Are: Maze takes GS; Poutiainen takes title

Tina Maze set the bar straight out of the gate in the World Cup giant slalom final in Are, Sweden, on Saturday and nobody else touched her all day.

The Slovenian GS world champion silver medalist slaughtered the field with a two-run combined finish time of 2 minutes, 26.41 seconds. Her closest contender was Finnish skier Tanja Poutiainen, who, finishing 1.12 seconds behind Maze for second place, swept past Kathrin Zettel (who finished eighth) to claim the 2009 World Cup giant slalom title. Italy’s Manuela Moelgg rounded out the podium, 1.39 seconds off the winning pace.

Maze’s results moved her up to third place in the GS standings with 368 points behind Poutiainen with 508 and Zettel with 501.Tina Maze set the bar straight out of the gate in the World Cup giant slalom final in Are, Sweden, on Saturday and nobody else touched her all day.

The Slovenian GS world champion silver medalist slaughtered the field with a two-run combined finish time of 2 minutes, 26.41 seconds. Her closest contender was Finnish skier Tanja Poutiainen, who, finishing 1.12 seconds behind Maze for second place, swept past Kathrin Zettel (who finished eighth) to claim the 2009 World Cup giant slalom title. Italy’s Manuela Moelgg rounded out the podium, 1.39 seconds off the winning pace.

Maze’s results moved her up to third place in the GS standings with 368 points behind Poutiainen with 508 and Zettel with 501.

“It was just a great day,” Maze told Patrick Lang after the race. “I was really hoping I could get third place. It was a tough season. I was tired and it was hard to keep my tempo, but here, I ski well in GS and I’m happy.”

Maze, who has raced independently this season, also finished sixth in the overall standings and, as an all-discipline skier, indicated that she will be gunning for the overall title next season.

“Yeah, that’s my goal for the future,” she said. “I will try for that.”

She also said she was proud of her results this season, which include two victories and six podiums, including her world championship silver medal.

“I’m even prouder now because I finally finished one season with great results,” she  said and smiled deeply from the top of the podium listening to the strains of the Slovenian national anthem.

Julia Mancuso ended up 17th Saturday, both in the race and the GS standings.

Lindsey Vonn, who didn’t finish the first run Saturday when she slid briefly on her hip and missed a gate – the same one that also claimed Anja Paerson and Lara Gut – officially collected her second consecutive World Cup overall title, finishing the season with 1788 points. In addition to being the downhill and super G champion, Vonn finished second in the super-combined standings, third in slalom and eighth in GS.

“I’m really happy about everything I did,” Vonn said after the race, reflecting on her entire season. “I really made progress in a lot of areas -  super-G was my best season ever. To win the super-G title was an incredible feeling. I was so thrilled. Slalom was much better this season, I went from a 32nd ranking to third. In giant slalom I also made progress; it wasn’t as good as I was hoping – my best result was fourth, but that was positive. Now I’m looking at next year, at how hard I’ll have to work to defend all of these titles and hopefully I can continue to make progress in all of the disciplines.”

Vonn said she will return to the U.S. next week to go on a media tour before heading to Alyeska, Alaska, March 24-31 for the U.S. national alpine championships. After that, she said, it’s back to training to prepare for the 2010 Winter Games.

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The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women’s Giant Slalom, Are, Sweden, March 14, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Rossignol
2 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
3 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
4 Barioz, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5 Suter, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
6 Karbon, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
7 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
8 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Koehle, Voelkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women’s Giant Slalom, Are, Sweden, March 14, 2009. … The 36th and final race of the women’s 2009 World Cup schedule. … The eighth and final GS. … Three races were moved from their originally scheduled location and one was canceled.

It is the eighth career World Cup win for Tina Maze and seventh in GS. … It is her second win of the season after the Maribor GS Jan. 10. … She and Spela Pretnar are the only Slovenes to win a World Cup at Are.

It is the 35th career World Cup podium for Tanja Poutiainen. … Her 17th in GS. … It is her eighth World Cup podium of the season and fifth in GS. … She also won two bronze medals at World Championships (in SL and GS). … In nine GS’s this season (including Worlds) she missed the podium three times, a 4th place at Maribor, a sixth at Cortina and a 14th at Semmering.

It is the seventh career World Cup podium for Manuela Moelgg who has not recorded a victory. … It is her sixth podium in GS. … It is her third podium of the season, all in GS, the other two second place results at La Molina and Semmering.

Lindsey Vonn (DNF in race) wins the World Cup overall title 1788-1424 over Maria Riesch (13th in race). … Anja Paerson (DNF in race) finishes third with 1059. … It is the second overall title for Vonn, a U.S. woman’s record.

Tanja Poutiainen wins the giant slalom title 508-501 over Kathrin Zettel (eighth in race). … It is the second GS title for Poutiainen who won both the GS and slalom titles in 2005. … An early GS standings leader, Poutiainen had lost the lead to Kathrin Zettel Jan. 25 at Cortina and only regained it in this final race. … Maze finishes third in the GS standings with 368pts.

Austria wins the Nations Cup holding a 10,420-7546 lead over Switzerland with the team event remaining. … Italy is third at 5974. … The U.S. sits fifth at 4158 and Canada eighth at 2554.

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	6	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:13.74	1:12.67	2:26.41	0.00
2	1	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	1:14.32	1:13.21	2:27.53	6.73
3	7	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	1:14.76	1:13.04	2:27.80	8.35
4	20	196725	BARIOZ Taina	1988	FRA	1:14.70	1:13.50	2:28.20	10.76
5	17	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:15.21	1:13.01	2:28.22	10.88
6	4	295445	KARBON Denise	1980	ITA	1:15.32	1:13.03	2:28.35	11.66
7	2	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:15.65	1:12.86	2:28.51	12.62
8	5	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	1:15.59	1:13.05	2:28.64	13.40
9	25	55818	KOEHLE Stefanie	1986	AUT	1:15.25	1:13.40	2:28.65	13.46
10	13	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:15.52	1:13.28	2:28.80	14.37
11	15	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA	1:15.52	1:13.29	2:28.81	14.43
12	19	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER	1:16.25	1:12.64	2:28.89	14.91
13	14	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:16.05	1:13.12	2:29.17	16.59
14	8	205993	HOELZL Kathrin	1984	GER	1:15.78	1:13.43	2:29.21	16.83
15	3	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:15.54	1:13.73	2:29.27	17.19
16	16	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:16.06	1:13.40	2:29.46	18.33
17	10	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:16.03	1:13.49	2:29.52	18.69
18	28	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:16.39	1:13.34	2:29.73	19.95
19	23	565315	ROBNIK Mateja	1987	SLO	1:16.45	1:13.72	2:30.17	22.60
20	18	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	1:16.74	1:13.48	2:30.22	22.90
21	24	295342	PUTZER Karen	1978	ITA	1:16.65	1:13.60	2:30.25	23.08
22	26	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	1:16.69	1:13.79	2:30.48	24.46
23	21	196179	BERTRAND Marion	1984	FRA	1:16.51	1:14.84	2:31.35	29.69
Did not finish 2nd run
	27	296729	FANCHINI Nadia	1986	ITA
Did not finish 1st run
	22	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA
	12	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI
	11	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA
	9	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE