Semmering: Swede Borssen nabs slalom victory

Sweden's Therese Borssen won Friday's World Cup slalom, snapping the three-slalom win streak of Austrian Marlies Schild.
    Borssen finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 55.15 seconds for her first career win, with Austrian Kathrin Zettel, Thursday's GS winner, .25 back in second and Schild, the slalom standings leader, third .42 back. American Lindsey Kildow, 10th in the first run, did not finish the second run.

SEMMERING, Austria — Therese Borssen claimed her first World Cup victory Friday with a combined time of 1 minute, 55.15 seconds in a women's slalom.
    The 22-year-old Swede was second after the first run.
    In front of 15,000 spectators on her home Hirschenkogel course, Austria's Kathrin Zettel — winner of Thursday's giant slalom — finished second, trailing Borssen by 0.25.
    Marlies Schild of Austria held a commanding lead after the first run and looked set for her fourth consecutive slalom victory, but lost control of a ski just before the finish of her second run. She came in third, 0.42 behind Borssen.
    ''After a good couple of weeks for me I was hoping for my first World Cup title,'' said Borssen, who finished third in the Aspen and Val d'Isere slaloms earlier this season. ''But I was a bit surprised to land this victory today. Schild looked so strong. It was great to win of course, but I really would have been happy with a second place.''
    Croatia's Ana Jelusic was fourth, Italy's Chiara Costazza fifth and Sweden's Maria Pietilae-Holmner sixth.
    Borssen had three previous third-place finishes, all in slalom and all in 2006. She was third this season in Val d'Isere and Aspen and third in January 2006 in Maribor.   
    “The conditions were really difficult this evening, so it was even harder to ski well. In the first run I clocked the same time as Zettel in the steep part, so it was a good indication for me. The lower part was better but I lost some time,” Borssen said. “In slalom everything can happen. Even if I lost some time in the lower part and I made some small mistakes, I knew that I had to keep fighting.
    ”I skied well and I like this kind of hard slope and challenging race. I needed a little something to help me to win and secure my position. My confidence is high now. I even got a call from Anja Paerson who congratulated me for my victory! It's a wonderful day.”
    Schild was aiming to become the first skier since Janica Kostelic to remain unbeaten in the first four slalom races of a season. Kostelic won eight slaloms out of nine during the 2000-01 winter. The graceful racer from Saalfelden, near Salzburg, needed some time to recoup after her major error. Obviously it was quite a shock for her after her flawless exhibitions in her previous runs. Until the second run, she had dominated six of the eight slalom runs she had raced since Levi.
    "While I was skiing down the second run, I heard the speaker when he said that I had one second and a half of advantage,” she said with a few tears in her eyes. “I felt sure and confident and everything was under control until that moment. Then I stopped taking risks and skiing so fast. I can't believe I made such an important mistake just before the finish because everything was going so well for me.”
    Schild blamed herself after finishing the evening run. ''I was so angry with myself. A mistake can always happen, but this one came at the worst possible moment,'' Schild said. ''I lost too much speed there. It came so costly. But I will not moan about this for too long. You can't change it and I should be happy finishing third anyway.''
    Zettel looked back to what she called ''two incredibly beautiful days.''
   
No Americans score
    Lindsey Kildow of the United States lost control halfway her second run and did not finish. All other American skiers failed to qualify for the evening session.
    "Oh, man, a really tough day. But, y'know, you can talk about positives all you want — and there were a couple today — but at the end of the day," SL/GS head coach Chris Knight said, "it's results on paper that count … and tonight we don't have a result. Not a one."
    He was pleased with Kildow qualifying for the nighttime second run (i.e., top 30 in the afternoon run) "because Lindsey hasn't had any slalom training at all. She caught an edge in Val d'Isere [France] last week and now this straddle … but we've got a couple of days of slalom training coming up, so that should help her a lot."
    Schild goes into 2007 on top of the overall World Cup standings after recapturing the lead she lost Thursday to her compatriot Nicole Hosp, who did not finish in her first run Friday.
    Schild leads with 597 points. Hosp and Zettel share the second spot with 540. Austria's Renate Goetschl with 441 and Kildow with 435 complete the top five.
    The next women's race is the Snow Queen Trophy race, another night slalom next Thursday in Zagreb, Croatia, and then the annual GS-slalom pairing Jan. 6-7 in Maribor, Croatia. The Zagreb event had been threatened by lack of snow, but the FIS confirmed Friday that the race will go on as scheduled. A purse of 250,000 euros is awarded for the top 30, making it the richest race on the World Cup circuit.

