Sölden: Karbon nips Mancuso for opening GS win

If the rest of the World Cup season is this much fun, it will be quite a winter.
    Julia Mancuso made a phenomenal leap from 12th to second Saturday in the Sölden glacier giant slalom to kick off the season, but Italy’s Denise Karbon outdid first-run leader Tanja Poutiainen of Finland for the victory. Just 24th in the first run, Austrian Kathrin Zettel finished third with the fastest second run, while Lindsey Vonn placed 13th — a terrific effort in her weakest discipline — and Resi Stiegler 15th. Read more about the U.S. effort here.


SÖLDEN, Austria — If the rest of the World Cup season is this much fun, it will be quite a winter.
    Julia Mancuso made a phenomenal leap from 12th to second Saturday in the Sölden glacier giant slalom to kick off the season, but Italy’s Denise Karbon outdid first-run leader Tanja Poutiainen of Finland for the victory.
    Just 24th in the first run, Austrian Kathrin Zettel finished third with the fastest second run, while Lindsey Vonn placed 13th — a terrific effort in her weakest discipline — and Resi Stiegler 15th. Read more about the U.S. effort here.
    In cool conditions with no wind, Karbon finished with a two-run time of 2 minutes, 23.21 seconds, with Mancuso .33 back and Zettel .52 back. Poutiainen finished fourth, followed by Frenchwomen Tessa Worley and Ingrid Jacquemod, Sweden’s Anja Paerson in seventh and Germany’s Kathrin Hoelzl in eighth. It was just the fourth career World Cup start for 18-year-old Worley.
    A Fischer athlete, Karbon, 27, has one other World Cup win to her credit, topping the podium at Alta Badia in December 2003. She won giant slalom bronze at the 2007 World Championships. Poutiainen and Karbon have the same fitness trainer, Michael Bont, who helped the Italian get fit again after her injuries. Since Karbon’s 2003 win, she has struggled with health problems, tearing knee ligaments and then injuring her ankle.
    “It’s my first victory in a long time,” Karbon said. “But then, it’s the first time in a long time that I haven’t been injured.”
    Zettel broke her leg in the downhill portion of a super-combi race in Tarvisio, Italy, in March, which ended her season. “It’s certainly my most emotional podium. I was coming back from injury, and I also came back from 24th after the first run,” said Zettel, who was in tears on the podium. “It’s a great way to start the season.”
    Defending World Cup overall champ Nicole Hosp of Austria was third in the opening run but slipped to 12th as the second-run course proved troublesome for the late runners in the reverse-30 field.
    “I had a technical problem in the second run,” Hosp said. “In the beginning I was slipping in the turns. I tried to go for broke on the flats but it was too late. I’d lost too much time.”

Strong start for Mancuso
    Mancuso started seventh in the first run, was 0.33 back at the first interval and finished .099 behind Poutiainen, standing tied for 12th.   
    “The course was good, not icy but grippy,” Mancuso said of that first run, adding that she had not let the skis run enough on the flatter bottom section of the piste.
    A few hours later, she was a bit more upbeat. Last season, Mancuso started slowly after spending most of the summer and fall recovering from hip surgery.
    “After the first run, I knew I had skied well technically, but I lost a lot of speed in the flats,” Mancuso said. “In the second run, my technique was poor, but I was much faster. In the second run, the shadows started to come on the hill and that caused me some problems. When I got down, I was excited to be top 10, and then everybody kept falling back. My goal today was to be top five.”
    Mancuso said just racing again was exciting. “It’s good to get going again — it’s different than training. Every turn needs to be good,” she said.
    Mancuso suggested that this season will be another dramatic one. Karbon’s surprise win Saturday and struggles by some big guns back that up.
    “Everyone was so fast in the first run,” Mancuso said. “It is going to be a very good season.”

Vonn shows GS promise
    It was the second-best GS result of Vonn’s career. She placed ninth in Maribor, Slovenia, in January 2005.
    “I was really stoked and I thought I would get a top 15 with a faster second run,” Vonn said. “I hadn’t been in the top 30 in GS for a while. I wanted to ski balanced this year [at Sölden]. The snow was really good and it was more of a gradual course, not quite as steep, just more consistent and gradual.”
    Vonn, in her first race since changing her last name from Kildow following her marriage to ex-national team racer Thomas Vonn, skied into 20th from the 32nd start position in the first run.
    “It’s really cool to start fresh and make a new name for myself,” Vonn said.
    Stiegler, who finished last season strong with two national titles, said, “I am just so glad the first race is over with. I was so nervous for the first run, I was about to pass out.”
    Stiegler was 22nd in the first run before moving up to 15th.
    “This is my favorite GS hill. In the second run, I was having a hard time trying to get back on my line coming into the steeps. The course was very smooth and there was no chatter. Yesterday was really choppy and icy.”
    The other U.S. starters were well back and failed to make the top-30 cut for the second run. Caitlin Ciccone skied to 43rd, Stacey Cook 48th, Lauren Ross — returning from an injury season — 49th, Megan McJames 58th and Katie Hitchcock 63rd.
    The men open the season Sunday with a giant slalom (3:45/6:45 a.m. ET). The United States will start seven racers in Sunday’s GS: Ted Ligety, Jimmy Cochran, Jake Zamansky, Dane Spencer, Erik Schlopy, Tim Jitloff and Bode Miller.

