Julia Mancuso in the lead

Patrick Lang 10.03.2007 12:45 Uhr

USA's Julia Mancuso made the best out of her start-number 1 to clock the fastest time in the opening leg of a giant slalom organized on the slope of the "Grosser Arber" mountains located in the "Bayerischer Wald" above Zwiesel.

The first run began with a delay of 45 minutes because of fog banks and bad visibility in the upper part of the slope which hosts its tenth World Cup stop since 1976 yet Mancuso doesn't mind such difficult race conditions. She clinched her Olympic title last year at Sestriere by similar weather.

Today the Overall World Cup leader was able to ski on a clean course to beat by 16/100 of a second Finland's Tanja Poutiainen and by 23/100 Michaela Kirchgasser, from Austria, the winner at Sierra Navada, Spain, two weeks ago.

Nicole Hosp, the leader in the giant slalom standings, had to be content with her 6th place, 77/100 behind the skier from Squaw Valley, whose best performance this season in the specialty is a 3rd place at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

So far, Mancuso won four events this season in downhill, Super-G and Super-combined. She was also leading the first giant slalom run at the World Championships at Are three weeks ago but moved down to 5th place after a slower second leg.

Marlies Schild, the leader in the slalom standings, came in 11th at 1,17 seconds.

Renate Goetschl, who shared the lead in the general classification with Mancuso this morning, finished a far 21st, 1,82 seconds far from her rival.

All four skiers are classified within 29 points in the Overall standings led by Mancuso and Goetschl, tied in first place with 1099 points.

This last giant slalom prior the Finals at Lenzerheide can also be decisive for the specialty standings in which Poutiainen trails Hosp by 36 points.
Kirchgasser is 3rd at 73 points and Mancuso 4th at 104 points.

A foggy first run
"The course was soft and I don't know if I was advantages starting ahead this morning but I achieved a good race," said Mancuso after her run. "It was quite foggy at the top but fine at the bottom," added the relaxed Californian who celebrated her 23rd birthday on Friday with a few friends in her motor-home eating a sweet "Sacher" cake.

Poutiainen who has not celebrated a World Cup win for two years was also pleased by her performance. "The course was in good shape and the run was fair so it was not such a problem this morning with the visibility," said the skier from Rovaniemi who reached twice the podium two weeks ago in Spain. "I know what I have to do in the second run - attack as hard as possible."

Hosp, who clinched gold at the recent Worlds at Are thanks an impressive second run, said she could never find her best rhythm this morning but she has the potential to repeat that feat here to successfully defend her lead in the giant slalom standings and preserve her chances in the Overall competition.

Schild is aiming for a top-10 and Goetschl for a top-15
Sweden's Anja Paerson, 10th at 1,15 seconds, is still fighting for her first podium finish since her amazing hat-trick at Are where she captured three gold medals in three consecutive races.

She has not been very successful so far in recent weeks, skiing out in three of her last four races in Sierra Nevada and Tarvisio, where she missed the last gate in Super-G after clocking the fastest intermediate time.

The second run should start at 1.30 PM (CET)