. world ski news : Kostelic back on top with Aspen slalom win - 28 November 2004 - 21:54
Poutiainen closes Aspen weekend with slalom win in sunday
ASPEN, United States (AFP) - Croatian öreturned to the familiar top step of the podium, winning a World Cup slalom in just her third race since missing all of last season with health problems.
Kostelic, 22, was lying second after the first run but turned in a superb second leg to claim the 20th World Cup victory of her career with a total time of 1:43.70, ahead of Sweden's Anja Paerson and Finn Tanja Poutiainen.
Tanja Poutiainen
Paerson of Sweden, who captured the overall World Cup title last season in Kostelic's absence, was second in 1:44.97, while Poutiainen, winner of a giant slalom here on Friday, was third in 1:45.02.
"When I came to the United States, I had no idea of my level," said Kostelic, who won the slalom, giant slalom and combined at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
She was laid low by health problems, including a recurring knee injury and finally thyroid surgery that saw her miss all of last season.
"I never expected to win at Aspen, I expected to progress step by step," she said.
After her eighth place finish in the season-opening giant slalom at Solden, Austria, last month, she returned to the podium on Friday when she led the first run before finishing third in the giant slalom here behind Poutiainen and Paerson.
She said on Friday that since her return she often found she ran out of energy in the second leg of a race. But on Saturday she turned in a textbook second run, easily erasing the five-hundredths of a second deficit on Poutiainen.
"I don't know what I was doing in the first run," Kostelic said. "I was fighting something and I don't know what it was, demons or whatever. I was skiing thinking 'what are you doing?' and I had no idea how to improve that. The second run, I basically wanted to stay without the mistakes and I did."
Marlies Schild
Poutiainen was unhappy with her second run, but happy to have stayed in the top three.
"I'm happy to be on the podium. It's still my third podium in three races," said Poutiainen, who was second in Solden.
Paerson was content to remain atop the World Cup overall standings, where she has a total of 260 points.
"I think the conditions again were not so easy, especially the second run I didn't catch those little ruts," said Paerson, who leads the overall World Cup standings with 260 points. "I don't know what was kind of wrong, but I fought my way down and I'm happy to be at the finish and stay on the podium."
Another slalom was scheduled for Sunday.
AFP
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Croatian skier Kostelic wins first World Cup race in nearly two years
AP, Sat Nov 27, 8:33 PM ET, JOHN MARSHALL
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) - Croatia's Janica Kostelic crossed the finish line, raised her arms and slammed her pole into the snow. After what she's been through over the past two years, it's hard to blame her for getting so excited.
Kostelic won her first World Cup race in nearly two years, charging through steady snow and choppy conditions to beat Anja Paerson by more than a second Saturday in this season's first World Cup slalom.
Janica Kostelic
"It's been a long year," Kostelic said. "The World Cup is the best test for it and today was a big test for me."
Kostelic was the world's best female skier before being beset by injuries the past two years. A two-time World Cup overall champion and the only Alpine skier to win four medals in one Olympic Games (news - web sites) - three golds, one silver at Salt Lake City in 2002 - Kostelic had four knee surgeries in five months in 2003 and had to have her thyroid gland removed, causing her to miss all of last season.
Kostelic returned after a 19-month layoff to finish eighth in the World Cup opener in Austria on Oct. 23 and was third in the giant slalom Friday in Aspen.
Though shaky on her first run through heavy snow Saturday, Kostelic still finished .05 seconds behind Tanja Poutiainen. The conditions weren't any better for the second run, but it didn't seem to bother Kostelic.
Blasting through choppy spots on the Aspen Mountain course, she was nearly flawless on her second run. Kostelic finished the two runs in one minute, 43.7 seconds, beating Paerson by 1.27 seconds in just her third race back.
"I don't know what I was doing in the first run," Kostelic said. "I was fighting something and I don't know what it was, demons or whatever. I was skiing thinking 'what are you doing?' and I had no idea how to improve that. The second run, I basically wanted to stay without the mistakes and I did."
Paerson, the reigning World Cup slalom and giant slalom champion, used a wild run to take the lead before Kostelic's final trip down the mountain.
Trailing Poutiainen by .67 seconds after the first run, Paerson had to come out of her crouch to squeeze through a couple of gates near the top, had to make a quick adjustment on the final gate, then patted her heart and waved her hand as if to say "Whew!" after she crossed the finish line with the lead.
"I think the conditions again were not so easy, especially the second run I didn't catch those little ruts," said Paerson, who leads the overall World Cup standings with 260 points. "I don't know what was kind of wrong, but I fought my way down and I'm happy to be at the finish and stay on the podium."
Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, B.C., was 11th in 2:14.99, Genevieve Simard of Val-Morin, Que., was 17th in 2:15.26, and Gail Kelly of St-Anges-de-Beauce, Que., was 19th in 2:15.39.
Poutiainen won the giant slalom on Friday despite sinus problems, but it seemed to catch up to her in Saturday's race. The only one with a chance to pass Kostelic, she cut one gate too close and seemed to run out of gas through the final stretch to finish third, 1.32 seconds behind Kostelic.
Anja Paerson, Janica Kostelic and Tanja Poutiainen
"I'm feeling much weaker today than I did yesterday and that's not positive," Poutiainen said. "Second run, I barely made it to the finish and I had to really fight for it."
Kristina Koznick was the top American finisher at sixth, 2.27 seconds behind Kostelic, though it took some hard skiing in the second run to get there.
"It's good. I didn't do as well on the first run as I wanted," Koznick said. "When you're starting out and you're 1.5 seconds behind already, that's a huge deficit to overcome.
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Poutiainen closes Aspen weekend with slalom win in sunday
ASPEN, United States (AFP) - Finland's Tanja Poutiainen captured her second victory in three days as she won a women's World Cup slalom to go with the giant slalom triumph she won.
Poutiainen posted a total time of 1min 50.77sec for the two runs, with Italian Manuela Moelgg finishing second in 1:51.98 and American Kristina Koznick third in 1:52.14.
Tanja Poutiainen
It was the third World Cup victory of the Finn's career, and her fourth podium finish of the season, which has also included a third place finish in Saturday's slalom here and a third in the season-opening giant slalom in Solden, Austria, last month.
"It's unbelievable that I finished," said Poutiainen, who profitted from the exits of Sweden Anja Paerson on the first leg and Croatian Janica Kostelic on the second leg.
Paerson, who hadn't failed to finish since a slalom last February in Levi, Finland, was among the 21 victims on the first run, in which Kostelic posted the fastest time, 44-hundredths of a second ahead of Poutiainen.
The Croatian, a triple Olympic champion who was delighted by her return to the winner's circle in Saturday's slalom after missing all of last season with health woes, couldn't make it two in a row.
Janica Kostelic
She fell midway through her second run to leave the way clear for Poutiainen.
The victory moved Poutiainen to the top of the overall World Cup standings as well as the top of the slalom standings.
"I knew I was in good form," she said. "I always thought I would be on the podium, but to win two times ... I can't explain it. It's incredible."
Perhaps it was just the No. 1 starting bib, which she wore for all three Aspen races and declared a "lucky number" after the first leg run in difficult conditions in steady snow.
Moelgg, 21, survived the first run and turned in a sparkling second run to earn the first podium place of her World Cup career.
Manuela Moelgg
Koznick delighted the US fans with her first podium finish of the season.
Many of the specialists in the sport's technical disciplines will now return to Europe, although the versatile Paerson and Kostelic planned to head to Lake Louise, Canada, where the first speed events of the season - two downhills and a super-G - were scheduled next week.
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