Are: Paerson wins again; Kildow 2nd in DH

Anja Paerson can’t lose. The Swedish ski racing queen sealed her third straight gold at the World Championships Sunday by besting a field of strong speedsters in the women’s downhill. U.S. racer Lindsey Kildow finished less than half-a-second behind Paerson to nab the silver, her second one of the championships. She clocked 1 minute, 27.29 seconds to Paerson’s 1 minute, 26.89 seconds. Austrian Nicole Hosp’s run won the bronze at 1 minute, 27.37 seconds.

ARE, Sweden — Anja Paerson can’t lose.
    The Swedish ski racing queen sealed her third straight gold at the World Championships Sunday by besting a field of strong speedsters in the women’s downhill. She 25-year-old also became the first skier ever to earn medals in all five disciplines at the World Championships. 
    "At the moment it’s just too much to take in," Paerson said. "Crossing the finish line today I didn’t know what to feel. It’s been a dream to win the downhill at World Championships at home, and to achieve it I really didn’t think I could do it. It really was amazing."
    American Lindsey Kildow finished less than half-second behind Paerson to nab the silver, her second one of the championships. She clocked 1 minute, 27.29 seconds to Paerson’s 1:26.89.
    Kildow lost time on the top section, nearly skiing off the course during a hard left-hand turn. She ended up with the 26th-fastest time through the top but gained time on the field the rest of the way down the tight and technical WM Strecke course.  
    "I knew I had such a big mistake at the top, and I knew I had to fight all the way to the finish if I was going to get a medal today," Kildow said. "I just didn’t give up and I kept going, went as straight as I could and made up a lot of time. I'm just really happy to get a medal today. Normally, with that mistake that wouldn’t happen."
    Austrian Nicole Hosp won the bronze, finishing in 1:27.37 for her first top-three career finish in the downhill.
    "It was very tough. When I was standing in the finish and waiting, [the following racers] are the greatest skiers in downhill at the moment," Hosp said. "I was very nervous. It was tough. … I just tied to ski good today. I knew I could do a good downhill on this slope."
    Three other American women finished in the top 20: Julia Mancuso, silver medalist behind Paerson in the super combined, was 10th at 1:28.09. Kirsten Clark finished 15th (1:28.40) and youngster Stacey Cook 16th (1:28.55).
    Mancuso said "her game wasn't all together" Sunday. "I felt ready in the gate, but everything, one after the other, kept going wrong," she said.
    Mancuso said the snow on the course was good but the flat light made it tough to see all the bumps. She also knew it would take a lot of aggressive skiing to top the super-confident Paerson.
    "I knew to beat Anja I was going to have to go for something special, and I wasn’t really looking at just the podium so I charged and it didn’t really work out for me," she said.   
    Paerson had a near-perfect run on a course with flat light and some soft snow in certain areas. Kildow made a mistake early on in the race and at one point was almost a second off Paerson’s pace. She made up the time with solid turns and a tight tuck the rest of the race, making up almost half a second to finish with the silver.
    The next women's race is Tuesday with the final run of giant slalom under the lights. The U.S. foursome will be Mancuso, Jessica Kelley, Resi Stiegler and Libby Ludlow.

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's DH, Are, Sweden, Feb. 11, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
2 Kildow, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
4 Styger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
5 Gisin, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Bent, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
9 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
10 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol

Women's downhill, Are, Sweden. Feb. 11, 2007. … It is the sixth race of the 2007 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, and second of the day. … It is the 60th downhill at a World Championship.
    It is the seventh World Championship and ninth World Championship medal for Anja Paerson in 11 total races (plus a team event). … It is her first championship medal in DH, though she did ski to bronze in the 2006 Olympic DH. … She now matches Pirmin Zurbriggen for fifth on the all-time championship medal list. … Only Christl Cranz won more gold medals at worlds. … It is her third gold medal in three chances at Are. … They are her only three wins of the season. … Swedes have win 15 World Championships with just four individuals contributing: Jonas Nilsson with one, Ingemar Stenmark with three, Pernilla Wiberg with four and Paerson's seven.
    It is the second career World Championship podium and second of the season for Lindsey Kildow, having placed second behind Paerson in both the DH and SG. … She was fourth in DH in 2005 worlds. … It is her 10th podium placing of the season. … She is the 10h American to claim a World Championship medal in DH. … Only Hilary Lindh won two.
    It is the fourth World Championship medal for Nicole Hosp including silver in CMB 2003 and the team event 2005 and bronze in SL 2003. … Her worst worlds result in seven events, despite placings in all disciplines, is sixth. … She has never placed better than fourth in a World Cup DH.
    It is the ninth top 10 in 10 World Championship events for Julia Mancuso. … It is her first DH result at Worlds. … She did win a World Cup DH at Val d'Isere in December. … It is the first World Championship result for Britt Janyk. … In 12th she is five placings better than her best World Cup result in DH (17th Cortina Jan. 20). … It is the second-best World Championship DH result for Kirsten Clark's career, bettered on by a 12th at St. Anton in 2001. … She also owns three super G and one combined result better and owns a silver from SG in 2003. … She has been better only once this season, in Cup DH at Val d'Isere… But it is the fourth time she has finished 15th this season and third time in DH. … It is the premier World Championship result for Stacey Cook. … It is also her third-best result of the season following fourth at Lake Louise Dec. 1, and 15th at Zauchensee Jan. 13, both in DH. … It is the premier World Championship result for Shona Rubens. … And matches her best result of the season from the Zauchensee combine Jan. 14. … She has one career Cup result better, 15th in DH at Lake Louise Dec. 2, 2005. … In 14 completed World Championship events for Emily Brydon, 24th matches her worst placing, equaling her GS result from 2003.
    Winning margin is .40. … Top five are within a second. … top 18 within two seconds.Medal

Medal count
AUT: 5 (2s, 3b)
SWE 4 (3g, 1b)
SUI 3 (1g, 2b)
USA 3 s
ITA 1 g
NOR 1 g
CAN 1 s 

Did not finish 1st run:
KLING Kajsa (SWE), VANDERBEEK Kelly (CAN), ALCOTT Chemmy (GBR), LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica (SWE), STECHERT Gina (GER)