A promising weekend for Anja Paerson
Sweden's Anja Paerson, called the “Swede with Speed” in the USA had a hard time in Aspen's giant slalom to fight for another victory. It has not been an easy race for the defending Overall World Cup champion who suffered from a cold coming to Aspen. Above this, she also missed the free training on the race course because she was blocked during the previous night on highway I-70 because of an accident.
“I have to be happy”
“I have to be happy with my performances considering the circumstances,” she said. The things were not so easy for me, especially in the first race which was quite tough for my body. The course was extremely demanding because of the rutted course and the long runs. It was hard to deal with it physically because I'm suffering from an inflammation of the sinus.”
“I caught that cold a week ago, and I have to say that I was really not feeling strong at all before the first event.”
“I'm taking some antibiotics, but it wasn't enough. I wasn't able to push myself a lot at the first day. Actually it was the first time I was able to a small effort. I feel really tired and quite happy to be on the podium when the race was over.”
“The conditions were really difficult. A lot of snow falling, bad visibility. I didn't have good feelings. I couldn't reach my limits. Actually the course setter didn't help us a lot. With the flat light and all this tough terrain, you didn't know where to use your edges and how to attack the course. The snow was confusing; some parts of the slope were even breaking through. We didn't really trained those days, and the pre-race free skiing was not so easy. But anyway with the way I felt, everything looked complicated.”
“Yet, I decided to attack in the second run. I said to myself that there were no reasons that I should try hard to go for it. I made a huge 2nd leg, but Tanja is improving so fast! At the beginning of the season, I already said that she would be hard to catch. She skied so well in the lower part, that's what makes the difference. I thought that I would be in the lead, but I was not good enough, We definitely have now to count with her this year.”
Manuèle Lang
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