Kildow repeats GS win at Coronet Peak; Ligety, Miller to race slalom

Kildow repeats GS win at Coronet Peak; Ligety, Miller to race slalom{mosimage}American Lindsey Kildow, ranked second on the World Cup downhill circuit last season, is proving her technical merits in the early 2006-07 season.

Wednesday at New Zealand’s Coronet Peak, Kildow won both runs of giant slalom, repeating her victory from Tuesday. Kildow tamed the 38-gate course on The Hurdle, which was again challenging for the 65 women competitors. Fifty-one competitors finished the two runs. The five top placings went to U.S. team members, with Kildow finishing with a two-run time of 2 minutes, .71 seconds.

Second place went to Kirsten Clark, who was third in Tuesday’s giant slalom. She clocked 2.01.69, while Stacey Cook was third in 2.02.31.

Seventy-nine men competed, with 57 finishing both runs. Japan’s Yasuhiko Watanabe, ninth on Tuesday, won both runs Wednesday, in a combined time of 2.01.72, ahead of USA’s Bobby Poehling in 2.02.07. Ruedi Van Kaenel of Switzerland, who was second Wednesday, was third in 2.02.69.

The first of the slaloms will be held Thursday in the Rocky Gully Race Arena. Several skiers from the U.S. men’s World Cup slalom team will compete, including 2006 Winter Olympics combined gold medalist Ted Ligety. Bode Miller is scheduled to start in the second slalom on Friday.

Results
Women: Lindsey Kildow  (USA)  2.00.71 1,  Kirsten Clark (USA) 2.01.69 2, Stacey Cook (USA) 2.02.31 3, Libby Ludlow (USA) 2.03.01 4, Resi Stiegler (USA) 2.03.26 5, Pauline-Flor Socquet-Clerc 2.03.43 6, Caitlin Ciccone (USA) 2.03.80 7, Katie Lyons (USA) 2.05.82 8, Emiko Kiyosawa (Japan) 2.06.01 9, Carmen Buesser (Switzerland) 2.07.03 10, Janelle Miller (NZE) 2.09.14 13.

Men: Yasuhiko Watanabe (Japan) 2.01.72 1, Bobby Poehling (USA) 2.02.07 2, Ruedi Von Kaenel (Switzerland) 2.02.69 3, Errol Kerr (USA) 2.03.00 4, Ryu Takeda (Japan) 2.03.13 5, Azumi Tajima (Japan) 2.03.34 6, Ian Poirier (USA) 2.03.42 7, Yuma Komatsu (Japan) 2.03.75 8, Dan Loman (USA) 2.04.03 9, Hiroki Honda (Japan) 2.04.38 10, Angus Howden (NZE) 2.05.24 13.