The Maribor giant slalom race is different than that of any other on the women's World Cup circuit. Racers say it is the least technical GS on the tour, it is the only women's race to take place in Slovenia, Tina Maze is the star and the most successful racer wins the Golden Fox trophy.

Saturday's race added an extra element of the unusual. Kathrin Zettel found her eighth podium of the season here ... but this time she landed on the top step. Also, Maria Riesch, who had been waiting for years to finish on the podium in a World Cup GS race was finally able to do that, taking second place, and Anja Paerson, who has won the Golden Fox trophy three times with seven wins (five in slalom and two in GS) in Maribor but hasn't had a great race here since 2005, rounded out the podium in spite of a knee injury.

Zettel has rarely been able to carry a lead like she had from the first run Saturday into a victory. Although she has been happy with her podiums this season - especially considering her knee problems this summer that she at one point feared might keep her from being competitive - first place brings a new kind of joy.

"It's unbelievable, I'm so happy about it ... to bring the lead down to the finish for the first time ... it's unbelievable," she said. "You don't have so much pressure. You can take it easier. I'm so lucky."

Zettel was second in last year's slalom in Maribor, finishing behind Riesch, who won the Golden Fox. Riesch said that Maribor, being the place where she scored her first World Cup points, where she won GS and downhill gold in world juniors in 2004 and the place where she scored her best previous Cup GS result with a fourth place in 2004, obviously brings a bit of magic in her world.

"Today I had two good runs and finally I have my GS podium," Riesch said. "I'm so happy about this because I've been waiting for this for a very long time and today it came true."

Riesch also said she considers last year's slalom victory at Maribor her best slalom race to date and hopes she can repeat it Sunday, in the last World Cup slalom race before next month's Olympic Games.

"Last year it was a perfect feeling in the slalom. I didn't have to think about anything, I just skied full-gas," Riesch said. "I had an advantage of almost one and a half seconds. I will have to remember this and do the same tomorrow."

Riesch is now much closer to Lindsey Vonn in the overall Cup standings with 862 points to Vonn's 894. Vonn, who was in second place after the first run, was also gunning for her first World Cup GS podium but crashed just a couple gates before the finish line.

"I've been really frustrated with how much I've been crashing in tech events," said Vonn, who also crashed in Tuesday's night slalom race in Flachau. "I hit a rut. I'm just so mad."

Anja Paerson came through strong again, in spite of stretching knee ligaments straddling a gate in the Flachau race. Although she said the knee is painful, adrenaline took hold on the race course and she is hoping for another Golden Fox in Sunday's slalom.

"As long as it's not getting worse, you can cope with the pain," she said. "With all the adrenaline in the race you don't think about it that much. It's really nice coming back here and to feel the way I felt before. It was a really nice hill today. The snow was grippy and nice. I would love to win the Golden Fox again."

Local favorite and last year's GS winner Tina Maze ended up 13th Saturday while another of giant slalom's dominant racers - Tanja Poutiainen - was 11th.

"I had a good feeling. I'm just slow," Poutiainen said, adding that the Maribor course is unusually easy but in that way difficult to find speed.

"How to find speed ... that's really the question," she said. "The course is for sure the easiest this year. Everybody can ski good. It looks good and it's hard to see where they make the time. But you have to be really sensitive that you're not too much on the edge, but you are enough and still carve the turns. There are girls who can ski this fast. I just have to learn from them."

One girl who is learning fast is Norway's Mona Loeseth, who not only scored her first World Cup GS points on Saturday, but ended up 12th.

"I'm really happy because it's my first time qualifying in GS," Loeseth said. "The hill is really easy. I like it flat so this is perfect for me."

Still, finding speed on the Maribor hill is not something just anyone can do.

"You can't be happy with the speed you've got," Loeseth said. "You always have to search for more speed."

The Maribor slope is flatter than most courses on the GS circuit, but both gate sets on Saturday welcomed speed free of technical considerations - off-camber turns, fallaways and jumps - characteristic of most GS courses.

"They're really open set. There's nothing really difficult in there," said British racer Chemmy Alcott, who was 23rd on Saturday. "It's about charging and finding the fine line between pushing it too hard and being able to release. It's really easy to ski ... it's really difficult to be fast."

by Shauna Farnell
FISalpine.com
Saturday 16 January 2010

  Tweet