Kostelic wins World Cup combined event 

SAN SICARIO, ( 27/02/2005 15:04 ) Italy (AP) _ Janica Kostelic of Croatia won the only women's World Cup combined race of the season Sunday, mastering the new course for next year's Olympics and ending Anja Paerson's winning streak at two. Kostelic posted the fastest time in the morning downhill leg and then cruised to victory in the single slalom run for a combined time of 2 minutes, 19.35 seconds. Paerson, the Swede who won a super-G on Friday and secured her first career victory in a downhill on Saturday, finished 0.43 seconds behind. The surprise of the day was Emily Brydon of Canada, previously known mostly as a speed specialist, who came in third, 1.32 back.
Kostelic's victory was no surprise at all. She is the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline and also won the event at the last two world championships, most recently at Santa Caterina on Feb. 4. "I think the downhill was the key. Since Anja won yesterday, I knew I really had to push much harder to beat her and I had a much better run than yesterday," said Kostelic, who finished second Saturday. It was only Kostelic's second victory on the regular World Cup circuit this season, adding to her slalom win in Aspen, Colorado, in November.
Nicole Hosp moved up from 10th after the downhill to finish fourth, while fellow Austrian Renate Goetschl dropped from second to seventh. Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic, the recently crowned junior world slalom champion, had the fastest slalom run. Zahrobska, who finished third in the slalom at the senior worlds, still placed only 17th due to a slow downhill run, however. Kostelic's victory narrowed her deficit behind Paerson in the overall World Cup standings by 20 points. Paerson, who began the weekend with only an eight-point lead, now leads Kostelic by 63 points. The title will not be decided until the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, next month.
"I'm really relaxed now. No matter where I finish I'll be happy because when the season began no one expected much from me and I've had a great season and a great world championships," said Kostelic, who missed all of last season due to a thyroid problem and injuries. The Croat won three gold medals to Paerson's two at the recently concluded world championships. While Kostelic was heading home to Croatia for five days of training in Zagreb, Paerson said she was going to Lenzerheide on Monday for training.
"Sixty-three is a really small margin," Paerson said. "We're both excited and pumped up for (the finals). For me it's an honor to have a tight race between her and me." Unlike at world championships and Olympics where there are two slalom runs in combined, Sunday's race included only one slalom leg, theoretically making the contest more even between speed and technical specialists. "I don't like it too much, I like it better with two runs," said Kostelic, who said she usually skis better in the second run of slalom races. "Today though I liked it better with just one run because I was a little tired." The slalom course was relatively flat and not too challenging, and that may have helped Brydon achieve the second podium finish of her career and first since placing third in a downhill at St. Moritz more than four years ago.
"It's a great result and a great way to finish the regular season also," said the Canadian, who was fifth in Saturday's downhill. The 24-year-old Brydon was a highly promising junior skier. "It's been a long time between juniors and now and I've put a lot of work in and I hope it's starting to pay off," she said.  
   
 

Kostelic leads combined race
 
SAN SICARIO, ( 27/02/2005 12:04 ) Italy (AP) _ Olympic and two-time world champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia led after the downhill portion of a World Cup combined race Sunday. Kostelic covered the new course for next year's Turin Olympics in 1 minute, 35.65 seconds and held a 0.08-second lead on Austria's Renate Goetschl. Canada's Emily Brydon stood third, 0.78 back, although as purely a speed skier she was expected to drop back in the afternoon's slalom run.

Anja Paerson, aiming for a weekend sweep after winning a super-G on Friday and securing her first career victory in a downhill on Saturday, was fourth at a gap of 0.81. Unlike at world championships and Olympics where there are two slalom runs, Sunday's race _ the only World Cup combined this season for women _ only includes one slalom leg, meaning Kostelic might be too tough to catch for Paerson. The Swede thought otherwise, however.

"It's always possible," she said, adding that she had some trouble motivating herself after back-to-back victories. "I was just trying to come down safely. "It's hard to really want it today after two such good races. I'm looking forward to the slalom though." On Saturday, Paerson became just the second female skier in history to win World Cup races in all four disciplines in a single season, matching the feat by Petra Kronberger of Austria in 1990-91.

Kronberger also won a combined race that season, giving her a fifth type of victory in what is considered a paper event that combines downhill and slalom results. Paerson said that winning all five was not her goal. "I'm just racing. It's not something I'm thinking about," she said. Paerson has never won a combined race. Her best result came when she finished second to Kostelic at the world championships earlier this month.

Kostelic also won the combined title at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City and the 2003 worlds at St. Moritz. The Croat is seeking to narrow her gap behind Paerson in the overall World Cup standings. Paerson leads on 1,161 points compared to Kostelic's 1,078, with only the four races at next month's World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, remaining after Sunday.  
  
