectacular stops on the international circuit.
    Sljeme’s impressive prize money, the quality of its organization, the technically demanding slope and the agreeable atmosphere that surrounds the race watched by nearly 20,000 spectators transported to the slope by hundreds of buses have combined to make the stop among the highlights of the season.
    Austria’s Marlies Schild, the World Cup overall leader, is particularly happy to return to Sljeme, where she celebrated her second of three consecutive slalom wins last winter. She is eager to get back in action less than a week after failing to win her fourth World Cup slalom in a row this season in her home country at Semmering. She instead finished third after making a major mistake a few gates prior the finish line of the second run.
    It was quite a shock for the skier from Saalfelden, near Salzburg, who was clearly in the lead at the second intermediate time of the final leg. Apparently Schild lost her concentration after hearing the loudspeakers informing the crowd about her strong performance.
    Her emotional reaction after the race was at the level of her huge disappointment, but her motivation was not affected by her depressing adventure.
    “I made a big mistake, but I’m skiing really well right now. It will be a learning experience for me,” Schild said after the race.
    Schild has the potential to add many more wins this year in slalom and get close to the record of eight wins, set by Croatia’s Janica Kostelic during the 2000-01 season.
    Even if Schild’s confidence level was affected by her letdown in Semmering, she remains the skier to beat in Sljeme and at the tour’s weekend stop in Slovenia’s Kranjska Gora, where a slalom and GS are scheduled after being moved from snow-starved Maribor.
    The Austrian women's team, which has dominated all the races this season except the four downhill races at Lake Louise and Val d’Isère, can also count on Kathrin Zettel, unbeaten so far in giant slalom, the steady Nicole Hosp and Michaela Kirchgasser, the rising star of that group.
    Only a handful of non-Austrian racers — including Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen, Germany’s Annemarie Gerg and Therese Borssen of Sweden — have managed to reach the podium in recent technical races.
    Croatia’s promising talent, Ana Jelusic, who finished fourth in both Levi and Semmering, aims to join this club and achieve the first podium finish of her World Cup career — preferably in front of her fans in Sljeme.
    Last year, Jelusic’s more famous teammate, Kostelic, finished third after an impressive second run, clocking one of the best times after losing a pole a few seconds after the start. This season, the four-time Olympic champion is taking a sabbatical and will not be competing on the hill where she learned to ski more than 20 years ago. Kostelic may ski on the course as a forerunner this time — a unique opportunity for the adoring crowd to watch her in action for the first time this winter.
    Sweden’s Anja Paerson, who pulled out of the slalom last week in Semmering because of pain in her surgically repaired knee, plans to return on snow after two days of training in Reiteralm, Austria. Apparently Paerson is not suffering from a new knee injury, but she may need more time than expected to regain her rhythm in the technical events.