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www.skiworldcup.org/Cortina
d'Ampezzo (ITA) 12.01.2005
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Ladies
Super G - Race report
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[ Report
] [ Results
] [ SG
Standings ] [ Overall
Standings ]
[ 13th
place for Janica Kostelic in Cortina
d'Ampezzo ]
[ Anja
Paerson and Martina Ertl moved up
]
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34th win for
Renate Goetschl
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Jan. 12th
- Austria's Renate Goetschl captured
her first World Cup race of the season
today on one of her favorite courses,
beating Sweden's surprising Anja Paerson
by 22/100 of a second in the fourth
Super-G race of the season. It's the
first time that the defending Overall
Champion reaches the podium in a speed
event!
Germany's Martina
Ertl was 3rd at 45/100 - her best
result in this rather disappointing
winter. American Lindsey Kildow was
a strong 4th while other favorites struggled
this time.
Janica Kostelic,
always under the top-10 here in the
last years, was only 13th , Germany's
Hilde Gerg, the recent winner in St
Moritz, was a distant 17th and France's
Carole Montillet, a far 32nd and out
of the points.
Last year's winner Geneviève
Simard had to be content with her 19th
place while Slovenia's new star Tina
Maze was 25th. Yet she finishes ahead
of the former speed queen Isolde Kostner.
It was a good day for the Austrian team
who filled six of the top 10 places
but not a fine one for Germany's Maria
Riesch who suffered heavy fall half
way down the piste. The skier from Garmisch-Partenkirchen
was taken to hospital for X-rays and
unfortunately, the doctors found out
that she torn the cruciate ligaments
of her right knee. She also hurt her
femur and she will be out for the coming
six months.
Renate was relaxed
Goetschl, the defending Super-G and
downhill World Cup Champion, has established
a new victory record at Cortina winning
for the sixth time in total. It was
her fourth Super-G triumph at the Dolomite
resort. The 29-year-old also won two
downhill races here in 2002 and 2003.
This 34th World Cup victory in her career
helped her to improve her Overall and
Super-G World Cup standings.
“I was so relaxed, so confident
and so focused that a bomb could have
exploded next to me and I could still
have won the race,” she said after
the prize giving ceremony. “This
is a big relief. It has been a long
time for me to wait this season. Maybe
it's as nice as my first win in the
World Cup or maybe my comeback two years
ago.”
The 2000 Overall World Cup champion
suffered a bad knee injury in a crash
in Switzerland in March 2002. She had
to have surgery and missed the start
of the 2002-2003 season yet she still
managed to win four races in 2003 and
six last winter.
An exciting course
“I feel so well here it's like
being at home. Besides, the weather
is fantastic and the course is so exciting.”
Goetschl goes into another super-G here
on Friday and two downhill races at
the weekend with her confidence sky-high.
“The last weeks have been frustrating
for me because I was close to win but
I made too many mistakes. It's normal
when you attack all the time as I do.
But I have never doubted my ability
and kept on fighting,” she added.
“I see a great opportunity to win
more races on this course and for being
perfectly prepared for the world championships.”
Another downhill training run is scheduled
for Thursday followed by another Super-G
on Friday and two downhills over the
weekend. Goetschl, who accumulated an
amazing total of 14 podium-finishes
here in the last ten years, won two
races and was 2nd in 2003. She will
be difficult to beat from now on.
Manuèle Lang
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