CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) _ Carole Montillet of France on Wednesday won her second straight World Cup super-G race. The Olympic downhill champion completed the 2.24-kilometer-long (1.4-mile) Olimpia Tofane course, which was drenched in sunshine, in one minute, 12.91 seconds.           

Carole Montillet

Austrian Renate Goetschl was runner-up, 0.46 seconds behind, and defending champion Hilde Gerg of Germany was third, 0.53 seconds back. It was Montillet's third victory this season. She won a downhill in Lake Louise Dec. 7 and the last super-G on the tour in Val d'Isere Dec. 13. Goetschl also finished second in the super-G here last year, which was won by Gerg.

Renate Goetschl

Wednesday's race also marked defending World Cup downhill champion Isolde Kostner's return to competition. Italy's top skier had been out of action since suffering a concussion during training in early December. Kostner, who has scored five World Cup wins in Cortina since 1996 _ four downhills and one super-G, finished 25th.
For Montillet, the spot atop the podium confirmed her status as one of the best skiers in the discipline. She wore the red bib signifying her lead in the super-G standings, which she held by only two points over Italy's Karen Putzer going into the race.

Hilde Gerg

"It's one of the first races I've worn it," Montillet said. "While I was completing the course inspection I didn't feel any stress, then at the start I did feel some pressure, but it went way during the race." She now has a 76-point lead over Putzer atop the super-G standings. Putzer finished in 10th position Wednesday and remained second to Montillet.

"I feel very strong physically and mentally and I hope to bring this psycho-physical state to the rest of the races this season," Montillet said.
Montillet jumped from seventh to fourth position in the overall World Cup standings.
Overall leader Janica Kostelic of Croatia finished seventh, 0.81 seconds back.

Caroline Lalive was the fastest American skier in eighth place, 0.96 seconds behind.
Tamara Mueller's fourth-place finish was somewhat of a surprise. The Swiss skier missed out on the podium by just 0.07 seconds with a time of 1:13.51 as the 33rd skier to leave the starting house. The first 30 starting positions are reserved for the top skiers in the discipline.

Gerg, Montillet  and Goetschl

Wednesday's race was originally scheduled for Garmisch in March, but sponsorship problems at the German resort forced organizers to switch locales. On Friday, a previously scheduled super-G will be contested here.
The two races in this northeastern Italian resort are some of the last on the circuit before the world championships in St. Moritz begin early next month.
The schedule in Cortina seems like a mini world championship, with four races on the program. Besides the two super-G's, a downhill Saturday and a giant slalom
Sunday are scheduled for the Olimpia Tofane, which was used for the 1956 Olympics. A training session Thursday will determine the starting order for the downhill.

AP, 15.01.2003
 

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