First World Cup Super-G win for Anja Paerson

Sansicario, Italy - Feb. 25th - A month after her surprising World triumph in Santa Caterina, Anja Paerson crushed once more all the favourites in a Super-G in Sansicario where she clearly dominated the pre-Olympic event raced by perfect weather and course conditions. The Swede beat by over half a second Italy's double World Champion in the event, Isolde Kostner while Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister and Slovenia's Tina Maze were both 3rd at 65/100. Hilde Gerg and Janica Kostelic tied for fifth place at 66/100 while the defending World Cup Super-G Champion Renate Goetschl was a disappointed 7th at 69/100.

A huge win for Anja
The powerful Swede, 2nd in Cortina d'Ampezzo last January, has now a 63-point lead over triple Olympic and five-time World Champion Kostelic.
“This is a huge win for me,” she said. “It was my goal this season to win a World Cup Super-G although I'm surprised to do it on this hill which didn't seem too demanding at first sight. I usually prefer it more rough, yet it can also be an interesting challenge trying to achieve a perfect run on such a course.”

“The other skier like more demanding courses and I hope it will be more difficult for the Olympics,” she also said. “But the essential is that the race is fair and that everybody has a good chance to ski fast. The most important is that there is a start and a finish line and good conditions between in. The piste was in good shape and I achieved a strong run - I was determined but not too aggressive. I tried to be as smooth as possible.”

“I'm happy to increase my lead in the World Cup because there are only a few races left and each point is worth more now, but anything can still happen. It's been a long season and I'm feeling tired. This is a tricky week here.”

“The only way I'm going to win again the Overall crown is to remain relaxed. Last year I won it by skiing hard in every race but that was easier in a way because I was riding a wave of success in the technical events," added Paerson. “This season was much harder because I competed more often and I skied almost each day. It requires a great condition and a strong motivation. But I was also enjoying it a lot¨”

“I don't want to compare my past wins with this one - each of them has a great value, but it's of course special to win technical and speed races during the same season. It's a much more difficult and significant achievement.”

Isolde's back

Isolde Kostner's 2nd place was her best finish in Super-G since November 2002 when she was 2nd in Aspen. It hopefully puts an end of a difficult season for Italy's most experienced woman skier who has not won a race since her last win in Haus im Ennstal a year ago.

“I didn't expect this, I just let the skis run and had a smooth run,” the tiny Italian explained. “I was very relaxed. It's been a frustrating season but this sets me up nicely for tomorrow's downhill,” she added.

Maze's 3rd place equalled her career best in Super-G following her podium finish at Altenmarkt in last December.
“I am a bit surprised because I had really sore legs after practice on Thursday and on an easy course I really didn't expect to do well with all the gliding,” said the young Slovenian who has also won three giant slaloms this season.

Janica Kostelic, the reigning downhill World Champion will try to imitate her Swedish colleague in Saturday's race and win her first World Cup downhill. Yet Austria's Renate Goetschl, who clocked the fastest training time in Thursday, seems ready to find back to reinforce her lead in the downhill standings. And you never know with Anja Paerson - she seems more than ready for her first downhill podium!

Patrick Lang