29 JAN 2001 > Women's Super G
Cavagnoud Clinches First-Ever Gold
Super G Results

France's Régine Cavagnoud was the skier to beat in today's women's super G, the kick-off event at the World Championships here in St Anton. Handling the pressure and the expectations, she clinched the first-ever gold medal in her long career. It was also the first World title for her team since the success of Carole Merle in the giant slalom at Morioka, Japan, back in February 1993.

"This gold medal means a lot for me after so many years of sacrifices and accidents especially in France where ski racing is not such a big sport," Cavagnoud said. "Normally there are not more than two or three French journalists on the World Cup road, here there are thousands of them."

After an almost perfect run down the final section, the super G World Cup leader beat by a mere 5/100 of a second Italy's double World Champion, in 1996 and '97, Isolde Kostner, and by 8/100 of a second the reigning slalom Olympic Champion Hilde Gerg.

Yet they were all quite lucky that America's Megan Gerety made such a huge mistake in the final technical part of the course after clocking the fastest intermediate time despite starting with bib #1.

The skier from Anchorage was half a second ahead of Cavagnoud at the middle of the course before her error which cost her a spot on the podium by only 7/100 of a second. The US's Kirsten Clark came in 9th and Jonna Mendes, 18th. Caroline Lalive crashed at mid-course after a strong beginning and suffered some bruises, but she hopes to be able to compete in the coming downhill in Saturday.

"I had no problem handling the pressure. I have learned a lot in the past years."

With her two consecutive wins at Haus em Ennstal and Cortina d'Ampezzo and her two 2nd places in North America, Cavagnoud was by far the leader among the favorites for this first women's competition.

A 11-year-veteran of the World Cup tour, Cavagnoud never came close to a podium in her former medal events. In 1999, she was also a favorite for the downhill title when she crashed in training and badly injured her knee. Yet she came back stronger than before, especially psychologically, managing her career and investing more time and effort in her training. Last year, she won three races and was 3rd in the final World Cup standings, and this year she aims for more.

"At Cortina d'Ampezzo, I learned an important lesson in the downhill in which I skied too aggressively in the gliding sections covered by fresh snow. I didn't repeat the mistake the next day and here again I was smoother in the turns. The course set by Kostner's trainer was quite easy and it was important to be light on the skis. I'm pretty proud to have skied so well. I had no problem handling the pressure - I have learned a lot in the past years."

I will feel quite relaxed now for the coming downhill and the rest of the season. The Overall World Cup is still my main goal because it means much more to win it," she said.

Cavagnoud is only the eighth French women to become World Champion and now she can become the first ever to win the women's downhill, the only title missing by the French team.

Gerety, who never reached a podium in her career was 5th in downhill in 1996 in the World's race won by Picabo Street at Sierra Nevada. This season again she had two 5th places in downhill. She was incredibly fast going into the last section where she went too straight into a technical turns and barely made the next one.

"This was a terrible mistake, I didn't expect after it that I would be finishing so close to the podium," she said. "I had to wait a long time at the finish before I knew that I wouldn't make that medal. It's too bad but this result also gives me great momentum for the downhill. I feel great on this course."

Among other beaten favorites, Switzerland's Corinne Rey-Bellet, 6th, and Canada's Mélanie Turgeon, only 10th after twice reaching the podium in the last month.

Unlucky too was Renate Goetschl, the fastest in the upper part before crashing in a long left turn, fortunately without injuring herself. But this is a bad sign for her morale as the entire Austrian team had a bad day. The defending World Champion, Alexandra Meissnitzer, was the best of them in 8th place. At Vail, they had taken the top-3 places.

In Tuesday's men's super G Hermann Maier will try to imitate Cavagnoud. He likes the demanding "Karl Schranz" course and he seemed quite relaxed. "If the course conditions are fair, it should be an exciting race."

This is also what Daron Rahlves hopes - the US skier feels ready to charge at 100% . "I like to compete in Austria," he said. "It's always quite loud and there will be many fans."

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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