First Super-G World Cup title for Michaela Dorfmeister

Parpan/ Lenzerheide, Switzerland, March 11th 2005 - Austria's veteran Michaela Dorfmeister captured her first World Cup Super-G title today in winning the last Super-G at the season-ending finals organized by perfect weather conditions in front of a huge crowd.

The 31-year-old Super-G World Champion from St Moritz 2003 achieved a fast and aggressive run down the challenging “Silvano Beltrametti” course to beat her team-mate Marlies Schild by 30/100 of a second while Overall World Cup leader Anja Paerson reached a crucial 3rd place with a delay of 58/100 of a second. Janica Kostelic was a far 15th 1,40 second behind the winner.
The Swede increased her lead in the Overall standings to 89 points prior to Saturday's slalom.

America's Lindsey Kildow was 4th, good enough to grab 3rd place in the Super-G standings behind Dorfmeister and Renate Goetschl, 5th in that race.
Martina Ertl was 6th in front of Italia's new ski darling, Nadia Fanchini, the downhill junior World Champion.

Michaela Dorfmeister, who already won two Super-G and two downhills races in past months, was particularly happy to win her fifth race and to clinch her first Super-G World Cup title.

“It's a great achievement, not only to win the race but also to get my first ever Super-G World Cup,” she said. “It has been my main goal after the disappointing World Championships.”

The 2002 overall World Cup champion had also previously won titles in the downhill and giant slalom as well as the gold medal at the 2001 World downhill in St Moritz.

“I was really charging down the slope which was pretty rough, I don't know exactly how I skied but I have to thank the organizers for keeping the course in such great condition after all the snow we've had,” she added.

Dorfmeister, who finished 77 points ahead of Renate Goetschl in the Super-G standings, is also 3rd in the Overall standings, a position she will try to keep in the coming days.

Janica Kostelic's chances of winning her third Overall title diminished drastically after this crucial race took a battering after an unusually lackluster performance.
The 2001 and 2003 women's overall champion scraped into the points Friday with a 15th place finish in the race.
"I was finding it hard to memorize the course and never really got into a rhythm," Kostelic told Reuters. "The most important thing in Saturday's slalom will be putting together two solid runs.
"For me, Anja has been the favorite since the start of the finals so there is no added pressure. I just want to do as well as possible."

Janica Kostelic 15th

Janica Kostelic had to be content with a far 15th place in today's Super-G race organised by perfect weather conditions on the challenging « Silvano Beltrametti » course in Lenzerheide. The skier form Zagreb, who came in 5th and 4th in her last two Super-G races, struggled again on the Swiss slope. Anja Paerson, who came in 3rd, increased her lead up to 89 points after this important competition.

“I had again a bad day, I just could not find my pace,” Kostelic said. “I tried hard, but I didn't have any feeling for the course and what I should do to be fast. I felt relaxed at the start but once I skied, it was over. I stay focused for tomorrow's slalom and I aim for a better race in that occasion.”

Yet for Paerson, the battle is not over. “89 points in not a lot, I just need to make a mistake or straddle a gate to be behind again,” the Swede said after the race. “But this lead will help me to be more aggressive tomorrow in the slalom because I still have a good chance to get strong points in Sunday's giant slalom. That's why I wanted to finish among the top-3 today and I'm happy I achieved this goal. The conditions were demanding, but I kept on pushing myself down the slope. Like last year in Sestriere, this performance could be decisive at the end because it gives me more space. I needed to fight back after my disappointing downhill race.”

Last slalom

The slalom race, the first on the women's World Cup tour since Maribor, will take place on the lower part of the downhill course and should be quite spectacular if the snow is harder. Finland's Tanja Poutiainen who already clinched the World Cup title in Slovenia, should be the skier to beat on that slope on which she often trained this winter.

Marlies Schild, who achieved her best ever Super-G performance, will also fight for a great finish as she did last year in Italy where she celebrated her very first World Cup win. “I hope to be able to compete more often in the speed events, I liked them a lot when I was younger but then I suffered several big injuries,” she said at the press conference. “I'm pleased by my season so far - I won my first giant slalom race and I had some strong results too in slalom. I would be happy to end the season among the top-10 in the Overall standings.”


Patrick Lang