 

Paerson wins first downhill, joins elite list of all-around winners
 
SAN SICARIO, ( 26/02/2005 18:25 ) Italy (AP) _ Anja Paerson of Sweden became just the second female skier in history to win World Cup races in all four disciplines in a single season, claiming victory Saturday in a downhill for the first time in her career. Paerson, who finished in 1 minute, 52.86 seconds, matched the feat set by Petra Kronberger of Austria in 1990-91. Kronberger also won a combined race that season, giving her a fifth type of victory in an event that combines downhill and slalom results. Paerson will have a chance to win a combined Sunday in the final race this weekend on the course that will be used at next year's Turin Olympics. Paerson inaugurated the course by winning her first World Cup super-G on Friday. Originally a technical specialist excelling only in slalom and giant slalom, Paerson won a slalom on Jan. 23 in Maribor, Slovenia, and captured the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, on Oct. 23. Each of her four World Cup victories this season have come in different disciplines. "It's something I dreamed about when I was young, especially coming from Sweden, where it's tougher (to be a downhiller)," Paerson said of her country, which is known more for its slalom skiers, such as Ingemar Stenmark. "It's come so fast this year," added Paerson, who only began racing all four disciplines last season, when she won the overall World Cup title. "It's maybe my biggest victory. Every race I've won is special, but when I look back on my career, one of the biggest things will be today." Janica Kostelic of Croatia was second, 0.24 seconds behind Paerson, and Hilde Gerg of Germany was third, 0.98 behind. Paerson also increased her overall World Cup lead. She now has 1,161 points, followed by Kostelic with 1,078. While Kostelic won three titles to Paerson's two at the world championships earlier this month, she has captured only one World Cup race this season, taking a slalom in Aspen, Colorado, in November. "I can just congratulate her and bow," Kostelic said of her rival. "I started racing all four before her, but I'm not going to quit skiing, I plan to ski quite a few more years and hopefully I'll win (every event)." Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg is the only other woman to have won races in all four disciplines, although she did it over several seasons. In December, Bode Miller of the United States joined Marc Girardelli as the only male skiers to win races in all four events in one winter. "When I saw him win all the races, I felt inspired," Paerson said of Miller. "I thought maybe I could do it." Renate Goetschl of Austria finished eighth and had her lead ahead of Gerg in the downhill standings narrowed to just 32 points with only one race remaining, at the season-ending World Cup finals in Lenzerheide next month. With victories worth 100 points, two other skiers _ Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria (75 points behind Goetschl) and Lindsey Kildow of the United States (83) _ also still have a mathematical chance of winning the downhill title. Dorfmeister finished fourth Saturday and Kildow was seventh. Several skiers complained that Friday's super-G was too straight and easy, but most agreed that the downhill was more challenging. Paerson increased her pace most of the way down before slowing only slightly before the finish near where she fell in Thursday's training. "It's not an easy downhill. There were some crashes today. It's got lots of small details _ the rolls can be very difficult and you have to concentrate on finding and maintaining your line," Paerson said. "Today the speeds were 105 kph (65 mph). That's not the fastest, but it's challenging." Paerson knew four years ago that she wanted to become an all-around skier. "I thought maybe by (the 2006 Olympics) it would be possible to ski all disciplines," she said. "Right now, I'm ahead of schedule. It's been moving really fast. I didn't rush myself in downhill. My goal four years ago was to win the Olympic downhill, which is looking very good now."  
    

Paerson wins super-G to inaugurate Olympic course
 
SAN SICARIO, ( 25/02/2005 14:11 ) Italy (AP) _ Anja Paerson of Sweden won a World Cup super-G on Friday to inaugurate the course for next year's Turin Olympics. The victory boosted Paerson's lead atop the overall standings and showed her win in the super-G at the world championships last month was no fluke. She negotiated the Fraiteve Olympique course in 1 minute, 31.85 seconds. It was Paerson's first victory in a speed event at the World Cup level. She now leads Janica Kostelic of Croatia, who finished in a tie for fifth, 1,061-998 in the overall standings. Local favorite Isolde Kostner of Italy was second, 0.57 seconds behind. Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria and Tina Maze of Slovenia tied for third, 0.65 behind. Kostelic tied with Hilde Gerg of Germany for fifth, 0.66 behind.  
 

Goetschl leads second downhill practice at Olympic venue 

SAN SICARIO, ( 25/02/2005 00:47 )  Italy (AP) _ World Cup downhill leader Renate Goetschl edged American Lindsey Kildow by a tenth of a second Thursday in the second and last practice for Saturday's race at the 2006 Winter Olympics venue. The 29-year-old Austrian completed the 2,720-meter long Fraiteve Olympique course in one minute, 53.95 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than Italy's Lucia Recchia, who led Wednesday's opening practice run. Kildow was second best in 1:54.05, ahead of France's Ingrid Jacquemod, who was another 36-hundredths of a second behind. Germany's Hilde Gerg was fourth in 1:54.58, ahead of Italian Isolde Kostner (1:54.84). Canada's Emily Braydon placed sixth and American Julie Mancuso seventh, both within a second of Goetschl. Triple world champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia was ninth, 1.05 seconds back. Kostelic won the downhill, combined and slalom at the World Championships in Santa Caterina Valfurva, which ended a week and a half ago. World Cup defending champion and overall leader Anja Paerson of Sweden fell after clocking some of the fastest split times. Italian organizers said the Swedish skier escaped unhurt. Paerson, who won the Super-G and giant slalom titles at the Worlds, leads Kostelic by eight points in the overall standings entering Friday's Super-G, Saturday's downhill and Sunday's combined races on the course that will host Alpine ski events at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Goetschl enters Saturday's downhill, the next-to-last of eight World Cup speed events, with 435 points in the discipline standings, 60 ahead of second-place Gerg.