SOELDEN, Austria -- Austrian Kathrin Zettel delighted her home crowd when she won the opening race of the Alpine skiing World Cup with a giant slalom victory on Saturday.
Zettel improved from second place after the first run to take her third World Cup win with a combined time of two minutes, 22.99 seconds.

Finland's Tanja Poutiainen, who clocked the first run's best time, could not match Zettel's flawless performance and had to settle for second place, 0.98 seconds behind.

On a good day for Austria, Andrea Fischbacher finished third, 1.48 seconds off the pace, ahead of Italian Denise Karbon who won the discipline's World Cup last season.

"It's just a dream," said Zettel, who recorded her first World Cup win since she broke her leg in March 2007.

"There is always emotion when I come here. Of course, I had already won in Austria, but it was [in Semmering] before my injury. So it's like my first time.

"After the first leg, I was feeling good, I knew I was there."

Poutiainen was satisfied with her performance and immediately turned her attention to the next World Cup race, a slalom in three weeks in her home country.

"My result is not really a surprise. Kathrin was the best today, no doubt about it," she said.

"But I'm going to Levi to win. It's home and I'm going to be the queen over there."

A podium finish was enough for Fischbacher.

"Starting the season on the podium is perfect," she said. "It's good for the confidence before the other races."

Swiss teenager Lara Gut, who broke into the limelight last season when she took third place in a downhill in St. Moritz, showed her talent again by finishing fifth.

World champion Nicole Hosp of Austria paid dearly for an early mistake in the second run, ended a disappointing 28th.

Former giant slalom world champion Anja Paerson of Sweden, looking to bounce back after a disappointing season last time, was seventh.

By Manuele Lang
Reuters
Sat Oct 25, 2008

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