Lindsey Kildow shares super G win with Dorfmeister, Styger in Hafjell

Lindsey Kildow shares super G win with Dorfmeister, Styger in HafjellHAFJELL, Norway – In one of the tightest finishes in history, Olympic champion Michaela Dorfmeister, American Lindsey Kildow and Switzerland’s Nadia Styger shared first place in a women’s World Cup super G on Friday – the first ever three-way tie in the discipline.

The three skiers each had a time of 1 minute, 18.65 seconds in the first women’s alpine event since the Torino Olympics closed Sunday.

“It’s amazing!” said Dorfmeister, who also won Olympic gold in the downhill at the Torino Games. “It’s fine to see someone else with me on top of the podium. I hope they have enough place for us on the top.”

Kildow’s first super G win of the season moved her to fourth in the discipline standings, behind Styger. “I’m really, really psyched,” said Kildow. “It’s an awesome day, really kinda crazy with all of us tying like this. … This is by far my best day since the crash.”

Despite being hospitalized after a spectacular training run accident on the second day of Olympic downhill practice, Kildow returned to the slopes to compete the next day, finishing eighth. Still struggling with her injuries, she competed in four of her five events.

“I was skiing so well before the Olympics,” Kildow said after her win. “It was just with my injury I had some problems. But I’m skiing well again. I actually took seven days off snow after the Olympics to rest my back and it’s paying off.’

Women’s speed head coach Alex Hoedlmoser said Kildow could have won the race outright except for a mistake at the bottom. “Lindsey was ready,” said Hoedlmoser. “She was healthy and ready to rock. She wanted to show she’s better than what she skied at the Olympics when she wasn’t 100 percent.”

The victory is the fourth of Kildow’s career, and is a huge confidence boost for the 21-year-old. “I felt for a while that luck just wasn’t on my side and today was a really big confidence booster,” said Kildow. “I was feeling down after the Olympics and now I’m feeling good about myself. My skiing’s really good right now and I’ve proven to myself that I can do it and I just need to trust myself.”

With her third win in the discipline this season, Dorfmeister clinched the super G title ahead of teammate Alexandra Meissnitzer. Just one super G race remains, at the World Cup Finals in Are, Sweden, March 15-19.

“In my last season, I make history in every race,” Dorfmeister said. “I’m so happy. It was difficult today. Sometimes it was icy, sometimes it very bumpy. The snow was very fast. It was difficult to find my timing.”

The first time three skiers shared first in any event occurred in 2003, when Norway’s Andrine Flemmen, Nicole Hosp of Austria and Tina Maze clocked identical times in a women’s World Cup giant slalom at Soelden, Austria.

Kelly Vanderbeek of Canada was fourth Friday, just as she was in the Olympic super G, one-hundredth of a second behind.

“I really felt for Kelly because she was fourth in San Sicario at the Olympics, too,” Kildow noted, “and I know that feeling after being fourth twice last year at World Championships.”

Only 0.12 separated the top eight skiers – one of the tightest finishes in alpine ski history.

Lucia Recchia of Italy was .05 back in fifth, while Sweden’s two-time defending World Cup champion Anja Paerson of Sweden tied with Julia Mancuso of the United States for sixth, .11 behind.

Croatia’s Janica Kostelic, returning after illness cut short her record-breaking Olympics, finished 14th but maintained her lead in the overall World Cup standings with 1,400 points. Dorfmeister has 1,162, just one point ahead of Paerson.

Paerson said her sore knee, which bothered her during the Olympics, should not stop her from finishing the rest of the season. “I have everything under control and I can handle the pain threshold so I should be able to ski the rest of the season,” Paerson said. “I really want to come to the finals and race the whole program.”

She said there is still a slim chance she can catch Kostelic at the top of the World Cup standings. “I have a chance, but I have to concentrate on my own skiing,” she said. “First and foremost, my knee has to feel good and I have to be able to start in every race.”

Friday’s race was held on the Kringelasen course in Hafjell, the site of the women’s races for the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

Other races scheduled this weekend include a super combined Saturday and a giant slalom Sunday.

