Are: Zahrobska upends Schild, Paerson for SL gold

Sarka Zahrobska won the women's slalom on Friday to give the Czech Republic its first gold medal at an Alpine Skiing World Championships. Austria's Marlies Schild, who has won five of the six slalom races on the World Cup circuit this season, climbed from third after the opening leg into second place with a two-run time of 1:44.02.
    Reigning Olympic champion Anja Paerson of Sweden — who was aiming to become the first skier to win four gold medals at a single World Championships — took the bronze in 1:44.07. American Resi Stiegler made a major recovery early on in her second run to finish eighth, the same place she held after the first run. Teammate Kaylin Richardson placed a provisional 23rd.

ARE, Sweden — Sarka Zahrobska won the women's slalom on Friday to give the Czech Republic its first gold medal at an Alpine Skiing World Championships.
    Zahrobska, the surprise bronze medalist from the last worlds in Bormio, Italy, in 2005, led after the first run. She preserved her lead the second time down the floodlit Gastrappet course to win with a combined time of 1 minute, 43.91 seconds.
    "I expected to be on the podium but not at the top," said Zahrobska, who has posted the first two World Cup podiums of her career this season. "I'm glad I managed it."
    Zahrobska managed to hold off current World Cup slalom leader Marlies Schild of Austria — but barely. Schild sizzled the second time down the Gastrappet course, clocking a two-run time of 1:44.02.
    Reigning Olympic champion Anja Paerson of Sweden — who was aiming to become the first skier to win four gold medals at a single World Championships — took the bronze in 1:44.07.
    American Resi Stiegler made a major recovery early on in her second run to finish eighth, the same place she held after the first run. Teammate Kaylin Richardson placed a provisional 23rd.
    Stiegler was first when she finished her final run with a total time of 1:44.98, but that lasted just one racer as the top seven also bettered their times. Richardson, competing in her first worlds, was clocked in 1:47.53. They were the only two U.S. skiers to compete after Lindsey Kildow withdrew because of a knee injury suffered Thursday in training.  
    The previous best result by a Czech at the worlds was Zahrobska's bronze medal in the slalom in 2005. Nobody from the Czech Republic or its predecessor Czechoslovakia has ever won an Olympic title.
    “It’s very big, not only for me but for my whole team, especially for my family because in the beginning it was very difficult for us,” Zahrobska said.
    Schild, who has won five of the six slalom races on the World Cup circuit this season, climbed from third after the opening leg into second place with a time of 1:44.02.
    “It was a dream to win gold today. I think I’m lucky for second,” said Schild, who hurt her hip in training on Thursday. “It was not my best skiing today, but it was the best I had to give today.”
    Schild said she thought she was good in the upper part, but had two mistakes in the middle section.
    “I tried to fight back in the lower pert. But eleven-hundredths, it’s OK,” she said.
Paerson made a slight mistake within sight of the finish.
    “I had a lot of mistakes, but I ended up taking a medal and I’m really, really happy,” Paerson said.
    “After the combined, I didn’t feel so comfortable on the slalom skis. But yesterday in training I got a little faster on my feet and today [Friday] I was having a really bad morning. I’m still a little bit sick from last couple of days, but I know coming into just before the race I was in better shape.”

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's slalom, Are, Sweden, Feb. 16, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Tyrolia
2 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4 Jelusic, Atomic/Salomon/Atomic
5 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Bergmann-Schmuderer, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia
7 Borssen, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Stiegler, Dynastar/Lange/Look
9 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Loeseth, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

