Zauchensee: Austrians aim for speed wins

After a three-week break, it is time for the speed skiers to get back on course in Zauchensee, near Altenmarkt, where three events are scheduled this weekend. A downhill and a super G are planned for Friday and Sunday and a super combined on Saturday on the demanding Austrian course.

AFTER A THREE-WEEK BREAK, it is time for the speed skiers to get back on course in Zauchensee, near Altenmarkt, where three events are scheduled this weekend. A downhill and a super G are planned for Friday and Sunday and a super combined on Saturday on the demanding Austrian course, hosting a women's World Cup for the ninth time since 1988.
    The Austrian team has won all the world cup events so far this season except the four downhill races in Lake Louise, Canada and Val d’Isère, France and a slalom at Semmering, and strongly aims to continue dominating the women’s tour.
        World Cup veteran Renate Goetschl, unbeaten in Super-G so far this winter, Marlies Schild, the new slalom queen and Nicole Hosp, winner in a recent giant slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, seek more triumphs in those three alpine competitions held on the slopes selected by the region of Salzburg in its bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
    Only a single training run could take place on Thursday on the technically very demanding run of a length of 3005 meters and a vertical drop of 796 meters. USA’s Julia Mancuso confirmed her actual strong downhill form in clocking the best time ahead of Andrea Fischbacher, Renate Goetschl and Marlies Schild, all from Austria. Tamara Wolf from Switzerland was a surprising fifth at 1.57 seconds.
    Several top-specialists struggled. Anja Paerson missed a gate in the upper part. She finished last, 15 seconds behind Mancuso. Lindsey Kildow went outside of the course in the middle section and lost 3.40 seconds on her teammate.
    Renate Goetschl, the 1999 downhill world champion and a winner at Zauchensee in 1998, was twice on the podium in downhill this season. She is more than ready for her first win in the specialty. "It’s certainly one of the most challenging courses on the circuit and you need to be aggressive in the turns and focused at the jumps," Goetschl said.
    "The snow is hard and very fast in some sections. Most of the course is in the shadow so the visibility is not so good. It’s difficult to see all the bumps. It’s certainly an interesting slope for the more experienced athletes," added the 31-year-old Austrian who has the chance and the privilege to sometimes use the equipment which helped her former teammate Michaela Dorfmeister to dominate the past season and collect two Olympic gold medals at Torino.
    Lindsey Kildow, the dominating skier so far in this specialty with two wins and two second places, is also happy to be back on her long skis after a series of disappointing results in the past technical races at Semmering, Zagreb and Kranjska Gora. She was fast in the upper part of the run but lost a lot of time afterward in skiing wide in a narrow right turn. Nevertheless the American, who didn’t race here in 2002 during the World Cup Finals, had to finish her run to better know the entire course.
    Julia Mancuso, who won her first World Cup race last month at Val d’Isère, feels obviously quite comfortable on that tricky terrain which also inspires Marlies Schild, the favorite for Saturday’s super combined.
    "There are many turns which suit my style but also some demanding speed sections and jumps that are not so easy," the Overall World Cup leader explained. "I hope to find a good rhythm and a good line for Saturday’s competition. A top-15 tomorrow would already be nice," said Schild.
    Italy’s Nadia Fanchini, who suffered a bad crash at Val d’Isère last month, also trained today but lost almost five seconds on the leader. She finished only a few tenths of a second ahead of former Olympic champion Daniela Ceccarelli who returned on the world cup tour a few weeks after giving birth to a baby girl named Sara born on Nov. 17th. The Italian super G specialist, 53rd in that training run, is the only mother to compete on the downhill circuit.
    Austria’s Kathrin Zettel who caught a cold didn’t train. Canada’s Kelly VanderBeek crashed in a turn but didn’t get injured. Geneviève Simard also had some problems and stopped at mid-course.