Lenzerheide: Hosp rips GS for overall title

Nicole Hosp of Austria clinched the World Cup overall title on Sunday after winning the women's giant slalom at the season finale.
    Teammate Marlies Schild, who surrendered the overall lead after a disastrous performance in Saturday's slalom, needed to make up 30 points on Hosp to win the most coveted World Cup crystal globe.
    But Schild finished only 10th in the opening leg while Hosp took the lead. Schild could only have won after that if she finished eighth or better in the second leg and Hosp went out or finished out of the points. Only the top 15 finishers score at the final, instead of the usual top-30 in regular season races. A 15th-place finish is worth 16 points.
    It marked the first time in five years that an Austrian woman has won the overall title. The last four were evenly shared by Sweden's Anja Paerson and Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won last year's edition and sat out this season for health reasons.
    ''I gained valuable points in the slalom yesterday when Marlies went out,'' Hosp said. ''And I'm strong in the GS and I know it. A lot of things were going through my head but I worked hard to concentrate on just skiing well.''
    With the victory, Hosp also claimed the giant slalom World Cup globe.
    Austria's women won all six World Cup titles available this season. Hosp won the overall and GS crowns, Schild the slalom and combined, while veteran speed specialist Renate Goetschl took the downhill and super G titles.

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Nicole Hosp of Austria clinched the World Cup overall title on Sunday after winning the women's giant slalom at the season finale.
    Teammate Marlies Schild, who surrendered the overall lead after a disastrous performance in Saturday's slalom, needed to make up 30 points on Hosp to win the most coveted World Cup crystal globe.
    But Schild finished only 10th in the opening leg while Hosp took the lead. Schild could only have won after that if she finished eighth or better in the second leg and Hosp went out or finished out of the points. Only the top 15 finishers score at the final, instead of the usual top-30 in regular season races. A 15th-place finish is worth 16 points.
    Julia Mancuso, the only American in the race, finished 11th and ended up third in the overall standings, the highest U.S. finisher since 1984. Tamara McKinney — the 1983 overall title-holder — was third overall in '84, the year Mancuso was born.
    "I was just a little haggard," Mancuso said. "I had one mistake on the first run and another on the second run — I'm not sure where … but I just didn't have the power today. I really wanted to win the second run but I just couldn't do it."
    U.S. women's tech head coach Chris Knight said, "That first-run mistake cost her a lot of time, but otherwise she had some really good skiing. Jules is really tired and when you're that tired, the first thing you lose is your balance … and her balance isn't as solid as it has been, which costs her time."

Hosp breaks overall title drought   
Hosp's overall title marked the first time in five years that an Austrian woman has claimed ski racing's top prize. The last four were evenly shared by Sweden's Anja Paerson and Croatia's Janica Kostelic, who won last year's edition and sat out this season for health reasons.
    ''I gained valuable points in the slalom yesterday when Marlies went out,'' Hosp said. ''And I'm strong in the GS and I know it. A lot of things were going through my head but I worked hard to concentrate on just skiing well.''
    With the victory, Hosp also claimed the giant slalom World Cup globe.
    “When I crossed the finish line and see that I was first, it was a great feeling,” Hosp said. “Anything was possible today. If I went out in second run, Maria would have won the overall and Tania would have won the giant slalom World Cup.”
    “Today I was a little bit nervous,” Hosp said, “but once I went into the start house I was OK.”
    Austria's women won all six World Cup titles available this season. Hosp won the overall and GS crowns, Schild the slalom and combined, while veteran speed specialist Renate Goetschl took the downhill and super G titles.
    The last time Austria's women accomplished the feat was in the 1998-99 season, but there were only five titles then, since none was awarded for the combined.
    In all, the Austrian women won 23 races this season and produced 54 podium results.
    Hosp, the giant slalom world champion, charged down the Silvano Beltrametti course in a combined time of 2 minutes, 11.98 seconds — 1.42 faster than runner-up Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany. Austria's Michaela Kirchgasser placed third in 2:13.51.
    Schild had seemed the favorite for the overall title after doing well earlier this week in the speed events — her weakest disciplines.
    And after winning seven slaloms this season, Schild had been expected to score a large number of points in Saturday's slalom but twice veered off course and hiked back uphill to re-run the gates to finish out of the points. Hosp won the race to grab 100 points and take the overall lead.
    Hosp returned to World Cup prominence after a suffering a broken ankle in January 2003. "The year after my injury was not really good. It was a big fight for me to get back," Hosp said.
    Hosp, interestingly enough, is dating the serviceman for Schild. "It is not a problem, because everybody is doing their job."
    Hosp had endured a plethora of second-place finishes this season, with eight runner-ups. She wasn't about to settle for No. 9 Sunday. "It's OK," she said, "because last year I was so often in fourth place, and that sucks very much."

