|
First
Downhill Win for Gerg
Germany's
Hilde Gerg surprised herself and all her rivals in Veysonnaz,
Switzerland by dominating the third downhill of the
season on one of the most demanding courses on the women's
circuit.
"The
racing conditions were very demanding and I was not
too aggressive," Gerg explained after her win.
"I first tried to follow a clean line and to come
safe at the arrival. It's a great and a wonderful surprise."
The
Olympic slalom champion, who has never before won a
downhill event, beat Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg by 42/100
and Italy's Bibiana Perez by half a second.
Overall
World Cup leader Alexandra Meissnitzer came in 4th after
a more cautious run while the favorite, teammate Renate
Goetschl, didn't crack the top-10. Goetschl made a major
mistake in the last big left turn before the finish
line and almost crashed off the course. She finished
14th just behind Italy's Isolde Kostner. This is the
first race this season with no Austrians on the podium.
Switzerland's
Corinne Rey-Bellet, who was fastest in the last training
run, crashed in the middle of the course and while disqualified,
wasn't injured.
German
Martina Ertl placed a far 16th with knee pain that prevented
her from being as determined as usual. Croatia's Janica
Kostelic was also far back in 28th, losing by over three
seconds.
Three
US skiers scored points: Megan Gerety was 19th, Kathleen
Monahan 22nd and Caroline Lalive 30th.
Hard
snow and tough turns made the course conditions extremely
rough. The racers had a hard time taking big risks because
of the flat light. Since the whole "Bear Run"
course was in shadow, the skiers couldn't see the numerous
ruts littering the downhill course.
This
was the first German success this season and the 7th
for Hilde Gerg on the World Cup tour. A super-G specialist,
Gerg clinched the World Cup super-G title in 1997 before
her Olympic success in Nagano. This first downhill win
is a major achievement in her career - aside from two
second places, Hilde hasn't previously excelled in downhill.
In fact, she was not even aiming for a top-3 here.
Pernilla
Wiberg, who won the silver medal in downhill in Nagano,
was pleased with 2nd place. The 1997 Overall World Cup
winner lost a lot of time at the top of the course but
was able to pick it up at the bottom.
"After
my disappointing races at Lake Louise, this is quite
a nice comeback," Wiberg said. "It was a hard
race, but the difficult conditions suit my technique.
My season start has been fine so far, now I am looking
ahead for my first success. I plan to be back at the
top in January."
It
was also a nice comeback for Italy's Bibiana Perez,
who collected several top-3 places in 1993 and 1994.
"This is my best result ever in downhill and I'm
very proud to have done so well on such a hard course,"
Perez said. "It was a real fight from the top to
bottom. This run is so long and so rough. You have to
battle all the time to control your skis."
|
