Maribor: Maze takes win at home

Slovenian Tina Maze picked a good place to put herself back on the map, winning the women’s World Cup giant slalom race in front of thousands of her countrymen and women in Maribor Saturday.

Maze, who was second after the first run, landed the win in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 45.15 seconds, .39 seconds ahead of Italian Denise Karbon and .92 seconds ahead of German racer Kathrin Hoelzl.

“I just wanted to do the best result for this year here,” Maze said after the race. “The skiing is better and better. I hope to go on like this until the world championships.”

Giant slalom points leader Tanja Poutiainen finished fourth, 1.20 seconds off the pace, while a grinning Lindsey Vonn finished seventh, 1.52 seconds back, and World Cup overall leader Maria Riesch finished 12th, 2.11 seconds off the pace.

Slovenian Tina Maze picked a good place to put herself back on the map, winning the women’s World Cup giant slalom race in front of thousands of her countrymen and women in Maribor on Saturday.

Maze, who was second after the first run, landed the win in a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 45.15 seconds, .39 seconds ahead of Italian Denise Karbon and .92 seconds ahead of German racer Kathrin Hoelzl.

“I just wanted to do the best result for this year here,” Maze said after the race. “The skiing is better and better. I hope to go on like this until the world championships.”

Giant slalom points leader Tanja Poutiainen finished fourth, 1.20 seconds off the pace, while a grinning Lindsey Vonn finished seventh, 1.52 seconds back. World Cup overall leader Maria Riesch finished 12th, 2.11 seconds off the pace.

“It was a solid result,” Vonn said after the race. “The first run didn’t go the way I wanted it to. The course was very icy and I lost a second on the last 20 seconds of the run. Second run was much, much better. The hill is pretty flat on top, then steep on the bottom and like a skating rink. You really had to hang on.”

It was a trip down memory lane for Maze, who also landed the Maribor GS win in 2005, but had yet to land on the podium this season. Before this victory, her most recent podium was a win last season in the St. Moritz downhill. The victory at Maribor is the seventh World Cup win of her career and she now ranks No. 6 in the GS Cup standings and 11th overall.

The second place was the first podium this season for GS specialist Karbon, who took third at Maribor a year ago and also won last season’s GS crown. Saturday’s third place was just the second podium of Hoelzl’s World Cup career, the first was second in a GS in Lenzerheide two seasons ago.

Elisabeth Goergl, last year’s Maribor GS champion, exhibited true heart on Saturday. She crashed hard into the fence in the second run, but, not to have her points forsaken, got up to sidestep several paces back up the course to tag the gate she missed and continue down, finishing 28th.

Despite racing with a plate in her wrist after crashing and breaking it in this season’s downhill at Lake Louise, American Megan McJames raced to 24th place Saturday and Julia Mancuso finished 27th.

Riesch still holds the lead in overall Cup standings with 629 points, followed by Poutiainen with 584 and Vonn with 566. Riesch is also leading the slalom standings with three straight wins and will have her sights set on a fourth Sunday at Maribor.

Sunday’s women’s slalom racing begins at 3:15 a.m. EST time and can be watched live on Universal Sports.

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The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Women’s Giant Slalom, Maribor, Slovenia, Jan. 10, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Rossignol
2 Karbon, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
3 Hoelzl, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
5 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
6 Gut, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Pietilae Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Putzer, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
10 Paerson, Head/Head/Head

Women’s Giant Slalom, Maribor, Slovenia, Jan. 10, 2009. … It is the 14th race of the women’s 36 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of eight scheduled GS’s. … It is the 57th World Cup at Maribor. … The 24th GS. … All women’s races. … Americans have won at Maribor twice, Tamara McKinney won the slalom in 1985, Barbara Cochran the slalom in the first season Maribor hosted in 1970. … Anja Paerson won six straight races at Maribor from 2002 through 2004.

It is the seventh career World Cup victory for Tina Maze. … The sixth in GS. … It is her second win at Maribor having previously won Jan. 22, 2005. … She was also second at the site in 2002. … It is her first win of the season. … and first result of the season better than eighth. … She has been in the top 10 in six of the seven races she has scored in this season. … Maze is personally responsible for seven of the last eight Slovenian wins.

It is the 14th career World Cup podium for Denise Karbon. … All coming in GS. … It is her second podium at Maribor having placed third last season. … It is her first podium of the season. … She won the GS title in 2008. … She is the ninth Italian this season to claim a Cup podium.

It is the second career World Cup podium for Kathrin Hoelzl, both in GS and the last March 18, 2007 at Lenzerheide. … It is her second top 10 finish of the season in eight scored races. … Third is one placing better than her score at Maribor last season.

Seventh is a career best result at Maribor for Lindsey Vonn. … The result matches her third best career GS Cup finish. … It is her tenth top 10 result this season in 10 scored races. … It is the third scoring finish of the season for Megan McJames. … The fifth of her career, all in GS. … and all in Europe. … It is the ninth scoring result of the season for Julia Mancuso. … the 146th of her career.

Maria Riesch (12th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 629-584 over Tanja Poutiainen (fourth in race). … Lindsey Vonn is third at 566. … Poutiainen holds the lead of the giant slalom standings over Kathrin Zettel (11th in race) 328-269. … Manuela Moelgg (fifth in race) holds third at 205. … Vonn is the top North American on the women’s GS standings in ninth at 147.