Austria's "Speed Queen" takes aim at San Sicario

SAN SICARIO, Italy – Almost a year after the Torino Olympics, the best speed specialists from the World Cup tour — minus Sweden’s Anja Paerson — return to San Sicario, the Italian ski resort that hosted the Olympic downhill and super G competitions dominated by Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister.
    Dorfmeister retired from ski racing last spring, but her best Atomic skis — now used by her former teammate Renate Goetschl — may well be the fastest ones again this weekend during the last World Cup races scheduled before the World Championships in Are, Sweden.
    Goetschl, unbeaten in downhill this year in Zauchensee and Cortina d’Ampezzo, looks to redeem herself at San Sicario after finishing the Olympic competition in a disappointing fourth place. The 31-year-old “Speed Queen” is eager to successfully defend her lead in the downhill and super G standings and eventually move up in the general classification.
SAN SICARIO, Italy – Almost a year after the Torino Olympics, the best speed specialists from the World Cup tour except Sweden’s Anja Paerson return to San Sicario, the Italian ski resort that hosted the 2006 Olympic downhill and super G competitions dominated by Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister.
    Dorfmeister retired from ski racing last spring, but her best Atomic skis — now used by her former teammate Renate Goetschl — may well be the fastest ones again this weekend during the last World Cup races scheduled before the World Championships in Are, Sweden.
    Goetschl, unbeaten in downhill this year in Zauchensee and Cortina d’Ampezzo, looks to redeem herself at San Sicario after finishing the Olympic competition in a disappointing fourth place. The 31-year-old “Speed Queen” is eager to successfully defend her lead in the downhill and super G standings and eventually move up in the general classification.
    Goetschl’s teammate Marlies Schild, a slalom specialist, is in command of the overall standings with 881 points, only 53 more than Nicole Hosp and 87 more than American Julia Mancuso, who has an impressive collection of podium finishes this season.
    Goetschl sits in fourth place, 160 points back, but she can pass Schild with more wins in the downhill and the two super G races planned from Friday to Sunday. Goetschl reached the podium in her last eight speed events, except at Val d’Isère where she came in fourth in the second downhill.
    A fifth World Cup downhill title and a gold medal at Are in February are Goetschl’s main goals this season, but she wouldn’t mind contending until the World Cup Finals at Lenzerheide for a second World Cup overall trophy, adding to the one she captured in 2000.
 
Another hat trick for Renate?
    Interestingly enough, Goetschl clinched her first downhill Cup 10 years ago, after finishing second in the final downhill at Vail, Colorado. A month before, she was Austria’s only gold medal winner at the 1997 World Championships at Sestriere, where she clinched the combined.
     Times have changed since then, and Austria now has enough talented athletes to get gold in all specialties at Are in February.
     Goetschl’s chances for another hat trick – she already achieved one at Cortina d’Ampezzo in January 2005 — depend mostly on the race and weather conditions. The long San Sicario run is not demanding when covered with fresh snow, which dramatically reduces the pace.
     Goetschl was eighth in 2005 here during the pre-Olympics test events that were not challenging enough for her. Anja Paerson won both the downhill and the super G that year. The course was more difficult last season because of the long jumps and strong winds. Several athletes, including defending Olympic champion Carole Montillet from France and American Lindsey Kildow, suffered spectacular crashes in training. None of them could really fight for a podium finish on race day after being forced to rest for two days.
 
Kildow aims for revenge
    Kildow, eighth in the Olympic race, definitely aims for revenge and a flamboyant comeback after crashing twice at Zauchensee and Cortina d’Ampezzo shortly after clocking the fastest intermediate times.
     With three downhill races left on the World Cup calendar, Kildow still has a theoretical chance to achieve her dream and win the downhill crystal globe, but it may be pretty difficult if Goetschl continues scoring “heavy points” in the remaining events. Kildow is 85 points behind Goetschl in the downhill standings, which represented her main target this season after impressive wins at Lake Louise and Val d’Isère.
    The San Sicario races could also be crucial for California “wondergirl” Julia Mancuso, who has turned into a determined speed specialist after grabbing gold in giant slalom in Torino.
    Since her first World Cup victory at Val d’Isère, Mancuso has finished on the podium in the following three downhills. She also excelled in other disciplines, winning a super combined at Zauchensee and a super G at Cortina d’Ampezzo.
    Like Goetschl, Mancuso can seize the lead in the overall classification in San Sicario if she continues her streak of top-three finishes – seven in total this season, including five in a row in the last two weeks.
    Her great talent, relaxed attitude and strong love for ski racing partly explain her great success during the past few seasons. She amassed an impressive collection of medals and titles at national and international championships, including five gold medals at past junior world championships.
 
Mancuso remains cool
    Yet Mancuso remains cool and has a special way to look at her imposing results that allowed her to accumulate hundreds of points within a few weeks.
    “It's kind of like sky miles, when you're flying and collecting points for free trips,” she joked at Cortina d’Ampezzo. “I just get excited about collecting the points. I don't really think about the overall Cup or beating anyone else. It’s cool just to be adding them up and getting more and enjoying my rides.
    “I can’t start thinking at the overall World Cup now. There are still so many races to come before Lenzerheide. I prefer to take the races day by day and enjoy it totally, like I do know.”
    While Paerson, who has not done so well recently, decided to take a break in order to regroup and prepare for worlds in her home country, Schild and Nicole Hosp, who’s second in the super G standings, will compete in the two super G races on Friday and Sunday but skip the downhill on Saturday.
    No training runs occurred on either Tuesday and Wednesday because of heavy snowfall, but Goetschl topped a training run Thursday and later complained about the course's lack of difficulty. Weather improved enough in the middle of the week to give some hope to team organizers and trainers who need these races to put together their teams for the World Championships, which begin in 10 days.