First win for Martina Schild

Patrick Lang 03.12.2007 08:32 Uhr

Switzerland’s Martina Schild celebrated her maiden World Cup win today in Lake Louise, Alberta, where she surprisingly snatched the first Super-G race of the season hold on the challenging “Olympic / East Summit” course. The 26-year-old champion from Grindelwald made the best out of her start-number 14 to achieve an almost flawless run to beat by 20/100 of a second only Germany’s Maria Riesch while Sweden’s Jessica Lindell Vikarbi enjoyed her very first World Cup podium in ending in 3rd place with a delay of 42/100.

Austria’s Alexandra Meissnitzer, a former winner here, was 4th only a few hundredths away from the podium and 3/100 ahead of another Swiss, Fraenzi Aufdenblatten.

Nicole Hosp was the best among the Overall World Cup favorites as she finished 6th far ahead of her teammate Marlies Schild, only 30th . Yet the slalom specialist kept the lead in the Overall standings with an advantage of 37 points on Hosp.

Sweden’s reigning Super-G World Champion Anja Paerson was 7th and USA’s Julia Mancuso 11th.

This last Canadian competition prior the pre-Olympics at Whistler Mountain in February was also marked by the crash of the winner from Saturday’s downhill, Lindsey Vonn, who hit the fences in the upper part of the run after losing her balance on a small bump.

The skier from Park City who was faster than Martina Schild at the first intermediate time suffers strong pains at her left hip hit by a pole during her fall.

The winner from last year’s Super-G, Austria’s Renate Goetschl, 2nd on Saturday, missed a gate at the middle of her run while taking great risks to achieve another strong performance.

Sarka Zahrobska from the Czech Republic was an impressive 15th – by far her best ever performance in that specialty. The reigning slalom World Champion only seldom enters speed races during her World Cup season.

Spain’s Carolina Ruiz Castillo scored again points with her 23rd place. She finished among the best-20 in Saturday’s competition.

The Swiss fought back!
After their disappointing performances in downhill, the Swiss team fought back with four skiers finishing among the best-15! Schild, 17th on Saturday, was keen to prove that she can do better yet she didn’t expect to beat all the other favorites on that demanding course.

“I trained well in Super-G last summer and I felt confident prior the race, but I was not dreaming about a podium today and certainly not about that victory,” she candidly admitted afterwards.

“I guess I managed to find the best rhythm on that slope today. It was surely a fast run and the snow was quite aggressive too,” she added. “I was charging because I was not too pleased with my performance in the downhill even though I didn’t make major mistakes yesterday. The trainers were quite unhappy with our results yesterday so we all tried harder today.”

“It’s surely a wonderful moment which I can compare with my success at the 2006 Olympics in Sansicario where I clinched silver in the downhill. Last year was quite difficult for me because everybody was expecting a lot for me. I felt the pressure and I tried too hard. Now I am more relaxed and more focused too. This victory is great for the entire team. We were expecting it for a long time now!”

In fact the Swiss women have not done so well since Nadia Styger’s last win at Hafjell, in Norway, in March 2006 when she tied for first place in a Super-G with Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister and USA’s Lindsey Kildow (now Vonn).

Schild captured a 3rd place last year in Super-G at Reiteralm at the beginning of the season. This win also reinforces her position in the first seed in that specialty – she is now 7th.

“I hope now to improve my form in downhill but I still need to work a lot in that event. I don’t feel as confident in downhill as in Super-G so I can’t take as much risks as I could,” added the charming Swiss who has been inspired in her younger age by her grand’ mother, Hedy Schlunegger, the first ever downhill Olympic champion in 1948 at St Moritz.

80 points more for Riesch
It was also a good weekend for Maria Riesch who scored a lot of points in two days. She was 4th in the downhill yesterday and her 2nd place brought her 80 extra points which move her in 4th place in the Overall standings prior the coming competition at Aspen where a downhill, a Super-G and a slalom are scheduled next weekend.

“It’s for sure a good start for me, I was aiming for a good result in downhill because I like the course here but I did better than expected today in that Super-G,” she said at the post-race press conference.

“I feel more comfortable now in the speed events than last winter. I won the first downhill here but the rest of my season was not particularly brilliant afterwards. I hope to be more consistent this winter and reinforce my confidence.”

Jessica Lindell-Vikarbi, who competes since five years on the World Cup tour was delighted to have finally reached her goal in finishing on her first World Cup podium. “It was definitely a main target for me this season and I felt ready for it after my strong performance the other day in giant slalom at Panorama,” she explained.

“I didn’t expect it really today but I surely feel good about it,” she added. “I didn’t do so well last winter with only a single top-10 finish but it’s going much better so far. I was really impatient, but now I can aim for even more in the next weeks and months.”

In Aspen she will try hard again but she will not be the only one!