Another great weekend for Maria Riesch

Patrick Lang 25.02.2008 10:07 Uhr

Maria Riesch celebrated one of her most significant World Cup victories at Whistler Mountain winning the second Super-combined event of the season two days after suffering another bad crash at the end of the downhill race. The 23-year-old Bavarian beat by a few hundredths Austria’s top favourite Marlies Schild after an amazing Super-G leg in the morning and an aggressive slalom run in the afternoon. Sweden's Anja Paerson was 3rd - her best result for a long time.

It was Maria's second triumph this season – her sixth in her career since 2004 – yet her first in that discipline. So far, Maria has won two downhills, two Super-Gs, a slalom and this crucial Super-combined which put her suddenly back in the race for the Overall World Cup title. “It’s a nice revenge for me after that bad crash in the final part of the downhill on Friday,” the skier from Garmisch-Partenkirchen said afterwards. “I was very upset after that fall and ready to fight even harder today,” she added. “I achieved a great run this morning in the Super-G portion and fought hard afterwards in the slalom. I had a nice lead on the top slalom specialists and I knew I had a chance to win today with a strong slalom run.”

“It surely means a lot to me to win my first Super-combined today,” also said Riesch who took over the lead in the discipline World Cup standings. In December, she was 2nd to her friend Lindsey Von in St Anton in the first Super-combined of the winter. “I could have scored so many points here this week – and also at other occasions,” she went on. “It’s hard to believe that it was my third crash in downhill this winter after St Anton and St Moritz. They surely cost me a lot of points but I rather don’t think about this. There are still important races left on the program and - who knows - I may be luckier in the coming weeks.” “I’m now looking forward for the coming races at Zwiesel, I like competing in front of my fans. I didn’t ski so well at Ofterschwang last month so I have to do better this time.” Maria, a strong leader in the Super-G standings prior the Finals planned at Bormio in two weeks, is only 122 points behind her friend Lindsey Vonn in the Overall standings with eight events left to race in the next three weeks, including another and last Super-combined at Crans-Montana early March. Even though she routs for Vonn, Maria definitely remains a top contender in the battle for the big Crystal globe.

The next women’s competition are planned next weekend at Zwiesel, in the south-east of Bavaria, where a giant slalom and a slalom are scheduled.