09 FEB 2001 > Women's Giant Slalom
First Triumph for Sonja Nef
Giant Slalom Results

The Swiss team has dominated the giant slalom races here at St. Anton where Sonja Nef won her first gold medal 24 hours after the success of her teammate Michael von Gruenigen. And once again, no Austrian skiers made it to the podium.

"It's a kid's dream which became true today," Nef said at the finish.

The best US skier, Kristina Koznick was 15th while Sarah Schleper skied out in the first run.

These World Championships ended for the women the way they started - with the victory of the top contender. Nef finally won, in very difficult race conditions, the gold medal that she has deserved for a long time, beating by 1.10 seconds the petite Karen Putzer, the bronze medal winner in the combined. This is Nef's sixth victory of the winter and her fifth in a row.

"I prayed to the Lord before the second run not to crash again...."

Sweden's Anja Paerson, the slalom World Champion, finished 3rd at 1.53 seconds back, clinching the bronze. Janica Kostelic, injured since last week, didn't take part in the giant slalom, in order to rest before the coming races at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Nef fought with an incredible determination to reach this wonderful World title which seemed so close in Sierra Nevada back in 1996 when she clocked the best time in the first run, but fell at the beginning of the second. Italy's Deborah Compagnoni, a TV commentator here, won that race.

In 1989, Sonja tore a knee ligament and, through 1996, underwent six operations before coming back to a good level. "I prayed to the Lord before the second run not to crash again. I was quite nervous before the race but now I feel such a great joy in me. I was only aiming for gold - I couldn't care less about silver or bronze. I gave what I could - it was tough because the piste was quite damaged and I feared Karen Putzer, an excellent skier on these kinds of runs.

Several Swiss racers have won this title over the last 20 years - Erika Hess in 1982 and Vreni Schneider in 1987 and 1989. The defending champion, Alexandra Meissnitzer, didn't finish the second run as Renate Goetschl while Michaela Dorfmeister, the 2000 GS World Cup winner was only 9th.

With two medals in her disciplines, Paerson has ended a tough period of poor results in January. The skier from Tarnaby, who reached the podium four consecutive times in the first GS races of the season, lost her rhythm later on in Semmering where she didn't qualify for the second run.

"It was one of the most difficult moments in my career, but it also helped me a lot to think intensely about my problems and to react," she explained after the race. "I trained very hard afterwards to find back my best form. I can say now that the timing was perfect. I had no pressure coming here. After my success in the slalom, I was of course really motivated for this giant slalom. I felt confident and I could attack the way I wanted," she said.

Now the men will fight for the last medals in the slalom on Saturday - among the favorites, Mario Matt, the silver medalist in combined, Benjamin Raich, unbeaten in January and Kjetil Aamodt, who will wear bib # 1, a great advantage in the first run of the slalom.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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