Knight: across-the-board improvement for Mancuso
Knight termed Mancuso's season "outstanding," especially considering she underwent off-season hip surgery and spent the first month of the World Cup campaign on the mend.
    "[Sunday] was the first time this season she was out of the top 10 [except for one race where she hiked gates when she skied off-course] and she improved from ninth to fourth in GS standings, and she improved in all disciplines, which is pretty exciting," Knight said. "She needed that hip surgery last spring, she lost the first month of the season while she was getting into shape…and then she took off."
    Mancuso will head to Alaska for the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships, which begin March 27 at Alyeska Resort. When the 2004 U.S. championships were held at Akyeska, Mancuso won five medals — gold in combined and silver in slalom, GS, super G and downhill.
    Austria won the Nations Cup title again with the U.S. Ski Team second in the women's points and third overall behind Austria and Switzerland.
 
— Don Cameron and The Associated Press contribued to this report

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's giant
slalom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 18, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
2 Hoelzl, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
3 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Ottosson, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Gius, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
9 Goergl, Blizzard/Lange/Marker
10 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

Women's giant slalom, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 18, 2007 – It is the 36th and final race of the World Cup season. … The eighth of eight women's giant slaloms. … The eighth race (both genders) at Lenzheide this season.
    It is the ninth career win for Nicole Hosp. … Her fifth in GS. … It is her fourth World Cup win of the season and second in GS. … She also won the gold medal in GS at World Championships this season. … It is her second win at World Cup finals, having also won the slalom one day previous.
    It is the first career World Cup podium for Kathrin Hoelzl. … Her fourth career top ten. … She has finished in scoring position (top 30) in 18 World Cup contests. … ten from this season.
    It is the fifth career podium for Michaela Kirchgasser. … the fourth in GS. … All of them are from this season. … She had 14 scoring results this season and 13 were top 10 results.
    It is the 53rd time Julia Mancuso has finished top 11. … 22nd time this season. … Both Emily Brydon and Genevieve Simard miss scoring points with finishes of 19th and 21st respectively.
    Nicole Hosp win the GS title 490-419 over Tanja Poutiainen (5th in race). … Michaela Kirchgasser finishes third in GS standings at 357 and Julia Mancuso is fourth at 275. … It is the first discipline title for Hosp. … Hosp also wins the overall title 1572-1482 over Marlies Schild (6th in race). … Julia Mancuso finishes third at 1356pts. … It is the first overall title for Hosp. … It is the third straight season both Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow (6th overall at 808) have finished in the top 10 of the final standings. … Austria wins the women's Nations Cup 8125-3143 over the U.S. … Sweden is third at 2340. … Canada finishes eighth at 1456. … The overall Nations Cup goes to Austria 14735-5861 over Switzerland with the U.S. third at 5297 and Canada sixth at 3714. … Winning margin is an astounding 1.42seconds. … The top three competitors are within two seconds.

Lenzerheide women's World Cup giant slalom results

Did not finish 1st run:
REBENSBURG Viktoria (GER), ZEISER Daniela (AUT), BORSSEN Therese (SWE), PAERSON Anja (SWE)