Hosp wins as rivals falter
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ByEurosport
Published 13/02/2007 at 19:39 GMT
Nicole Hosp won the giant slalom title in Are on Tuesday to save an otherwise disappointing world championships for the Austrian power-team as twice-defending champion Anja Paerson crashed dramatically and Olympic champion Julia Mancuso ceded her first-ru
ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Aare Super G Hosp
Image credit: Reuters
Hosp - the Olympic silver medallist in the slalom from last year's Turin Games - was even with Sweden's Anna Ottosson at fourth after the first run, but blazed to the fastest time on the second run to claim her first gold medal at a major championship.
The 23-year-old finished in a combined time of two minutes and 31.72 seconds.
Sweden's Maria Pietilae-Holmner salvaged some pride for the host-nation by claiming the silver medal at 0.85 seconds behind Hosp after Paerson's dramatic wipe-out.
Italian Denise Karbon took the bronze a further 0.12 seconds back.
"I dreamed last night this would happen but I had to fight for it," said Hosp, the bronze medallist in Sunday's downhill. "That second run was a dream run, probably my best ever in a giant slalom."
Prior to Hosp's victory the normally dominant Austrians were languishing at seventh in the medal table without a gold.
American number one Mancuso, who had a 0.25-second advantage over Hosp after the first run, skied a cautious second effort to drop to fifth-place a full 1.24 seconds behind the new world champion.
"It wasn't what I expected", said Mancuso, silver-medallist in the super-combined. "It was a lot rougher and bumpy at the beginning."
Starting from seventh-place after the first run, Paerson built a full 0.63 second lead over then-leading Karbon just prior to flying face-forward into the snow in a display reminiscent of her patented penguin belly-flop, normally reserved for victories.
The 25-year-old Olympic slalom champion had won the first three events at the Are world championships (super-G, downhill and super-combined) to become the first person to win world titles in all five Alpine disciplines.
"Of course I was taking risks because I want to win every race I enter but I don't think that's why I crashed," Paerson told reporters. "It was a technical mistake. That can always happen."
"I would have loved to win another gold but I can't really say I'm disappointed. I won three gold medals and nobody will take them away from me."
The 20-year-old Pietilae-Holmner won slalom gold at the junior world championships last year, but has never finished on a World Cup podium.
"Seeing Anja do so well obviously gives ideas to the other Swedish girls," she said. "Winning a medal here, with the King and the Queen watching, is simply amazing."
Follow live coverage of the men's giant slalom from 10:00 CET on Tuesday with full timing and streaming video.
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