Val d'Isere: Schild wins again, Stiegler 6th in slalom

Austria's Marlies Schild won her third straight World Cup slalom Thursday, while the podium streak for American women ended.
    Schild completed two runs in 1 minute, 46.15 seconds, with Germany's Annemarie Gerg second .21 back and Sweden's Therese Borssen third .24 back.
    American Resi Stiegler, gunning for her first World Cup podium, was sixth, while Lindsey Kildow, fourth after the first run, skied out in the second run.

VAL D'ISERE, France — Austria's Marlies Schild won her third straight World Cup slalom Thursday, while the podium streak for American women ended.
    Schild completed two runs in 1 minute, 46.15 seconds, with Germany's Annemarie Gerg second .21 back and Sweden's Therese Borssen third .24 back.
    American Resi Stiegler, gunning for her first World Cup podium, was sixth, while Lindsey Kildow, fourth after the first run, skied out in the second run. Kaylin Richardson finished the two runs in 23rd.
    Coming into Thursday's races, U.S. men and women were on the hottest streak in U.S. Ski Team history with nine podiums in seven straight races over six days.
    "I feel really happy to be in the lead today,'' Schild said. ''My knee doesn't hurt and my back doesn't hurt. But I don't feel invincible. It was really close today.''
    Kildow was in position for another podium place after winning Wednesday's downhill but faltered on the second run. ''I tried to push too hard, and I didn't have enough energy,'' Kildow said. ''I hit a gate at the top but managed to come back inside. But then I straddled a hairpin. I'm disappointed not to get any points.''
    Schild, who also has a World Cup win this season in the combined, moved from fourth to first in the overall standings with 477 points, followed by Nicole Hosp with 460 and Renate Goetschl with 441, giving Austrian women a 1-2-3 at the top of the standings.
    ''The competition [in the Austrian team] is important between us,'' Schild said. ''We always push each other to go faster.''
    Schild leads the slalom standings with 300 points. She also won at Aspen, Colorado, and Levi, Finland.
    Kildow dropped from third to fourth overall with 435 points. ''I just lost balance,'' Kildow said. ''It was a funky course with a lot of different rhythms. … I didn't really adapt well and I just needed a bit more training in slalom.''
    Hosp finished 11th and has 184 points in the slalom standings. ''I made a big mistake in the upper part in the first run,'' Hosp said. ''It was just not a good day. I don't worry about this. I'm thinking about the next race.''
    Austrians also have the top three places in the slalom standings, with Kathrin Zettel third with 155 points.

U.S. women "not intimidated"
"Three-four [Stiegler third, Kildow fourth] after that first run — we haven't been in that situation for over a year and these girls have never been in that position, but they weren't intimidated. It was good to see them charging on that second run," SL/GS head coach Chris Knight said.
    "The last time like this was only one athlete, so to have two in there at the start of the second run, and a third also qualifying, was outstanding. Kaylin's only qualified one other time [for second run], and after two days of racing downhill which isn't her big event, this was a good day for her, too. A lot of others didn't make that transition from downhill to slalom, but all three of our girls did it nicely.
    "Resi, especially, and Lindsey, too, have very fast turns in slalom but Lindsey's been through so much the previous two days," Knight said, "and she was still rolling … but as great as those podiums are, they also can be an emotional drain. I'm proud of the way all of them performed today."
    Knight said course crews had "done an outstanding job preparing the course. They did a great job on the top of the hill considering until yesterday there wasn't much, but it set up well during the night. The girls were saying they couldn't quite release their ski the way they wanted on the bottom flat because the snow was pretty grippy … but we're glad to get the race, and now we'll relax for Christmas."
    After time off for the holiday, the women regroup for GS/SL races Dec. 28-29 in Semmering, Austria. "We're only down one race, the opener in Sölden [a giant slalom], so we're in pretty good shape that way," Knight said, "but there's almost no training space anywhere, and they'll make decisions next week on Zagreb [night slalom Jan. 4 in the Croatian capital] and Maribor [GS/SL Jan. 6-7 in Slovenia]."

---

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's slalom, Val d'Isere, France, Dec. 21, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Gerg, Head/Lange/Marker
3 Borssen, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Zuzulova, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Stiegler, Dynastar/Lange/Look
7 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Tyrolia
9 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Bergmann-Schmiderer, Head/Nordica/Tyrolia