Women's slalom, Are, Sweden, Feb. 16, 2007. … It is the ninth race of the 2007 FIS Alpine World Championships. … Men's slalom and the team event remain on the schedule. … It is the 58th slalom held as part of a World Championship.
    It is the second World Championships medal for Sarka Zahrobska. … She also won a bronze medal in slalom in 2005. … She has never won a World Cup, but was second in the Kranjska Gora slalom Jan. 7 and third in the Zagreb slalom Jan. 4 earlier this season. … She is the first skier from the Czech Republic to win a World Championship or Olympic medal. … No skier from Czechoslovakia (prior to reorganization) had won a World Championship medal or Olympic gold in alpine racing. … Olga Charvatova placed third in DH in the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984.
    It is the fourth World Championships medal for Marlies Schild. … Her second of this championship. … She won silver in slalom in 2003 and bronze in combined in 2005. … She won bronze in combined and silver in slalom in 2007. … She also won silver in combined and bronze in slalom at the 2006 Olympics. …  It is the seventh time this season she has placed third or better in a slalom.
    It is the 10th World Championships medal for Anja Paerson. … And fourth of this championship. … She is now ranked fifth all time on the World Championships medal list behind Christl Cranz (15), Kjetil Aamodt (12), Marc Girardelli and Lasse Kjus (11 each). … Paerson has earned a medal in 10 of 12 races completed in any World Championship. … It is just her second worlds medal in slalom, having won gold in 2001. … She owns two medals from Olympic slaloms, earning gold last season and a bronze in 2002. … She has five Olympic medals total. … She has won World Championships in all five disciplines. … Four of her top six placings this season have come at the World Championships.
    It is the second-best result at a World Championship for Resi Stiegler. … She was sixth in the 2005 slalom. … It is her fourth-best result of the season, better in combined at Zauchensee (fourth) and in slaloms at Zagreb (fifth) and Val d'Isere (sixth). … It is the second result in a World Championship for Kaylin Richardson, having also placed 12th in combined earlier in this title meet. … The result matches her second-best of the season in slalom. … She placed eighth in the Kranjska Gora slalom Jan. 7. … It is the second-best of two slalom result at worlds fo
r Emily Brydon. … She was 20th in 2003. … She was the only Canadian to complete the race with Shona Rubens, Megan Ryley and Emilie Desforges all failing to finish the first run.
    Winning margin is .11 of a second. … Top seven skiers are within the same second. … Top nine within two seconds.

Medal count:

AUT 7 (1 g, 3 s, 3 b)
SWE 6 (3 g, 1 s, 2 b)
SUI 5 (1g, 1 s, 3 b)
USA 3 s
NOR 2 g
ITA 2 (1 g, 1 b)
CZE 1 g
CAN 1 s

