Third consecutive win for Denise Karbon

Manuèle Lang 30.12.2007 15:02 Uhr

Italy’s Denise Karbon confirmed her outstanding form in giant slalom in celebrating her third consecutive win today in Lienz where she crushed once more the rest of the field on the challenging Hochtsein course surrounded by a huge crowd.

The tiny champion from Castelrotto loudly supported at the arrival by members of her excited fan club clocked the fastest times in both runs to beat by 1,28 seconds USA’s Julia Mancuso and by 1,52 her teammate Nicole Gius while Elisabeth Goergl was once more the best Austrian in 4th place.

It’s the third consecutive race without a podium finish for the disappointing Austrian team. Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild both struggled on their way down the technically demanding slope and finished far behind the leaders in 16th and 24th place.

Germany’s Kathrin Hölzl, 2nd in giant slalom at the 2007 Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, also expected more than her 5th place after clocking the second best time in the first leg. At least she confirmed that she has the potential to become the next top German GS specialist. The last German win in that specialty goes back to Martina Ertl’s last triumph at Soelden in October 2003.

Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen was 6th and Anja Paerson 9th. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn didn’t qualify for the second run yet she kept the lead in the standings prior Saturday’s slalom.

It was a tough day for Wyoming’s Resi Stiegler who suffered a bad crash at the middle of her first run. The 23-year-old American, recently named “Lange Girl Athlete” by the pool of voters, lost her balance in the steepest part of the slope and fell on her back. She slid down the slope and under the safety nets which didn’t stop her. After rolling several times over herself, Resi was stopped by a small pine tree.

It took a long time for the course workers to rescue her and bring her down the slope. At the hospital, the doctors unfortunately found out a series of severe injuries including a broken left forearm, a broken right shinbone, torn ligaments in the right knee and a bruised face and hip. She is supposed to be transported to Colorado to be operated at Steadman’s clinic at Vail.

Denise Karbon was the only favourite today was able to faultlessly master the difficulties of the demanding giant slalom slope and become the first Italian to win that race.

The fact that the 27-year-old had plenty of time to perfectly prepare this difficult race may partly explain her dominance. While the other leaders as Hosp, Schild or Mancuso entered all the races in St Moritz and St Anton, Denise trained intensively for this event at home.

“I felt ready for this competition and I was very happy to return to the tour,” said Karbon who finished 10th in slalom at Aspen, her last race prior the Lienz competitions.

“I was able to tank much energy for today’s race and I felt extremely relaxed and confident,” the Italian added. “It’s pretty amazing, I can’t really explain how come I’m suddenly skiing so well now after so many difficult years. I guess I’m enjoying it more and able to take more risks without reflecting too much on what I’m doing.”

“Things are really well organised in our team now, the trainers are doing a great job and our head coach Michael Maier is always looking for solutions when we have a problem. He was very influent in having us flying to South America last summer despite the difficult financial situation from our ski federation. He is also creating a wonderful environment in our group. We are having much fun, it’s very important to each of us.”

Karbon is the first skier since triple Olympic champion Deborah Compagnoni to capture the first three giant slalom races on the World Cup schedule during the 1997/98 season. Compagnoni, a winner of thirteen giant slaloms in her brilliant career won in fact eight consecutive times over two seasons from 1997 to 1998!

During the 1988/89 season Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider captured the first five giant slalom races as did Austria’s skiing legend Annemarie Moser-Proell during the 1975/75 winter and Germany’s Christa Kinshofer in 1978/79.

“I surely remember Deborah who has been my idol when I was a child but it’s way to early to compare us right now, she has achieved so many great performances in her career, I’m far behind her,” told Denise to the press. “For the moment I’m just enjoying each moment and I hope to remain able to ski so well for a while. The next couple of events will be crucial for me and my lead in the specialty standings. I know too well that things can change very quickly from one minute to the other,” also said the smiling Karbon whose career has been marred by too many bad injuries in the last years.

Julia Mancuso scored her fourth podium finish since the season start – her second in giant slalom after Soelden. The Californian also moved up in the Overall standings but her first thoughts after the competition went to her good friend Resi Stiegler. “I tried to win for her,” she said on Austrian TV. “I fought hard but Denise was again out of reach today. I’m very sorry for Resi, we will miss her a lot.”

Mancuso also said she was pleased by her consistent form which allowed her to reach three consecutive podiums in downhill, Super-combined and giant slalom and than she soon hopes to celebrate her first GS win on the World Cup.

In Saturday’s slalom, the Austrian team aims for a strong comeback with Hosp and Schild, the winner here two years ago. So far, they won the first three slalom races at Reiteralm, Panorama and Aspen and the certainly wish to end the year on a higher note after the last three disappointing races.