01-04-2007, 12:31 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Marlies Schild aims for revenge in Zagreb
Quote:
The women’s World Cup tour resumes on Thursday afternoon nearby Zagreb, where a slalom is scheduled on the slopes of Sjleme, a small hill located just outside the capital of the Republic of Croatia.
It’s only the third time that this event, named “Snowqueentrophy” by its organizers, is included on the women World Cup calendar, but it has quickly developed into one of the most spectacular stops on the international circuit.
Its impressive prize-money of 165’000.- € given out to the top-30, including 60’000.- € to the winner, the quality of its organisation, the technically demanding slope and the agreeable atmosphere which surrounds the race watched by nearly 20’000 spectators transported to the slope by hundredths of buses have quickly propelled the competition among the highlights of the season.
Austria’s Marlies Schild, the overall world cup leader, is particularly happy to return to Sjleme where she celebrated her second of three consecutive slalom wins last winter. She is eager to get back in action less than a week after her upsetting failure to win her fourth slalom in a row at Semmering. Instead she came in 3rd after making a major mistake a few gates prior the finish line of the second run.
It was quite a shock for the skier from Saalfelden, near Salzburg, clearly in the lead at the second intermediate time of the final leg. Apparently she lost her concentration after hearing the loud-speakers informing the crowd about her strong performance.
Her emotional reaction after the race was at the level of her huge disappointment but her motivation was not affected by her depressing adventure.
“I made a big mistake but I’m skiing really well right now, it will be a learning experience for me,” said Schild afterwards. Her potential allows her to add many more wins this year in slalom and get close to the record of eight wins set by Janica Kostelic during the 2000/2001 season.
Even if her level of confidence may have been affected by her letdown, Schild remains to skier to beat in Sljeme and in Slovenia’s Kranjska Gora, where the next technical events originally planned in Maribor will take place this weekend.
The Austrian team, which dominated all the competitions this season but the four downhill races at Lake Louise and Val d’Isère, can also count on Kathrin Zettel, unbeaten so far in giant slalom, Nicole Hosp and Michaela Kirchgasser, the raising star in that group, to accumulate more podium finishes.
Only a handful of “foreign” skiers as Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen, Germany’s Annemarie Gerg or Therese Borssen also managed reaching podiums in recent technical races.
Croatia’s promising talent Ana Jelusic, twice 4th in Levi and Semmering, aims to join this club and achieve her first podium finish in her World Cup career – preferably in front of her fans in Sljeme.
Last year, her more famous team-mate Janica Kostelic came in 3rd after an impressive second run, clocking one of the best times after losing a pole a few seconds after the start. This year, the four-time Olympic Champion is taking a sabbatical and will not be competing on that hill where she learned to ski over twenty years ago. Yet she may ski it as a fore-runner this time – a unique opportunity for the adoring crowd to watch her in action for the first time this winter.
Sweden’s Anja Paerson, who pulled out of the slalom last week in Semmering because of strong pains at her knee operated last spring, plans to return on snow after two days of training in Reiteralm, Austria. Apparently the Swede is not suffering from a new knee injury but she may need more time than expected to find back her best rhythm in the technical events.
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Marlies Schild aims for revenge in Zagreb