Women's slalom, Val d'Isere, France, Dec. 21, 2006. … It is the 11th of 37 scheduled events of the women's 2007 World Cup schedule. … It is the third of nine scheduled slaloms. … The race was originally scheduled at Megeve. … It is the fifth straight women's race to have been shifted from the original schedule. … It is the first slalom held at Val d'Isere since December 1997 when Ylva Nowen got her maiden win.
    It is the 11th World Cup win for Marlies Schild. … The ninth in slalom. … It is her fourth win of the season, including all three slaloms held. … She was won eight of her last 13 slaloms, been second once, third twice, fourth once and recorded one DNF.
    It is a career-best result and first career podium for 31-year-old Annemarie Gerg. … It is the first slalom podium for a German woman since last January. … Gerg's previous best was fourth in slalom at Lienz Dec. 28, 2003, and at Spindleruv Mlyn Dec. 22 last season. … She is the third German to podium this season after Maria Riesch and Felix Neureuther.
    It is the third career podium for Therese Borssen, all of them third-place results, one from Aspen this season (Nov. 26). … She is the third Swedish skier to accumulate two podiums this season after Markus Larsson and Anja Paerson.
    It is the second-best career World Cup result for Resi Stiegler, the better a fourth at Are March 17, 2006. … It is her first single-digit result this season. … It is the fourth scoring result of the season for Brigitte Acton. … It is the third scoring result of the season, each in a different discipline, for
Kaylin Richardson.
    Schild regains the lead of the overall standing 477-460 over Nicole Hosp (11th in race). … Renate Goetschl (did not race) holds third at 441. … Lindsey Kildow (second-run DNF) in fourth leads the Amercians at 435. … Schild dominates the slalom standings 300-184 over Hosp. … Kathrin Zettel (fourth in race) is third at 155. … Stiegler is the top American on the slalom list at 11th with 72 pts. … Winning margin is .21 of a second. … Top nine skiers are within a second. … Two 11 within two seconds.

Val d'Isere women's World Cup slalom results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	6	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	52.15	54.00	1:46.15	0.00
2	12	205115	GERG Annemarie	1975	GER	52.63	53.73	1:46.36	1.21
3	1	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE	52.21	54.18	1:46.39	1.38
4	4	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	52.60	53.93	1:46.53	2.18
5	22	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	53.30	53.52	1:46.82	3.85
6	11	537772	STIEGLER Resi	1985	USA	52.48	54.46	1:46.94	4.54
7	3	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	52.80	54.17	1:46.97	4.71
8	13	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	52.86	54.15	1:47.01	4.94
9	7	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	53.36	53.75	1:47.11	5.52
10	15	205636	BERGMANN-SCHMUDERER Monika	1978	GER	53.45	54.17	1:47.62	8.45
11	5	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	53.71	54.21	1:47.92	10.17
12	18	195912	DE LEYMARIE Florine	1981	FRA	54.28	54.12	1:48.40	12.93
13	2	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	53.52	55.00	1:48.52	13.62
14	14	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO	53.92	54.66	1:48.58	13.96
15	21	195215	VIDAL Vanessa	1974	FRA	54.16	54.56	1:48.72	14.77
16	9	505187	OTTOSSON Anna	1976	SWE	53.85	54.90	1:48.75	14.94
17	20	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	54.24	54.68	1:48.92	15.92
18	27	505679	HANSDOTTER Frida	1985	SWE	55.02	54.11	1:49.13	17.12
19	25	106527	ACTON Brigitte	1985	CAN	54.13	55.09	1:49.22	17.64
20	31	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	54.57	54.77	1:49.34	18.33
21	46	55885	STRENG Simone	1987	AUT	54.94	54.42	1:49.36	18.45
22	17	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	54.13	55.28	1:49.41	18.73
23	32	537626	RICHARDSON Kaylin L	1984	USA	55.00	54.98	1:49.98	22.01
24	34	565241	KOBAL Ana	1983	SLO	54.73	55.28	1:50.01	22.18
25	30	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA	55.10	55.09	1:50.19	23.22

 

Did not finish 1st run:
GIUS Nicole (ITA), BERNTSEN Hedda (NOR), PERSYN Karen (BEL), HULTDIN Kristina (SWE), PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria (SWE)

Did not finish 2nd run:
SPONRING Christine (AUT), RIESCH Susanne (GER), CERESA Annalisa (ITA), COSTAZZA Chiara (ITA), KILDOW Lindsey C (USA)

Disqualified 1st run:
KARASINSKA Katarzyna (POL)

Did not qualify 1st run:
BRYDON Emily (CAN), RABIC Urska (SLO), BIRKELUND Karina (NOR), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), SMUTNA Michaela (CZE), DAUTHERIVES Claire (FRA), PUENCHERA Jessica (SUI), LEINONEN Sanni (FIN), HOELZL Kathrin (GER), AMMERER Christina (GER), SANTON Aurelie (FRA), VIKEN Line (NOR), MUELLER Anne Marie (NOR), KURFUERSTOVA Eva (CZE), CAMASTRAL Aita (SUI), TRIENDL Kathrin (AUT), AUBERT Sandrine (FRA), HULTDIN Malin (SWE), CHMELAR Fanny (GER)

---

World Cup slalom standings (after 3 of 9 races)
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 300 points.
2. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 184.
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 155.
4. Therese Borssen, Sweden, 152.
5. Ana Jelusic, Croatia, 108.
(tie) Anja Paerson, Sweden, 108.
7. Annemarie Gerg, Germany, 104.
8. Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, Germany, 102.
9. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 97.
10. Sarka Zahrobska, Czech Republic, 73.

Overall World Cup standings (after 11 races)
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 477 points.
2. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 460.
3. Renate Goetschl, Austria, 441.
4. Lindsey Kildow, United States, 435.
5. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 360.
6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 346.
7. Julia Mancuso, United States, 279.
8. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 237.
9. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 210.
10. Maria Riesch, Germany, 188.