Schild takes World Cup slalom lead with a victory in Arber-Zwiesel

Wind and dense fog made today’s (Feb. 4) women’s World Cup slalom in Arber-Zwiesel, Germany all the more interesting as Austrian Marlies Schild collected her sixth win of the season and stepped to the top of the slalom standings.

Schild, who stood third after the first run, attacked the second run to finish with a .68-second combined advantage ahead of Slovakia’s Veronika Zuzlova, who screamed with joy in the finish area in second. Finn veteran Tanja Poutiainen was 1.78 seconds back to claim the last podium spot.

Schild has won every slalom she has finished this season and today took the discipline lead from overall leader, German Maria Riech, who crashed early in her first run today. Schild now holds the slalom lead with 500 points, followed by Poutiainen with 460 and Riesch, who has four slalom second places and a win this season, with 420. Schild also won the last World Cup slalom held in Zwiesel in 2007.

“I’m doing great,” laughed Schild after the race. “It was a tough race, you had to fight really hard and I think nobody was without a mistake.”

The U.S. Team’s tech struggles continued as its top guns sat today’s race out and Resi Stiegler, the lone American in the second run, was disqualified.

A giant slalom was originally scheduled for today, but, due to forecasted high winds, officials decided to run the slalom today and GS tomorrow. Today’s race was the first World Cup slalom in three weeks after warm temperatures led to the cancellation of slalom and GS races in Maribor in early January.

“It was such a long time and we just tried to keep somehow our conditioning skiing,” said Schild. “I’m so happy that I’m on the podium and that’s very good for me to go the championships now with this result.”

The wind indeed arrived and brought with it a thick fog that shrouded the top of the 1290-meter, 67 gate course.

Low visibility at the top of the course caused several top racers to lose the line. Austrian Nicole Hosp, German Susanne Riesch and France’s Sandrine Aubert were all taken out by the tough second run conditions. Only 19 women were left standing in the points after the second run.

Sweden’s Maria Pietilae-Holmner had a .21-second lead after the first run but ran into trouble at the bottom of the course and was forced to back track for a missed gate. She finished 2.91 seconds off the wining time in eighth.

Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon led all North Americans in seventh place after moving up from 19th in the first run with the third-fastest second run time. It was her second top-10 result of the season and best career slalom finish. Teammate Erin Mielzynski finished 13th for a career high.

“Both courses were pretty difficult and irregular, which left a lot of space for those who attacked it,” said Gagnon, who started with bib No. 31.“For the second run, I just gave it my best. There was a lot of fog, but that doesn’t really matter in slalom because you basically just need to see the next gate in front of you. There was wind as well, but not enough to disturb the race.”  
 
Stiegler was the only U.S. skier to reach the 30-woman second run after finishing 13th in the first run. The Jackson Hole, Wyo. native, who returned to racing this season after being plagued by injuries over the last three years, lost her rhythm early in the second run and was disqualified after missing a gate.

“It was pretty gnarly up there. Visibility was definitely not easy at the top,” said U.S. coach Trevor Wagner. “Resi had an incredible first run and was skiing exactly like she has been in training. It was really good to see. Second run, she just was pushing too hard for those conditions and went too straight at the top, then couldn’t get back into her rhythm.”

Fellow Americans Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso both opted to pull out of today’s, looking ahead to the FIS World Championships which start in four days in Garmisch, Germany.

“I was originally planning to run the slalom, but changed my plan after Sestriere in favor of some more giant slalom training prior to World Championships,” said Mancuso. “The training in Reiteralm was awesome. One day I had the entire place to myself and they gave me a snowmobile so I could make quicker laps. Hopefully the extra training pays off in tomorrow’s giant slalom and also next week at World Champs.”

Vonn, who suffered a mild concussion while training on Wednesday, pulled out of the race just before the first run to continue to rest. She currently trails Riesch by 145 points in the overall standings.

“I got up this morning prepared to race, but after a few warm-up runs, I wasn’t feeling confident on my skis,” said Vonn, who hasn’t scored a slalom point since recording an eighth-place finish at the second slalom of the season in Aspen. “Normally I can fight through injuries, but head injuries are different. You can’t just grit your teeth and go. I’ll go through my normal routine tomorrow morning in Zwiesel and if things feel more normal, I’m hoping to start the giant slalom.”

American Sarah Schleper was also in the field today but just missed her chance and scoring World Cup points, finishing the first run in 32nd. 

The Germans brought 10 women to play, hoping for some home snow heroics. Only two crossed the second-run finish line as Katharina Duerr and Nina Perner finished 10th and 14th, respectively.

“They’re calling for less fog tomorrow, but a lot more wind,” said Wagner. “Hopefully we’ll be able to race. It’s been a long time since our last giant slalom and we’ve had a lot of great training.”

The SCOOP
by Hank McKee
Women’s slalom, Arber-Zwiesel, Germany, Feb. 4, 2011
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Zuzulova, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
3 Poutiainen, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Head
6 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
7 Gagnon, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
9 Noens, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Duerr, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Women’s World Cup slalom, Arber-Zweisel, Germany, Feb. 4, 2011. … It is the 21st race held of the women’s 39 race schedule and the seventh held of ten slaloms slated. … The races at Zweisel (a GS and slalom) were flip-flopped on the schedule in anticipation of strong winds. … The women have had four races postponed. … It is the 19th Cup race held at Zweisel, 16 of them women’s races. … It is the ninth slalom held at the site.

