Megêve, women’s slalom

Ingemar Stenmark cheers for Anja Paerson

Megêve, France, Jan. 5th 2004. Taernaby, a small resort lost in the north of Sweden, has a strong possibility to become the third place in the world after St Anton in Austrian, and Vaduz, in Liechtenstein, to be also known as the town of two overall Ski World Cup champions.
Anja Paerson, who celebrated another superb victory today in Megêve in a slalom, has dramatically increased her chances to imitate her famous neighbor, Ingemar Stenmark, and clinch her first overall title 28 years after him.
The triple overall champion from 1976 to 1978 is already planning attending the celebration party which could take place in his hometown in March in case of Paerson’s triumph.

Austria’s Karl Schranz and Gertrud Gabl, both from St Anton, were the overall champions in 1969 while Hanni and Andreas Wenzel captured the big Crystal Cups in 1980 for Liechtenstein.

After winning her fifth race this season, Paerson is now leading the general standings by 233 points over Austria’s Nicole Hosp while Renate Goetschl is 3rd at 266 points. In finishing 9th in Sunday’s Super-G, the Scandinavian confirmed her capacity to score important points in the speed events, which strongly reinforces her position as the top-favorite for the 2004 overall title.

Her series of excellent performances creates great interest in Sweden and Stenmark is one of her best supporters. “She is really amazing and I’m sure that she will win many more races this season” he said with admiration when he heard about Anja’s newest success. “She is incredibly determined – in fact, it’s one of her main qualities. I saw her for the first time when she was 6 or 7 and it was obvious to me that she was as tough and motivated” he added. “She is not only an excellent skier, but also very strong mentally and physically. I’m just lucky that she was not skiing in my years – she would for sure have been faster than me!”

“The equipment and the technique are totally different now and the skiers are much stronger athletes too. Anja is so powerful – two years ago, I already said that she will also excel in the speed events. She is a much better glider than me – I also raced in a few downhill races when I was young, but I lost too much time in the flats. Anja can ski with much feeling. I was not surprised to see her doing so well in St Moritz last month”.

“I’m really proud of her and I hope she can make it – it would be nice to celebrate her victory in Taernaby at the end of the winter. I’ll do my best to be there too. I will be for sure in Are in February to cheer her”.

Paerson, who often meets Stenmark in Monte-Carlo where both lives now, is fighting hard to beat some of the records established by the legendary slalom specialist or her former team-mate Pernilla Wiberg, the 1997 overall World Cup champion who also clinched six gold medals at Olympics and World Championships.

“I don’t think it’s possible for me to win as many races as Ingemar but I would be very proud to win once a downhill – what he could never achieve” she said. “I admire him a lot and I push myself very hard to imitate him. Pernilla’s career was also fantastic – she won almost everything – in fact, she only missed a gold medal in downhill. This is also something which I would like to achieve before the end of my career”.

In Megêve, Paerson also won an important battle over herself – for the first time this season, she could not take as many risks as usual in the first run because she worried too much about skiing out. “I was too cautious and afraid to attack, I was more thinking about the World Cup points than about my skiing - I was really mad at me afterwards” she admitted after the race. “Fortunately, I found back my aggressiveness in time before the second run and then I skied with my usual punch. I have to focus on my racing and forget about the World Cup standings. It’s the only tactic which makes sense. I will wait the races in Are to start to speculate about my overall chances. The same apply for the coming speed races. I discovered something new and extraordinary in St Moritz when I saw that I was no longer afraid in downhill. I will try to compete as often as possible in downhill but mostly because it’s fun. It’s the best way to be fast too”.

The next women’s races, a downhill and a super-g, are planned this weekend in Veysonnaz, Switzerland.

ML