— Gary Black Jr. and Jack Shaw contributed to this report

Sölden World Cup women's GS

Did not start 1st run:
HANGL Celina (SUI)

Did not finish 1st run:
ACTON Brigitte (CAN), MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA), SUTER Fabienne (SUI)

Did not finish 2nd run:
ALCOTT Chemmy (GBR), RIESCH Maria (GER), FISCHBACHER Andrea (AUT)

Disqualified 2nd run:
KIRCHGASSER Michaela (AUT)

Did not qualify 1st run:
JARDI Andrea (SPA), KIRKOVA Maria (BUL), JELUSIC Ana (CRO), HANSDOTTER Frida (SWE), SCHILD Martina (SUI), BRODNIK Vanja (SLO), NEERGAARD Therese (NOR), HRSTKOVA Lucie (CZE), ROSS Lauren (USA), COOK Stacey (USA), LEINONEN Sanni (FIN), SCHAEDLER Sarah (LIE), BERTHOD Pascale (SUI), AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi (SUI), DESFORGES Emilie (CAN), GIANESINI Giulia (ITA), HITCHCOCK Katie (USA), LOESETH Lene (NOR), FERK Marusa (SLO), CICCONE Caitlin (USA), STUFFER Verena (ITA), MCJAMES Megan (USA), BERTRAND Olivia (FRA), FERNSEBNER Carolin (GER), ALFIERI Camilla (ITA), BREM Eva-Maria (AUT), KELLY Gail (CAN), FENNINGER Anna (AUT), BORSSEN Therese (SWE), LONGHINI Hilary (ITA), ROBNIK Mateja (SLO), BERTRAND Marion (FRA), SANTON Aurelie (FRA), LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica (SWE)

THE SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Women’s giant slalom, Sölden, Austria, Oct. 27, 2007

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1. Karbon, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
2. Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
3. Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4. Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
5. Worley, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
6. Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7. Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8. Hoelzl, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
9. Moelgg, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
9. Goergl, Head/Head/Head

Women’s giant slalom, Sölden, Austria — It is the first race of the 2007-08 World Cup season, the first of 39 competitions for the women and first of eight giant slaloms. … It is the 19th World Cup race at the Austrian glacier site, all of them held in October. …
    It is the second career World Cup victory for Denise Karbon. … She also won at Alta Badia, Dec. 13, 2003. … Second in the GS standings in 2004, Karbon missed all of the 2005, most of the 2006 and the end of the 2007 seasons to injury. … She won a silver medal in GS at the 2003 World Championships and bronze in GS in 2007. … No Italian racer had ever won at Sölden before.
    It is the 14th career podium for Julia Mancuso. … The seventh second-place finish. … The result matches her career best in GS (Cortina Jan. 21, 2007). … Her best previous result at Sölden had been 15th in 2004. … It is the best result for a U.S. woman at Sölden (Kristina Koznick was fourth 2004, Bode Miller won the race in 2003 and 2004). … She had been 12th after the first run.
    It is the 13th career World Cup podium for Kathrin Zettel. … Her sixth in GS. … Her previous best at Sölden had been fourth in 2005. … It is the best result at Sölden for an Austrian since Hermann Maier won Nov. 20, 2005. … She finished last season ranked seventh in GS. … She had been 24th after the first run.
    It is the second-best career GS result for Lindsey Vonn, the best a ninth from Maribor Jan. 22, 2005. … It is her first scoring result at the site. … It is the 24th top-15 result for Resi Stiegler’s World Cup career. … Just her second in GS (was 10th at Sierra Nevada, Feb. 24, 2007).
    Other North Americans: DNF 1st: Brigitte Acton, CAN; DNQ 2nd: Gail Kelly, Emilie Desforges, CAN; Megan McJames, Caitlin Ciccone, Katie Hitchcock, Stacey Cook, Lauren Ross, USA.

Overall standings
1. Denise Karbon, Italy, 100 points.
2. Julia Mancuso, United States, 80.
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 60.
4. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 50.
5. Tessa Worley, France, 45.
6. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 40.
7. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 36.
8. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 32.
9. Manuela Moelgg, Italy, 29.
(tie) Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 29.

Giant slalom standings
1. Denise Karbon, Italy, 100 points.
2. Julia Mancuso, United States, 80.
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 60.
4. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 50.
5. Tessa Worley, France, 45.
6. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 40.
7. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 36.
8. Kathrin Hoelzl, Germany, 32.
9. Manuela Moelgg, Italy, 29.
(tie) Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 29.