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Sestriere,
women’s “KO” slalom
Second victory for Anja Paerson
Sestrière’s
demanding slalom hill inspired once
more Anja Paerson who celebrated her
second consecutive victory in the
Italian ski resort in a new slalom
system introduced this winter by the
International Ski Federation on the
World Cup Tour.
In the last of four runs, the reigning
World Champion beat her last eight
rivals to win her sixths World Cup
slalom since December 1998.
The Swede had no problem to qualify
in the earlier rounds held on Saturday
and Sunday morning.
In the final run, she beat by 2/100
of a second another Scandinavian,
Tanja Poutiainen from Finland while
Nicole Hosp from Austria was 3rd and
Janica Kostelic the triple Olympic
Champion 4th.
A good result for Anja
A
good result for Paerson who got closer
to Kostelic in the intermediate slalom
World Cup standings – her main
goal this winter.
A year ago, Anja won the first of
a series of four consecutive slalom
on this same slope on which she often
clocked fast times in slalom and in
giant slalom.
“It’s obviously a great
course for me, I felt confident coming
here and ready to give my best to
win again ” she said. “It
is very important for me to do well
today after my great win in Aspen
because it shows that I fully recovered
my momentum after a difficult start
in Soelden and Park City”.
“To win here I applied my usual
tactic – full speed from the
first to the last gate. That’s
the way I like to compete. Taking
a maximum of risks makes it even more
exciting! The last three runs are
pretty short so you have anyway no
choice. The snow was hard enough to
allow me to ski the way I like to.
I don’t feel comfortable when
it’s too warm as in Park City,
I just can’t use all my power
in those conditions”.
“It’s good that we tested
this new format but I don’t believe
the “KO-slalom” should replace
the normal one. It’s not the
best solution to create more action
for TV or the spectators because sometimes
it’s not so logic. Some skiers
were eliminated despite having clocked
some very fast times! It’s difficult
to understand and many of us hard
a hard time to find the best tactics.
It was strange and sometimes one didn’t
know how much to attack to pass he
next qualification round. Shorter
races are tough too because you have
to sprint very hard”.
“During the 2nd and 3rd rounds,
you ski directly against another athlete
but it would be more spectacular to
do it in a parallel race so it’s
clear for everybody what’s going
one!”
“I guess the Race Directors will
check the reactions of the audience
and then make a decision. It’s
fine for me whatever happens –
I feel at ease in both systems!”
Tanja is back
After
a slow season start, Tanja Poutiainen
finally found back her momentum on
this slope on which she also feels
comfortable. Last year, she also lost
to Paerson – but by 41/100. “It
was really close this time, I will
keep on fighting hard for my first
win on the circuit” she said
with a smile.
Also very impressive was Austria’s
new raising start, Nicole Hosp, the
winner in Soelden last October. She
was already 4th in Aspen and today
she confirmed again her determination
and her class. She is a future Overall
World Cup winner! She even impresses
Janica Kostelic! “She is amazing”
Janica already said in Aspen. “She
will be soon a very tough contender
in all events!” The Croat who
didn’t qualify here last winter
was aiming for another top-3 but she
can lives with this 4th place. “I
skied well in the previous rounds
but in the last one I couldn’t
attack as much as I wanted, it’s
a little short for me” she said.
“I spent much energy in participating
in each race since Park City and I’m
looking forward for a nice rest to
recharge my batteries. My goal this
year is to score a maximum of points
in Lenzerheide and Semmering to increase
my lead in the Overall standings so
I’ll be able to eventually skip
some speed races in January and better
prepare the Worlds in St Moritz”.
The next women’s competitions
are scheduled this weekend in Switzerland’s
Lenzerheide where a downhill and a
slalom will take place.
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