Another milestone win for Marlies Schild

Patrick Lang 11.03.2007 16:09 Uhr

Marlies Schild celebrated another milestone victory today in Zwiesel where she won her seventh slalom of the season with the impressive margin of 2,23 seconds - one of the biggest in recent years.

The 25-year-old Austrian from Saalfelden, near Salzburg, clearly dominated the field which only battled for the two other podium finishes. This "other" competition was won by the new slalom champion Sarka Zahrboska and Sweden's veteran Anna Ottosson who tied for 2nd place.

Italy's Nicole Gius came in 4th and Finland's Tanja Poutiainen, 5th after a mistake at the end of her second run. Tanja has clocked the second fastest time in the morning.

This eighth season win - Schild clinched a Super-combined event in December at Reiteralm - propelled the girl-friend of Benjamin Raich atop of the Overall standings with an advance of 15 points on her team-mate Nicole Hosp only 11th because of a poor first run.

Julia Mancuso was a far 21st at 5,26 seconds - which only brought her seven points. She is now 3rd in the Overall standings with 1,251 points. She didn't perform as well as last week in Tarvisio where she reached three podiums in three days including a win in downhill.

Renate Goetschl who didn't compete today is 4th with 1,200 points - 102 less than Schild. With a total of 132 points scored in two races, Schild was the best performer among the four Overall favourites this weekend.

Schild close to Kostelic
Only Croatia's Janica Kostelic did better than Schild on the World Cup scene with a total of eight consecutive wins during the 2000-2001 season which she ended with her first Overall World Cup victory. The Austrian is aiming to equal that record next week in Lenzerheide at the World Cup Finals.

"I'll of course do my best to win again next week but for the moment I'm just happy to have skied so well today," Schild said after her race. "I was not so pleased two weeks ago by the way I won the slalom in Sierra Nevada, I didn't fully attack in the second run because I wanted to be assured to win the slalom standings and I didn't take all risks," she added.

"But today I charged in both runs and searched for more speed after each gate. I felt confident and I like the slope here which was pretty demanding. It's nice to win with such a margin of course but the most important is to have the feeling of having given my best in both runs."

Schild is the fourth skier to take over the lead in the Overall World Cup standings in two weeks. Mancuso and Goetschl were in command last week and Hosp after yesterday's giant slalom. Yet she knows that she might have a hard time to keep this "hot" seat after the next race, a downhill, planned in Lenzerheide on Wednesday.

"I guess we have to wait the very last day to know the name of the Overall winner, until then each of each will try as hard as possible to score a maximum of points," she also said. "I hope to raise my level in the other specialty, but it certainly will be difficult for me to stay ahead after the next speed events."

A last podium for Ottosson
Anna Ottosson was delighted to have reached her very first podium in slalom a few days prior her retirement. The 30-year-old skier from Oestersund who captured Olympic bronze last year in giant slalom at Sestriere, won a giant slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo seven years ago, but she never excelled in slalom.

"It was one of my last opportunities so I fought hard today, especially in the second run after making a big mistake," she explained. "It's a good feeling to leave the tour with such a result. I'll give my best to get another podium next week in Switzerland but I guess it will be even harder. So many good skiers will also be doing the same to score big points in the various standings."

Sarka Zahrobska reached her third World Cup podium this season, equalling her best World Cup performance from Kranjska Gora. She only clocked the ninth best time in the first leg but found back her best rhythm in the afternoon. "There were many Czech fans here today and I also wanted to achieve a good race for them," she said. "It's good to reach another podium today, my season was really outstanding so far," added the 21-year-old. "I still have a lot to improve in the coming years to ski as well as Schild during the entire season."

Hosp, who clocked the third best time in the second leg, scored a total of 104 points during that weekend which helped her to stay ahead of her main rival in the battle for the big Crystal globe - Julia Mancuso. The Austrian giant slalom World Champion is the only skier having the potential to score top-3 finishes in all specialties next week in Switzerland which makes her the skier to beat during those promising finals.