SANTA CATERINA VALFURVA, Tuesday, February 08, 2005, Italy (CP) - Anja Paerson of Sweden won the gold medal in the women's giant slalom race Tuesday at the world alpine skiing championships.

Paerson carved down the sun-drenched Deborah Compagnoni course in a two-run combined time of two minutes 13.63 seconds, adding the giant slalom title to the one she won in the championship's opening super-G race.

Finland's Tanja Poutiainen took the silver medal, ahead of American Julia Mancuso of the United States.

Genevieve Simard of Val-Morin, Que., was eighth, 0.59 seconds behind Paerson. She was fifth following the opening run. Gail Kelly of Ste-Anges-de-Beauce, Que., was 22nd after the opening run and moved up to finish in 19th place in 2:16.97.

"Even though I made a costly mistake in the second run and moved back in the ranks, I'm still very happy about my day, " Simard, who competed in her final event of the championships, said in a release. "I am leaving town with my head high because I really went for it and gave it my best in both runs."

Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, B.C. and Brigitte Acton of Mont Tremblant, Que., did not finish the second run.

"This is a disappointment for me, " said Forsyth. "I approached the second run as though I was racing for the podium. Consequently, I had fast intervals in the top section of the second course. But when you are skiing on the edge, you are also taking the risk of not finishing and this is what

happened near the end of the second run."

Leading the opening run, Paerson entered the second leg with the added advantage that her father and coach, Anders Paerson, set the course under rules that rotate the job between coaches from race to race.

"It is an unbelievably wonderful win for me," Paerson said. "In the second run, I tried everything.

"Normally this aggressive snow is not good for me. So I just wanted to let the skis run, remain calm and on the edge and not stand too much.

"It was really hard today. I fought. I wasn't so strong in giant slalom this season."

Paerson had not won a giant slalom since the World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria, in October.

Poutiainen, the World Cup overall and giant slalom leader, finished runner-up in 2:13.82 for her first career world championship medal.

"I've had a great season," Poutiainen said. "It's a good course, good snow. I can beat Anja in the slalom."

Only seventh after the opening leg, Mancuso vaulted into third on her second trip down, finishing in 2:14.27 and adding a second bronze to the one she claimed in last week's super-G.

"I liked the second run course a lot better," Mancuso said. "The set was more my style."

Germany's Martina Ertl, 31, climbed from sixth to fourth in 2:14.21 after nailing the upper section of the course her second trip down.

Austrian Nicole Hosp, second after the opening leg, dropped to fifth after a disappointing second run.

One of the top efforts of the day came from Sarka Zahrobska. Only 23rd after the opening run, the Czech sliced down the second leg in 2:15.66 to take the provisional lead then watched as 13 other skiers failed to match her performance.

Zahrobska ended up 10th for her best career giant slalom result. She was ninth in the combined at the last worlds.

Slovenia's Tina Maze, the most exciting GS racer this season, disappointed her huge fan club, crashing out in the opening leg after losing an edge.

Maze won three of six World Cup races, but has also been inconsistent, finishing outside the top 10 in the other three.

Maze was plagued by a stomach bug that has affected many of the skiers here and was unable to train for the giant slalom.

The Swiss team was reportedly barring one-on-one interviews with journalists in a bid to prevent skiers from catching the illness.

Janica Kostelic, the winner of the combined and downhill titles here, missed the race because of a cough and fever. The 23-year-old Croat still hopes to compete in Friday's slalom, team officials said.

Canadian Press