The Associated Press and USSA contributed to this report

Women’s Super G
Hafjell-Kvitfjell, Norway
March 3, 2006
1. Michaela Dorfmeister, AUT 1:18.65
1. Lindsey Kildow, USA 1:18.65
1. Nadia Styger, SUI 1:18.65
4. Kelly Vanderbeek, CAN 1:18.66
5. Lucia Recchia, ITA 1:18.70
6. Anja Paerson, SWE 1:18.76
6. Julia Mancuso, USA 1:18.76
8. Kathrin Zettel, AUT 1:18.77
9. Libby Ludlow, USA 1:19.08
10. Petra Haltmayr, GER 1:19.15
11. Marie Marchand-Arvier, FRA 1:19.16
12. Daniela Ceccarelli, ITA 1:19.20
12. Elisabeth Goergl, AUT 1:19.20
14. Janica Kostelic, CRO 1:10.21
15. Martina Ertl-Renz, GER 1:19.24
16. Nicole Hosp, AUT 1:19.35
17. Wendy Siorpaes, ITA 1:19.39
18. Marlies Schild, AUT 1:19.40
19. Katja Wirth, AUT 1:19.41
20. Jessica Lindell-Vikarby, SWE 1:19.47
21. Emily Brydon, CAN 1:19.51
22. Alexandra Meissnitzer, AUT 1:19.54
23. Stacey Cook, USA 1:19.60
23. Karen Putzer, ITA 1:19.60
25. Genevieve Simard, CAN 1:19.61
26. Kathrin Wilhelm, AUT 1:19.64
27. Ingrid Jacquemod, FRA 1:19.68
28. Brigitte Acton, CAN 1:19.81
29. Urska Rabic, SLO 1:19.82
30. Fraenzi Aufdenblatten, SUI 1:19.84
Other North Americans:
31. Kirsten Clark, USA 1:19.94
38. Resi Stiegler, USA 1:20.29
40. Bryna McCarty, USA 1:20.33

THE SCOOP

Equipment
Women’s SG, Hafjell-Kvitfjell, March 3, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindngs
1. Dorfmeister, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
1. Kildow, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
1. Styger, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
4. Vanderbeek, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
5. Recchia, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6. Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
6. Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
8. Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9. Ludlow, Fischer/Lange/Fischer
10. Haltmayr, Fischer/Lange/Fischer

World Cup, Women’s Super G, Hafjell-Kvifjell, Norway, March 3, 2006. … It is the 25th career World Cup win for Michaela Dorfmeister … Her 10th in SG. … She is third all-time among Austria women (Annemarie Moser-Proell 62 and Renate Goetschl 38) in World Cup wins. … And second in SG wins behind Goetschl (13). … It is the sixth win of the season for Dorfmeister, including two gold medals from the Olympics. … It is her fourth SG win having previously won Val d’Isere Dec. 18, St Moritz Jan. 20, and the Olympic SG at San Sicario Feb. 20. … She has finished on the podium in seven of the eight SG held this season.

It is the fourth career win for Lindsey Kildow and her first in SG. … It is the 159th U.S. win. … It moves Kildow to 11th on the all-time US win list. … It is her third win of the season, the first in SG. … She previously won in DH at Lake Louise Dec. 3 and at Val d’Isere Dec. 17.

It is the third career win for Nadia Styger, all of them coming in SG. … It is her second win of the season, the previous coming at Aspen Dec. 9. … These are the only two wins for Switzerland this season.

It is a career best placing for Kelly VanderBeek, her previous best Cup result a sixth at Val d’Isere earlier this season (Dec. 18). … Her top six Cup results are all in SG. … It is her second top four placing of the season having matched the mark she established in the Olympic SG. …
She finishes just .01 out of first place, and receives credit for fourth. … The result matches the 13th best career World Cup placing for Julia Mancuso. … She has only been better in SG twice. … It is her seventh top six placing of the season. … Her 13th top 10 result. …It is the second best career placing for Libby Ludlow, bested only by a seventh place finish in SG at Bad Kleinkirchheim Jan. 15 this season. … Thirteen of her top 14 results have come in SG. … It is the 30th World Cup scoring result in SG for Emily Brydon. … It is the sixth career scoring result for Stacey Cook, all from this season. … It is the 14th best of 15 results this season for Genevieve Simard. …It is the tenth top 30 placing for Brigitte Acton this season

The last three-way tie for first place in a World Cup event was Oct. 26, 2002 at Solden when Nicole Hosp, Andrine Flemmen and Tina Maze all won the opening GS. … Janica Kostelic (14th in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1400-1162 over Michaela Dorfmeister. … Dorfmeister slips by third ranked Anja Paerson (tied for sixth in race) by one point. … Lindsey Kildow moves to fourth place in the overall rankings with 807pts. … Dorfmeister leads the SG standings 546-405 over Alexandra Meissnitzer (22nd in race). … With one race remaining, Dorfmeister cinches her second title of the season (having previously won the DH title). … It is the second consecutive SG title for Dorfmeister.

Winning margin is one one-hundredth. … The top 27 skiers are within the same second. … Top 10 are within a half second.