ASPEN - Finn Tanja Poutianen won the second giant slalom of the season Friday, holding off defending World Cup champ Anja Paerson of Sweden by 0.09 seconds.

Tanja Poutianen

Kristina Koznick was 24th while Kirsten Clark was 28th as she returned to World Cup racing Friday after a racing crash last January ended her 2004 season.

Vail's Sarah Schleper did not finish her first run.

On the first day of the Aspen Winternational, the first run started in a snowstorm. Poutianen won in an official time of 2 minutes, 12.49 seconds with Paerson timed in at 2:14.58 and Croatian Janica Kostelic third.

About five inches of snow fell on the course as the race got started, creating choppy conditions for everyone after about the first 15 or 20 racers. The second run was not as bad as the sun broke through and the course was smoother.

"It was a tough course. Only five girls from outside the first 30 made it into the second run," said U.S. head coach Patrick Riml. The U.S. started nine women and there was clear disappointment with only two skiers into the final run.

"These were not the results we were expecting," Riml said. "Definitely, though, having 'Clarky' come back and score points right away was the highlight."

Koznick, who was fourth in the season opener Oct. 23 in Soelden, Austria - the best World Cup GS result of her career, said she was a little unsure in the rutted conditions and didn't attack as she hoped she would.

"I've been training fast and I have some high expectations for this weekend," she said. "But I'm still learning my way through this kind of conditions."

Clark's goal for the day was to be top-30, she said, as she works her way back to World Cup racing after a Jan. 30 crash in Haus, Austria, when she tore ligaments in both knees and broke her right wrist. She had no problem with either knee, she said, and was pleased to be racing again.

"First run my nerves were a lot more than they were second run," she said. "I'm a little disappointed with my second run. I mean, I thought that I skied well but maybe I was just a little too cautious..."

The first run, she said, "was definitely difficult. You couldn't see the gates, you can't see the terrain coming up, can't see the holes and you're just hitting them." The second run was smoother and, with the sun out, the flat light went away.

Tanja Poutianen

The women run slalom Saturday and Sunday, and then head to Lake Louise, Alberta, for the first speed races of the season Dec. 3-5 as they flip-flop with the men's schedule. The men race Dec. 2-5 in Beaver Creek at the Visa Birds of Prey races.

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Poutiainen edges Paerson in giant slalom; Canadian Forsyth is 11th

Fri Nov 26,11:05 PM ET 

ASPEN, Colo. (CP) - Figuring she had no chance of catching the leader, Finland's Tanja Poutiainen charged down the hill without fear. It worked out pretty well.

Poutiainen made up more than a half-second on her second run for a World Cup victory Friday, edging Sweden's Anja Paerson by .09 seconds in a giant slalom. It was her second World Cup victory.

"At the start of the second run, I really didn't think I'd win today," Poutiainen said. "Full attack was the only way for me to go today."

Trailing Croatia's Janica Kostelic by .6 seconds after her first run, Poutiainen didn't hold back on her second run at Aspen Mountain. She finished with a two-run total of two minutes, 12.49 seconds at the World Cup's only U.S. stop for women, adding the giant slalom title to her win in a slalom last February in Finland.

"I feel very happy about it," said Poutiainen, who finished second to Paerson in the World Cup season opener in Austria on Oct. 23. "It's a big step for me."

Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, B.C., was fifth after the opening run, but dropped to 11th after the second time down the course, finishing with a time of 2:14.99.

Kostelic, a two-time World Cup overall champion who won three gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, appeared to be headed toward her first victory in nearly two years with a stellar first run.

Fighting through driving snow and choppy conditions, Kostelic finished the first run in 1:05.92 in just her second race in 19 months after having her thyroid gland removed and several knee surgeries.

But with visibility much better and the course running smoother, Kostelic couldn't keep up on the second run with Poutiainen and Paerson. Skiing last on the second run, Kostelic went wide on one of the final turns to finish third overall.

"I'm not in any hurry," Kostelic said. "I just came back and there's a lot of time left."

Paerson appears to have picked up where she left off last year, when she won the giant slalom and slalom season titles. She won the giant slalom in the season opener in Austria last month by .32 seconds and is tied with Poutiainen for the early season overall points lead with 180.

"I really thought I had it, but she (Poutiainen) was skiing great," Paerson said.

Kristina Koznick was the top American, finishing 24th - 3.69 seconds off the lead. Kirsten Clark finished 28th in her first race since tearing a knee ligament and breaking her wrist in a race last January. She fought nerves on her first run and was tentative the last half of her second, but still achieved her goal of a top-30 finish.

"Definitely, first run my nerves were a lot more than on my second run," Clark said. "A little disappointed with my second run; I thought I skied well, but maybe I was little too cautious."

Anja Paerson, Tanja Poutianen and Janica Kostelic

Liechtenstein's Jessica Walter had to be taken off the course on a sled on the first run after getting too far inside on one of the gates and hitting her forehead. She tumbled backward after the impact spun her around, and was on the course for several minutes while medical personnel strapped her to the sled.

Walter was taken to a hospital with a knee injury, and was being evaluated.