Are World Championships women's slalom results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	3	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	52.77	51.14	1:43.91	0.00
2	4	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	53.00	51.02	1:44.02	0.65
3	2	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	52.89	51.18	1:44.07	0.94
4	1	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO	53.44	50.97	1:44.41	2.94
5	5	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	53.25	51.48	1:44.73	4.81
6	15	205636	BERGMANN-SCHMUDERER Monika	1978	GER	53.50	51.31	1:44.81	5.28
7	7	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE	53.69	51.13	1:44.82	5.34
8	12	537772	STIEGLER Resi	1985	USA	53.74	51.24	1:44.98	6.28
9	8	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	53.96	51.57	1:45.53	9.51
10	26	425771	LOESETH Nina	1989	NOR	54.63	51.43	1:46.06	12.62
11	11	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	54.70	51.53	1:46.23	13.62
12	30	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	54.54	51.70	1:46.24	13.68
13	14	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	54.78	51.51	1:46.29	13.97
14	10	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	54.65	51.68	1:46.33	14.21
15	32	515619	GINI Sandra	1982	SUI	55.00	51.38	1:46.38	14.50
16	16	505187	OTTOSSON Anna	1976	SWE	53.92	52.55	1:46.47	15.03
17	6	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	55.11	51.58	1:46.69	16.32
18	27	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA	54.67	52.29	1:46.96	17.90
19	28	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA	55.33	51.74	1:47.07	18.55
20	19	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	54.74	52.34	1:47.08	18.61
21	23	435142	KARASINSKA Katarzyna	1982	POL	54.26	53.02	1:47.28	19.78
22	18	195912	DE LEYMARIE Florine	1981	FRA	55.15	52.19	1:47.34	20.14
23	33	425629	LOESETH Lene	1986	NOR	55.41	52.12	1:47.53	21.25
23	24	537626	RICHARDSON Kaylin L	1984	USA	55.25	52.28	1:47.53	21.25
25	39	515692	GRAND Rabea	1984	SUI	54.91	52.66	1:47.57	21.49
26	34	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	55.23	52.50	1:47.73	22.43
27	55	385041	NOVOSELIC Sofija	1990	CRO	55.55	52.41	1:47.96	23.78
28	36	155047	ZAKOURILOVA Petra	1978	CZE	56.03	52.21	1:48.24	25.42
29	35	65038	PERSYN Karen	1983	BEL	55.49	53.39	1:48.88	29.18
30	22	185271	LEINONEN Sanni	1989	FIN	56.20	53.16	1:49.36	31.99
31	37	565261	ROBNIK Petra	1984	SLO	56.37	54.14	1:50.51	38.75
32	20	195215	VIDAL Vanessa	1974	FRA	56.38	54.29	1:50.67	39.68
33	38	355040	NIGG Marina	1984	LIE	57.13	53.82	1:50.95	41.33
34	52	105997	BRYDON Emily	1980	CAN	57.30	54.08	1:51.38	43.85
35	49	306095	SEKIZUKA Mami	1985	JPN	57.41	54.48	1:51.89	46.85
36	48	305694	YUMOTO Hiromi	1981	JPN	57.22	55.73	1: 52.95	53.07
37	51	715135	RATAJ Mojca	1979	BIH	57.52	55.44	1:52.96	53.13
38	41	705327	MACULOVA Sona	1987	SVK	58.88	56.24	1:55.12	65.81
39	60	715123	NOVAKOVIC Zana	1985	BIH	1:00.15	56.66	1:56.81	75.73
40	44	155479	SMUTNA Michaela	1987	CZE	1:03.50	55.02	1:58.52	85.77
41	62	695073	SKRYABINA Anastasiya	1985	UKR	1:00.75	58.15	1:58.90	88.00
42	68	245051	BERECZ Anna	1988	HUN	1:01.41	59.12	2:00.53	97.57
43	76	525033	DASDEMIR Tugba	1985	TUR	1:02.11	59.13	2:01.24	101.74
44	80	125011	MIAO Liyan	1976	CHN	1:02.88	1:00.02	2:02.90	111.48
45	53	95050	KIRKOVA Maria	1986	BUL	58.66	1:06.10	2:04.76	122.40
46	74	555008	POSHKA Kristine	1984	LAT	1:06.00	1:02.05	2:08.05	141.71
47	72	675016	EREMENKO Vera	1983	KAZ	1:05.48	1:02.58	2:08.06	141.77
48	75	695044	MASHCHAKEVICH Oksana	1983	UKR	1:06.06	1:02.28	2:08.34	143.42
49	81	125021	LINA Xia	1987	CHN	1:06.31	1:04.24	2:10.55	156.39
50	82	125013	LIU Jing	1983	CHN	1:06.26	1:04.64	2:10.90	158.44
51	70	695048	GISEM Tamara	1984	UKR	1:05.11	1:05.92	2:11.03	159.21
52	83	125017	LIU Rui	1988	CHN	1:07.68	1:05.31	2:12.99	170.71

Did not start 1st run:
IGHNIADES Mia (LIB), HOELZL Kathrin (GER), KILDOW Lindsey C (USA)

Did not finish 1st run:
DIAB Nathalie (LIB), IVCEVSKA Ivana (MKD), NAREA Bianca-Andreea (ROU), FIMBAUERE Liene (LAT), NURMBERG Tiiu (EST), BENHENA Iveta (LAT), KLEPIC Maja (BIH), SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen (ARG), MCGARRY Kirsten (IRE), TRMCIC Marija (SRB), DESFORGES Emilie (CAN), HUCKOVA Eva (SVK), GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka (POL), LOLOVIC Jelena (SRB), RYLEY Megan (CAN), RUBENS Shona (CAN), KLUS Aleksandra (POL), MAZE Tina (SLO), RIESCH Susanne (GER), CERESA Annalisa (ITA), GERG Annemarie (GER)

Did not finish 2nd run:
CLEMENTE Mireia (SPA), PENZESOVA Nina (SVK), SCHNOCK Yvonne (CRO), HRSTKOVA Lucie (CZE), COSTAZZA Chiara (ITA)

Disqualified 1st run:
BENHENA Evija (LAT)

Disqualified 2nd run:
ULUSOY Duygu (TUR)