31 years after Maria Epple, Kathrin Hoelzl ended Germany's long wait for a gold medal in a technical event by taming the challenging 'La Face' piste on Bellevarde with a surprising win in the women's giant slalom at the Val d'Isère 2009 FIS World Championships. It's her first major victory at all!

Hoelzl, 4th after the first leg, held her nerve on a deteriorated slope in the second run to beat by 9/100 of a second Tina Maze from Slovenia while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen collected her fourth medal since 2005 with her 3rd place.

It's also Germany's first World Champion since Martina Ertl's combined title in 2001 at St Anton, in Austria.

Top favourite Kathrin Zettel, who was chasing a second gold medal after her success in the Super-combined led after the first run but failed to remain in command after an error-ridden second run and finished a disappointing 6th. The Austrian has won three giant slalom races this season and seemed out of reach after her blistering first run.

Obviously as many other top-contenders, Zettel had a hard time handling the difficult course conditions in the afternoon.
Nicole Hosp, the defending giant slalom World Champion from Are returned to competition in that gruelling race a month after injuring herself at a knee in a slalom at Zagreb but she finished way behind the podium. Last year's dominator Denise Karbon came in 4th, missing another bronze medal by only 13/100.

First major win for Hoelzl.

Hoelzl, who reached her first World Cup podium in March 2007 at the Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, was again among the best three last January at Maribor. The steep and demanding course seemed to have particularly inspired her before the race.

"It's a for sure a tough slope here, but I enjoyed attacking hard in both runs," said the skier from Bischofswiesen, where he father runs a ski-school. "I felt I had a chance to do well here today even though I was not one of the main contenders. The snow was really hard as it was the case at Maribor."

"But for sure I didn't expect to win that competition," the 24-year-old added. "I attacked as much as I could in the second run as I had nothing to lose. I was so close to the podium so I went for it as hard as I could."
"It's a great day for me but also for my team which underwent great pressure after our strong results in recent months. I strongly hope now that my room-mate Maria Riesch will be inspired by my success and fight for another medal in the next slalom."

Great comeback for Maze.

Slovenia's Tina Maze, only 16th after the first run, achieved a remarkable comeback with the fastest time in the second run to end a long drought of medal for the Slovenian women team. The last Slovenian female to have excelled at FIS World Championships was Urska Hrovat, 3rd in slalom at Sierraa Nevada, in February 1996.

It's the best result for a skier from her region since Mateja Svet's gold medal in slalom at Vail in 1989 when the racers from that part of Europe were competing under the colours of former Yugoslavia. Her neighbour Mitja Kunc won a bronze medal in slalom in 2001.

Ironically, Maze may have accomplished such a comeback because she had lost so much time in the morning because of a technical problem. "I was furious after the first run because I had mist inside my goggles and I couldn't see a thing during that snowy first run," she explained afterwards. "I forgot to bring my second pair at the start, so I had to use those I wore during warm-up which turned out to be a major problem. I was really upset."

"Since I was so far behind, I had nothing to lose anymore in that second leg and I just went for it. I hit each gate with much anger - it surely helped me to be so fast at the end. It's a great success for me after so many failures in past years. I'm also so happy for my staff which helps me so much and accepts to work with me despite my bad temper," also said Maze who split from the national team last spring to train with her own group.

Bad luck for Gut.

American Vonn missed the giant slalom to nurse a thumb injury sustained while celebrating her downhill triumph and hopes to be back for the final women's event, the slalom on Saturday.
The steep 'La Face' course on Bellevarde, used only for the men's events until
now, ruined the hopes of Swiss teenager Lara Gut. The 17-year-old, who claimed silver medals in the Super-combined and downhill here, skied out on the upper part of the course in the first run after having clocked the fastest intermediate time. She had a strong chance for another medal today.

Zettel is now aiming for revenge in Saturday's slalom which should also suits to Poutiainen, Riesch or Vonn if she manages to find a way to ski despite her annoying thumb injury.

MMJL
Thursday, 12 February 2009
www.valdisere2009.org

Skiers wear black armbands to protest race rules at Worlds

VAL D'ISERE, France (AP) -- About 20 skiers from the sport's underdog nations wore black armbands during a World Championship race Thursday to protest against the International Ski Federation.

The racers were unhappy at having to take part in a qualifying event for the men's giant slalom on the fringes of Val d'Isere to earn a place in the gold medal race scheduled for Friday. It's the second championships at which lower-ranked skiers have had to pre-qualify in a separate race run on a different piste from the main events.

"We want to give nations who can't compete at the highest level the chance to be part of the World Championships," FIS men's race referee Guenter Hujara said.

Nations must compete at the championships to be eligible to race at the Winter Olympics.

A total of 105 skiers from 50 countries -- including Azerbaijan, Ghana, India, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Nepal and Senegal -- entered the two-leg qualifying race run on the O.K. piste at La Daille on the edge of Val d'Isere.

Hujara said hundreds of volunteers had worked to ensure the piste was the best the racers had ever competed on.

The fastest 25 men, representing 17 different countries, qualified to appear in a 75-man field on Friday along the likes of Didier Cuche, Bode Miller and Aksel Lund Svindal.

The qualifying event was won by Alexandr Horishilov of Russia in a two-run time of 2 minutes, 34.70 seconds. Horishilov finished 10th behind Svindal in the super-combined event on Monday.

Paul de la Cuesta of Spain was fastest in the first run, in 1:16.79, and Naoki Yuasa of Japan won the second leg in 1:16.01.

Another qualifying event is scheduled for Saturday to decide the final 25 starting places for the men's slalom medal race that closes the two-week championships on Sunday.

The Associated Press
Thursday February 12, 2009 2:21PM

Kostelic won't return to worlds

VAL D'ISERE, France–Croatia's Ivica Kostelic isn't planning to return to the world championships, opting to rest up for his pursuit of the overall World Cup title.

Kostelic left the world event last week after participating only in downhill training, due to a bad back.

"Ivica recovered well from his back injury sustained two weeks ago in Germany but he doesn't feel totally ready for a comeback in France," Croatia team press officer Nenad Eror said. "He is afraid to injure himself again.''

Associated Press
Feb 13, 2009 04:30 AM