First victory for Maria Holaus

Manuèle Lang 20.01.2008 12:41 Uhr

Austria’s Maria Holaus brilliantly confirmed her talent today at Cortina d’Ampezzo where she celebrated her first World Cup win in the first of two Super-G races hold by beautiful weather conditions on the lower part of the technically demanding “Olimpia-Tofana” course.

The 23-year-old Tyrolian, 3rd last winter in a downhill at Sansicario, Italy, made the best out of her start-number 1 to beat by 23/100 of a second California’s Julia Mancuso, a winner in that event last year, while defending World Cup champion Nicole Hosp was 3rd at 28/100, only a single hundredths ahead of Canada’s Emily Brydon.

Saturday’s downhill winner Lindsey Kildow finished a strong 5th yet she missed a good opportunity to take over the lead in the Overall World Cup standings after her impressive demonstration from the previous day.

Austria’s veteran Renate Goetschl, a ten-time champion here, was a disappointing 7th while Germany’s Maria Riesch, an established speed specialist, a far 15th. For the first time since the mid 1990s, Goetschl may leave the famous Italian resort without a podium finish!

Holaus, who competed in her only fifteenth World Cup race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, was 17th in Saturday’s race. She was hopping for more after being 5th at St Anton where she clocked fast training times prior the race. Last year, she reached an impressive 4th place in her opening World Cup race in downhill at Altenmarkt. This certainly motivated her today.

“I surely didn’t expect such a result today, Super-G is not my best specialty,” she said afterwards. “I guess it helped me to start early and to be relaxed. You have to attack on this course but be also smooth in the gliding parts. It’s a wonderful surprise for me, this success here means a lot to me. It’s such a nice place and very prestigious competition,” added Holaus, only 37th here a year ago.

Mancuso lost too much time in the upper part to seriously threaten Holaus at the bottom but she was glad to be back on the podium in Super-G. The skier from Squaw Valley has not been as consistent so far as last winter when she reached the podium five times in a row in four specialties.

Nicole Hosp on her side confirmed her strong form in the specialty after skipping Saturday’s downhill. Her rivals will need to excel at their best level to have a chance to prevent her to successfully defend her World Cup title.

On Monday, another Super-G is scheduled at Cortina d’Ampezzo – and for sure another captivating battle between the best skiers on the tour.