Zwiesel: Poutiainen, Hosp overtake Mancuso in GS

American Julia Mancuso, seeking to become the first U.S. woman since Tamara McKinney in 1983 to win the World Cup overall, lost her race lead late in the second run of a World Cup giant slalom Saturday, settling for fifth.
    Finland's Tanja Poutiainen scorched the second run and took the victory, with Austria's Nicole Hosp finishing second to vault into the overall standings lead. Teammate Michaela Kirchgasser was third Saturday.
    By picking up 80 points for her second place, Hosp now has 1,263. Mancuso fell to second, while Renate Goetschl of Austria, who had been tied with Mancuso for the overall lead, dropped back by finishing 30th. Austria's Marlies Schild, eighth Saturday, remains in the overall battle.

ZWIESEL, Germany — American Julia Mancuso, seeking to become the first U.S. woman since Tamara McKinney in 1983 to win the World Cup overall, lost her race lead late in the second run of a World Cup giant slalom Saturday, settling for fifth.
    Finland's Tanja Poutiainen scorched the second run and took her first victory of the season, with Austria's Nicole Hosp finishing second to vault into the overall standings lead. Teammate Michaela Kirchgasser was third Saturday.
    “There’s always pressure when you win the first run. You have to hold off the others and have a fast run too. But it didn’t work out the best today,” Mancuso said. She is the Olympic champion in the giant slalom.
    Poutiainen last won in January 2005 in Zagreb, Croatia. “You just have to be patient,” said Poutiainen, who won silver in giant slalom at the 2006 Torino Olympics. “You have to put together two excellent runs to win.”
    By picking up 80 points for her second place, Hosp now has 1,263. Mancuso fell to second with 1,244, while Renate Goetschl of Austria, who had been tied with Mancuso for the overall lead, dropped back by finishing 30th.
    “It’s been really close for a while, and I think the title won’t be decided until the final race,” Hosp said.
    Austria's Marlies Schild, eighth Saturday, moved past Goetschl with 1,202. Goetschl is now fourth at 1,200.
    “I’m not looking at what others do. I just have to keep skiing. That’s all,” Schild said.
    Mancuso was the only American to qualify for second run Saturday. In the first run, Jessica Kelley was 40th, Stacey Cook 42nd, Resi Stiegler 45th and Libby Ludlow 53rd.
    Poutiainen won with a two-run time of 1 minute, 50.12 seconds, .11 better than Hosp and .14 ahead of Kirchgasser. Mancuso was .42 back after a couple of mistakes on the second run.
    Zwiesel will host a slalom Sunday before the women head to Lenzerheide, Switzerland, for World Cup Finals.
    With one more giant slalom remaining in the season, Hosp is 16 points ahead of Poutiainen, leading the discipline 390 to 374.
    “There’s one more race. Everything is possible … I have to attack and make sure she’s behind me,” Poutiainen said.

"Lights out" for racers
    “It was just lights out, so foggy you couldn’t see a thing,” said SL/GS head coach Chris Knight. “We had delays, but Julia deals well with that. She never  — really, never — makes excuses. She’ll tell you about a mistake here or mistakes, but she never complains … and, starting first today, she handled that original delay well, too, and led the first run.”
    On her second run, he said, “She had a mistake on a couple of turns and threw her skis sideways, then had to get back up to speed and so the bottom of her run was a little ragged and obviously cost her.”
    He said Stiegler was three-tenths off Mancuso’s first-run time midway through the course but fell on her side at one point and never could regain the pace. Kelley also had a strong top section before losing time at the bottom, Knight said.
    The weather forecast called for a storm to come through during the night “but it was about four hours too late and didn’t clear out before the race,” said Knight. “It should have been through around midnight or so, but it didn’t arrive until 6 a.m., so we had to deal with the fog. It never cleared out all day.”
    The women race slalom Sunday before heading to World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Schild and Hosp are strong gate-runners while it’s arguably Mancuso’s weakest discipline, but Knight said, “She’s trained slalom in the last week, and done pretty well, so Jules may surprise. It’ll be exciting.”

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's giant slalom, Zwiesel, Germany, March 10, 2007
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
2 Hosp, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
3 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Goergl, Blizzard/Lange/Marker
5 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
6 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Rebensburg, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
8 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Simard, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women's giant slalom, Zwiesel, Germany, March 10, 2007. … It is the 30th race of the women's 37-race World Cup schedule. … It is the sixth of eight scheduled GS's with one having been canceled. … Five races remain, a slalom at Zwiesel March 11, and four at World Cup Finals at Lenzerheide, Switzerland. … It is the 16th World Cup race at Zwiesel, the 10th GS.
    It is the sixth career World Cup win for Tanja Poutiainen. … Her second in GS, the other four coming in slalom. … It is her first victory since Jan. 20, 2005, in a night slalom at Zagreb. … It is her fifth podium of the season, four of them in GS.
    It is the 34th career podium for Nicole Hosp. … Her 17th in GS. … It is her 10th Cup podium of the season. … 12th including two medals at World Championships. … She has reached the podium in all five disciplines this season (DH in World Champs only). … It is her fifth GS podium of the season including Worlds.
    It is the fourth career World Cup podium for Michaela Kirchgasser. … Three of them in GS and all of them this season. … And two consecutive in GS.
    It is the 26th career top five in World Cup for Julia Mancuso. … Her eighth in GS. … Her 13th Cup podium (plus two at worlds) of the season. … Her third in GS (plus one at worlds). … She led after the first run. … It is the 20th Cup top 10 for Genevieve Simard. … Her third of the season and second of the season in GS. … It is the 16th World Cup scoring result for Emily Brydon this season. … Her first in GS. … It is her first GS score since Dec. 2005.
    Nicole Hosp maintains the lead in the World Cup GS standings 390-374 over Tanja Poutiainen. … Michaela Kirchgasser is third at 297. … Julia Mancuso sits fourth at 251 and cannot win the GS crown. … Hosp leapfrogs into the overall standings lead 1,263-1,244 over Mancuso. … Marlie
s Schild (8th in race) is third at 1,202 and Renate Goetschl (30th in race) fourth at 1,200. … Winning margin is .11 of a second. … Top nine skiers are within a second. … Top 16 within two seconds.

Zwiesel women's World Cup GS results

Did not finish 2nd run:
FERNSEBNER Carolin (GER)

Did not qualify 1st run:
LUDLOW Libby (USA), JANYK Britt (CAN), LOLOVIC Jelena (SRB), GINI Sandra (SUI), LOESETH Nina (NOR), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), WORLEY Tessa (FRA), TROJER Karoline (ITA), GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka (POL), KOBAL Ana (SLO), HRSTKOVA Lucie (CZE), COOK Stacey J (USA), ZUZULOVA Veronika (SVK), ROBNIK Mateja (SLO), WILHELM Kathrin (AUT), ALFIERI Camilla (ITA), KELLEY Jessica C (USA), KELLY Gail (CAN), BERGER Silvia (AUT), JELUSIC Ana (CRO), STYGER Nadia (SUI), SUTER Fabienne (SUI), STIEGLER Resi (USA), SANTON Aurelie (FRA), LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica (SWE), DREV Ana (SLO)