World Cup spends weekend in Sweden, where Stenmark likes Paerson's chances

World Cup spends weekend in Sweden, where Stenmark likes Paerson’s chances{mosimage}Swedish ski great Ingemar Stenmark believes two races on home snow this weekend will take Anja Paerson a big step closer to winning the overall women’s World Cup title.

“She will win (the overall World Cup) unless something happens. But she mustn’t fall out or get nervous, then it could get difficult,” said the most successful alpine skier in World Cup history.

Stenmark, who won three successive overall titles from 1976 to 1978 as well as a record 86 races, comes from the same town of Tarnaby as the 22-year-old and will be in the crowd at Are for Saturday’s super-G and Sunday’s giant slalom.

The famously taciturn Stenmark has been full of praise for a compatriot who looks set to become the first Swede since Pernilla Wiberg in 1997 to take the overall crown.

“I wouldn’t stand a chance against Anja,” he wrote in Friday’s Expressen newspaper. “If I faced Anja, I wouldn’t even qualify for the second leg. She’s got almost everything. She’s got good technique, a good physique and a good head. I think she could become a good speed skier. I think she can become better in it than she is in technical events. She’s got the physique, she’s powerful and she can stand up to such high speeds.”

Paerson has been almost unbeatable in the technical disciplines this season, winning nine races — including six of seven slaloms — and clinching both the slalom and giant slalom titles already.

But despite leading Austrian speed specialist Renate Goetschl by 112 points in the overall standings, she still has her work cut out.

There are eight races remaining and Goetschl, the dominant force in the downhill World Cup, can expect to narrow the gap between her and Paerson in Saturday’s super-G.

The Austrian is second in the super G standings, only 14 behind Germany’s Hilde Gerg with 345 points.

Gerg is third in the overall standings but with just 870 points is highly unlikely to disrupt Paerson and Goetschl’s tug-of-war for the title.

Paerson, who has been training in Tarnaby, will be the favorite in Sunday’s giant slalom after winning last year’s race on a slope she knows as well as any.

However the Are slopes could be very icy after a week of rain, a factor that could play to Goetschl’s advantage.

“This weekend will be important but not decisive,” said Paerson. “I’ll have a chance to hold on to my lead, so I’ll have to remain focused. I hope a lot of Swedes will come and cheer. That’s always very important to me.”

The women’s World Cup moves to Levi in Finland after the weekend for two slaloms before the season finishes with four events in Sestriere, Italy, March 10-14.