Are: Paerson still gunning for perfect run

ARE, Sweden — Anja Paerson has made little secret of her desire to win a World Championships downhill and collect a worlds gold medal in every discipline.
ARE, Sweden — Anja Paerson has made little secret of her desire to win a World Championships downhill and collect a worlds gold medal in every discipline.
    If Paerson completes that task Sunday by winning the downhill in front of her home fans, not much will be left for the 25-year-old from the same hometown of the legendary Ingemar Stenmark to accomplish in the sport of alpine racing.
    Asked at the press conference following her win in the super combined event on Friday if records like most World Championships medals meant much to her, Paerson answered that she hadn’t given it much thought. What Paerson will continue to pursue, however, is the perfect race, and she elaborated on that idea.  
    “The only record I’m really thinking of is one I’m thinking to myself and I haven’t achieved yet is to have the best times on all the splits, have the number one on all the splits during a race,” she said. “I was close once, but I haven’t done it, and that’s the only record I want. I was close in one slalom race four years ago.”
    If Paerson continues to ski like she has thus far in Are, who knows. In Friday’s super combi, she flashed tremendous versatility, dominating the downhill and following that with a masterful slalom run to edge American Julia Mancuso and slalom superstar Marlies Schild of Austria.
    “I’m so ahead of myself when I ski at the moment. I’m maybe one or two gates ahead and I’m just playing with the terrain and having fun down there,” Paerson said.
    Paerson paced the field in Thursday’s downhill training run as well, but she said posting fast training runs doesn’t always bode well for race day. She felt she may have been overconfident Friday.
    “It’s always difficult to do two fast training runs and then keep it up for the race. You lose the respect for the hill a little bit, you don’t ski as accurate,” she said. “I got a lot of speed but it was on the limit and it could have cost me the victory today.
    "I knew I had to be really ahead in the downhill. I knew I needed at least a second on Marlies to win the slalom because she has everything to win and today she was a strong slalom skier. I knew I had to stay clean and stay on my feet.”
    The stands were rocking during Paerson’s slalom run Friday, nearly full of fans who lived and died by her every turn on the course. When her split times were posted, and she kept building her lead, the crowd exploded in cheers. When she crossed the line, victory in hand, Paerson pumped her fist in a crouching position, playing to the roaring fans. She then performed her traditional belly flop in the finish area, not getting too much slide on the sticky snow.
    Paerson, despite her continuing climb into the stratosphere of wins on the World Cup and impressive medal tally, maintains an underdog approach to racing. She hails from tiny Tarnaby in the northern reaches of Sweden and is tremendously proud of the heritage of world-class skiers produced by the village. Paerson is now a major chapter in the Tarnaby legend that began with Stenmark and likely will continue with yet another champion long after Paerson has retired.
    “Coming from my hometown,” Paerson said. “its not the biggest downhill course in the world. In super G, maybe we have seven gates when I’m training. But coming from Tarnaby and winning downhill is big, and shows a lot of Swedish girls and boys who live in the cities that you can do it coming from a small town and you can win as long as you believe in yourself.”