It is the 28th career World Cup win for Marlies Schild. … the 26th in slalom. … She is second all-time among women in slalom wins behind Vreni Schneider’s 33. … It is her fifth win of the season. … She has won every slalom she has completed. … It is her second consecutive win at Zweisel having won the slalom at the site in 2007.

It is the ninth career World Cup podium for Veronika Zuzulova. … all of them in slalom. … She had been second four times without recording a win. … It is her first podium of the season though she now has three top five finishes and five top 10 finishes in six completed races.

It is the 44th career World cup podium for Tanja Poutiainen. … 24th in slalom. … She has recorded nine  top four results this season, six podiums. … She won at Zwiesel in GS in 2007.

It is the best slalom result of Marie-Michele Gagnon’s career and second best in any discipline. … Her one better placing, 5th, came in GS at St Moritz Dec. 12 this season. … It is a career best result for E
rin Mielzynski of three scoring races all in slalom. … Her best previous mark had been 20th at Semmering Dec. 29 of this season.

Maria Riesch (1st run DNF) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1232-1087 over Lindsey Vonn (DNS). … Poutiainen is third overall at 640pts. … Gagnon is the top Canadian overall in 27th with 167pts. … Schild leads the slalom standings 500-460 over Poutiainen. … Riesch is third at 420pts. … Vonn is the top American on the slalom list in 20th with 72pts. … Gagnon leads the Canadians in 24th with 67pts. … Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 3154-2472 over Germany. … The U.S. is third with 2040pts. … Canada is tenth with 361pts.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	2	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	57.16	58.03	1:55.19	0.00
2	12	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	56.72	59.15	1:55.87	3.60
3	3	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	57.43	59.54	1:56.97	9.43
4	18	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	59.22	58.38	1:57.60	12.76
5	1	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	58.28	59.54	1:57.82	13.93
6	5	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	57.98	59.97	1:57.95	14.62
7	31	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	59.47	58.58	1:58.05	15.15
8	6	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	56.51	1:01.59	1:58.10	15.41
9	8	196806	NOENS Nastasia	1988	FRA	58.36	59.83	1:58.19	15.89
10	14	205168	DUERR Katharina	1989	GER	57.60	1:00.70	1:58.30	16.47
11	19	505679	HANSDOTTER Frida	1985	SWE	58.82	59.94	1:58.76	18.91
12	25	56032	SCHILD Bernadette	1990	AUT	59.53	59.87	1:59.40	22.29
13	42	106961	MIELZYNSKI Erin	1990	CAN	1:00.38	59.38	1:59.76	24.20
14	28	206099	PERNER Nina	1986	GER	59.61	1:00.51	2:00.12	26.11
15	27	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	1:00.15	1:00.11	2:00.26	26.85
16	21	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	59.33	1:00.97	2:00.30	27.06
17	34	516005	HANGL Celina	1989	SUI	1:00.29	1:00.34	2:00.63	28.81
18	38	196725	BARIOZ Taina	1988	FRA	1:00.28	1:00.77	2:01.05	31.03
19	20	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO	1:00.26	1:00.99	2:01.25	32.09
Disqualified 2nd run
	33	537772	STIEGLER Resi	1985	USA
Disqualified 1st run
	55	506399	HECTOR Sara	1992	SWE
Did not start 1st run
	60	385041	NOVOSELIC Sofija	1990	CRO
	56	516109	VOGEL Nadja	1990	SUI
	16	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA
Did not qualify 1st run
	62	565331	LAVTAR Katarina	1988	SLO
	58	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO
	57	505908	SMEDH Veronica	1988	SWE
	52	55807	DAUM Alexandra	1986	AUT
	51	537792	DUKE Hailey	1985	USA
	50	196793	MARMOTTAN Anemone	1988	FRA
	48	196179	BERTRAND Marion	1984	FRA
	47	205239	WIRTH Barbara	1989	GER
	46	515587	PUENCHERA Jessica	1982	SUI
	45	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA
	43	538284	MCJAMES Megan	1987	USA
	41	506341	WIKSTROEM Emelie	1992	SWE
	40	105615	ROUTHIER Eve	1988	CAN
	37	206290	HUEBNER Monica	1990	GER
	32	515619	GINI Sandra	1982	SUI
	30	296354	COSTAZZA Chiara	1984	ITA
	26	536481	SCHLEPER Sarah	1979	USA
	13	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO
	9	206279	GEIGER Christina	1990	GER
Did not finish 2nd run
	39	296509	CURTONI Irene	1985	ITA
	29	106633	GOODMAN Anna	1986	CAN
	24	355040	NIGG Marina	1984	LIE
	23	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA
	22	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT
	17	206035	CHMELAR Fanny	1985	GER
	15	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE
	11	206160	RIESCH Susanne	1987	GER
	10	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT
	4	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA
Did not finish 1st run
	64	415128	JARVIS Sarah	1986	NZE
	63	155728	DUBOVSKA Martina	1992	CZE
	61	106825	PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier	1988	CAN
	59	297171	FANCHINI Sabrina	1988	ITA
	54	206174	STABER Veronika	1987	GER
	53	206355	DUERR Lena	1991	GER
	49	107068	PHELAN Brittany	1991	CAN
	44	515733	BONJOUR Aline	1985	SUI
	36	55977	THALMANN Carmen	1989	AUT
	35	516280	HOLDENER Wendy	1993	SUI
	7	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER