4th podium for Maria Riesch

Manuèle Lang 08.01.2008 08:43 Uhr

Maria Riesch is fully back! The tall and elegant German champion impressed once more her rivals and friends on Sunday in scoring her 4th podium finish this season – her first in slalom since her last World Cup victory at Levi, Finland, in March 2004!

The 23-year-old skier from Garmisch-Partenkirchen who celebrated three impressive World Cup wins in downhill, Super-G and slalom in 2004 was in fact fighting for another triumph in Spindleruv Mlyn’s slalom after clocking the fastest time in the first leg.

Unfortunately, she made a major mistake at the beginning of her second run yet she fought hard in the last gates to capture her 14th podium on the World Cup tour in taking 3rd place.

“It’s too bad, I gave my best at the bottom of the second run but I lost too much time with that mistake,” she said after her race. “It was surely exciting to compete for another victory in slalom, it has been a while since 2004, I was pretty nervous before the second run,” the Bavarian added. “I’m still happy with this result, it was a goal of mine to get back in first seed in slalom this winter. I gained a lot of confidence since the season start,” also said Riesch who was 4th in slalom at Lienz last week after finishing 2nd in Super-G at Lake Louise, 3rd in downhill at St Moritz and 2nd again in Super-combined at St Anton.

This impressive series of top-3 finishes propelled the Lange champion in 2nd position in the Overall World Cup standings, only a few points behind Austria’s Nicole Hosp, last year’s winner. So far, she is the only top skier having reached the podium in four specialties this season.

“It’s for sure fun, but the season is still long and for the moment I rather aim to improve my form and remain focused,” also said the German who sustained two major knee injuries in 2004 and 2005, forcing her to skip the 2005 FIS Worlds at Bormio and the 2006 Olympics at Sestriere.

Last winter, Riesch achieved an impressive comeback at Lake Louise where she won the first downhill of the season yet she faded afterwards and finished far from the podiums at Are in February. She ended the Overall standings in 14th position.

The coming weeks could be very interesting for Maria who will be racing in Maribor, in Slovenia, where a giant slalom and a slalom are scheduled, then in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy where two Super-G’s and a downhill are planned on the stupendous “Olimpia-Tofana” course. She was 2nd there in a Super-G in January 2004!

With some luck, she may well win one of them!