Anja Paerson, of Sweden, slaloms past a pole on her way to winning the Women's Combined, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
. world ski news : Are 2007: Super Combined Ladies - 09 February 2007 - 21:49
Anja Paerson, of Sweden, slaloms past a pole on her way to winning the Women's Combined, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Anja Paerson of Sweden takes a jump during the downhill portion of the Women's Combined, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Austria's Marlies Schild speeds down the course overlooking the finish area, top, during the downhill portion of the Women's Combined, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Sweden's Anja Paerson celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women's Combined, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
Anja Paerson of Sweden, center, winner of the Women's Combined, celebrates during the flower ceremony with second placed Julia Mancuso, of the United States, left, and third placed Marlies Schild, of Austria, at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Are, Sweden, Friday, Feb. 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Are: Paerson wins again; Kildow 2nd in DH
By Whitney Childers and Sam Flickinger
Sunday, 11 February 2007
skiracing.com
ARE, Sweden — Anja Paerson can’t lose.
The Swedish ski racing queen sealed her third straight gold at the World Championships Sunday by besting a field of strong speedsters in the women’s downhill. She 25-year-old also became the first skier ever to earn medals in all five disciplines at the World Championships.
"At the moment it’s just too much to take in," Paerson said. "Crossing the finish line today I didn’t know what to feel. It’s been a dream to win the downhill at World Championships at home, and to achieve it I really didn’t think I could do it. It really was amazing."
American Lindsey Kildow finished less than half-second behind Paerson to nab the silver, her second one of the championships. She clocked 1 minute, 27.29 seconds to Paerson’s 1:26.89.
Kildow lost time on the top section, nearly skiing off the course during a hard left-hand turn. She ended up with the 26th-fastest time through the top but gained time on the field the rest of the way down the tight and technical WM Strecke course.
"I knew I had such a big mistake at the top, and I knew I had to fight all the way to the finish if I was going to get a medal today," Kildow said. "I just didn’t give up and I kept going, went as straight as I could and made up a lot of time. I'm just really happy to get a medal today. Normally, with that mistake that wouldn’t happen."
Austrian Nicole Hosp won the bronze, finishing in 1:27.37 for her first top-three career finish in the downhill.
"It was very tough. When I was standing in the finish and waiting, [the following racers] are the greatest skiers in downhill at the moment," Hosp said. "I was very nervous. It was tough. ... I just tied to ski good today. I knew I could do a good downhill on this slope."
Three other American women finished in the top 20: Julia Mancuso, silver medalist behind Paerson in the super combined, was 10th at 1:28.09. Kirsten Clark finished 15th (1:28.40) and youngster Stacey Cook 16th (1:28.55).
Mancuso said "her game wasn't all together" Sunday. "I felt ready in the gate, but everything, one after the other, kept going wrong," she said.
Mancuso said the snow on the course was good but the flat light made it tough to see all the bumps. She also knew it would take a lot of aggressive skiing to top the super-confident Paerson.
"I knew to beat Anja I was going to have to go for something special, and I wasn’t really looking at just the podium so I charged and it didn’t really work out for me," she said.
Paerson had a near-perfect run on a course with flat light and some soft snow in certain areas. Kildow made a mistake early on in the race and at one point was almost a second off Paerson’s pace. She made up the time with solid turns and a tight tuck the rest of the race, making up almost half a second to finish with the silver.
The next women's race is Tuesday with the final run of giant slalom under the lights. The U.S. foursome will be Mancuso, Jessica Kelley, Resi Stiegler and Libby Ludlow.