Kathrin Zettel won the second from last giant slalom of the season in Ofterschwang, Germany, on Friday.

The Austrian finished with a time of 2:36.48 and claimed her fourth discipline win of the season despite a mistake in the final section of the course, which would have cost a lesser skier the race.

Elisabeth Goergl finished with a time of 2:36.60 claiming second spot. This was only her third podium finish of the season. The Austrian had been slower than Tanja Poutiainen at the second intersection, but recovered too dramatically to claim silver.

Poutiainen found a quarter of a second in the bottom third of the course to finish third, with a time of 2:37.00. The Finn is second in the discipline standings, but has fallen further behind standings leader Zettel.

Poor visibility and considerable snow fall conspired to hamper the progress of competitors in Ofterschwang for the final round of the giant slalom until the talent of the top five from the first run shone through.

First run leader Tina Maze finished fourth, with a time of 2:37.26, 26/100 off the podium.

Denise Karbon set a time of 2:37.76 to put pressure on the leaders form the first round, and finished fifth at the end of the afternoon.

The field of competitors for the races in Bansko last weekend had been reduced due to the Junior World Championship which had been held at Garmisch during the week. However, due to the vicinity of Ofterschwang and Garmisch, a large number of those younger athletes returned to the World Cup for the giant slalom.

Viktoria Rebensburg finished sixth with a 2:38:07, skiing faultlessly to claim her  top ten. The 19-year-old rounded off an extremely successful week which saw her claim the Junior World Championship title in both the giant slalom and super-G disciplines.

Manuela Moelgg finished seventh with a time of 2:38.26. The Italian had finished the first round third, but was unable to repeat that performance and slid down the rankings.

Lindsey Vonn finished eighth with a time of 2:38.33; the American heads to the finals with a considerable lead in the overall standings, and has already claimed the downhill crystal globe.

Anja Paerson was the first contestant to have picked up a crystal globe, winning the super combined discipline. The giant slalom, slalom and super-G are still all up for grabs.

However if Maria Riesch finishes on the podium in the slalom tomorrow she will claim the discipline's crystal-ware.

The giant slalom and super-G are the only ones still undecided, with Zettel and Poutiainen the main contenders in the former, whilst Fabienne Suter and Vonn the competitors in the latter.

The final race before the finals in Are, Sweden next week is a slalom, scheduled to start with the first run at 10:00 (CET) on Saturday, with the final round set for 13:00 (CET).

Friday, 06 March 2009 12:55
fisalpineworldcup.com