— Manuèle Lang, USSA and The Associated Press contributed to this report 

THE SCOOP 

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's slalom (night), Semmering, Austrian, Dec. 29, 2006
Skier, skis/boots/bindngs
1 Borssen, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Jelusic, Atomic/Salomon/Atomic
5 Costazza, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6 Pietilae-Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
7 Zuzulova, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
8 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Tyrolia
9 Loeseth, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
10 Leinonen, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Women's slalom, Semmering, Austria, Dec. 29, 2006. … It is the 13th race of the women's 37-event World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth of nine scheduled slaloms. … It is the second of two races at Semmering.
 
   It is the first career win for Therese Borssen. … Her fourth career podium, all in slalom. … Her third podium of the season, having also placed third at Aspen Nov. 26 and Val d'Isere Dec. 21. … She is the second Swede to get their first win this season with Andre Myhrer. … Together with Markus Larsson the trio has combined for three slalom wins this season for Sweden. … She is 17 days into her 22nd year.
    It is the 12th career podium for Kathrin Zettel. … Five of them coming this season. … It is her second slalom podium of the season, plus two wins in GS and one third place in combined. … She is 20.
    It is the 28th career podium for Marlies Schild. … 21st in slalom. … Her sixth podium of the season and fourth of the season in slalom. … She had won the previous three slaloms this season and led after the first run by .82 of a second.
    No North Americans completed the race.
    Schild takes the overall lead 597-540 over Nicole Hosp (DNF first run) and Zettel, tied for second. … Lindsey Kildow (DNF second) is the top American on the overall ranking list in fifth with 435. … Schild maintains the slalom standings lead 360-252 over Borssen with Zettel third at 235. … Resi Stiegler (DNQ second) in 14th ranks as the top American on the slalom list. … Winning margin was .25. … Top four were within a second of the win. … Top five within two seconds. … The first finisher of the race was Jelena Lolovic, assuring the Ski Federation of Serbia of its first World Cup points ever.

Semmering women's World Cup slalom results

Did not start 1st run:
PAERSON Anja (SWE)

Did not finish 1st run:
PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier (CAN), FERNSEBNER Carolin (GER), MACULOVA Sona (SVK), ZEISER Daniela (AUT), STABER Veronika (GER), BERNTSEN Hedda (NOR), ZAKOURILOVA Petra (CZE), CICCONE Caitlin (USA), LOESETH Lene (NOR), KOBAL Ana (SLO), MAZE Tina (SLO), KIRCHGASSER Michaela (AUT), HOSP Nicole (AUT)

Did not finish 2nd run:
RIESCH Maria (GER), HANSDOTTER Frida (SWE), RIESCH Susanne (GER), GERG Annemarie (GER), KILDOW Lindsey C (USA), POUTIAINEN Tanja (FIN)

Did not qualify 1st run:
BIRKELUND Karina (NOR), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), DAUTHERIVES Claire (FRA), GRAND Rabea (SUI), SPONRING Christine (AUT), NIGG Marina (LIE), HOELZL Kathrin (GER), HANGL Celina (SUI), AMMERER Christina (GER), SANTON Aurelie (FRA), VIKEN Line (NOR), HITCHCOCK Katie (USA), PERSYN Karen (BEL), HULTDIN Malin (SWE), WALTER Jessica (LIE), MUELLER Anne Marie (NOR), KURFUERSTOVA Eva (CZE), FENNINGER Anna (AUT), RICHARDSON Kaylin L (USA), JACQUEMOD Ingrid (FRA), ACTON Brigitte (CAN), MANCUSO Julia (USA), STIEGLER Resi (USA)

World Cup slalom standings (after 4 of 9 races)
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 360 points.
2. Therese Borssen, Sweden, 252.
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 235.
4. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 184.
5. Ana Jelusic, Croatia, 158.
6. Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, Germany, 109.
7. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 108.
8. Sarka Zahrobska, Czech Republic, 105.
9. Annemarie Gerg, Germany, 104.
10. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 97.
11. Veronika Zuzulova, Slovakia, 95.
12. Maria Pietila Holmner, Sweden, 91.
13. Florine De Leymarie, France, 73.
14. Resi Stiegler, United States, 72.
15. Chiara Costazza, Italy, 69.

World Cup overall standings (after 13 of 33 races)
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 597 points.
2. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 540.
(tie) Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 540.
4. Renate Goetschl, Austria, 441.
5. Lindsey Kildow, United States, 435.
6. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 386.
7. Julia Mancuso, United States, 329.
8. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 282.
9. Therese Borssen, Sweden, 252.
10. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 242.
11. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 208.
12. Maria Riesch, Germany, 188.
13. Kelly VanderBeek, Canada, 185.
14. Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austria, 174.
15. Andrea Fischbacher, Austria, 165.