MARIBOR, Slovenia (AP) _ Sweden's Anja Paerson posted two brilliant runs Saturday to win her second straight World Cup giant slalom. A two-time slalom winner here at Maribor, Paerson completed the hard-packed Pohorje slope in 2 minutes, 24.63 seconds, edging up-and-coming Austrian gate specialist Nicole Hosp by a hefty 1.22 seconds. It was Paerson's ninth World Cup career victory and fourth this season.

Anja Paerson

The 21-year-old defending world slalom champion won her first giant slalom last week in the Italian resort of Cortina d' Ampezzo.

Martina Ertl

German veteran Martina Ertl came in third, 1.63 seconds off the winning pace.
"I really went for it," said a delighted Paerson, who did a belly-flop on the snow at the bottom of the hill to celebrate her triumph.
Reigning world giant slalom champion Sonja Nef, who was in second place after the first run, looked on target for a podium place until her ski slipped toward the end of the course and threw her back into 11th place.
Olympic giant slalom champion and World Cup overall leader Janica Kostelic was a distant 17th despite strong support from a vocal Croatian fan contingent that arrived by the bus, train and car load from neighboring Croatia.

Anja Paerson

The skies were overcast above the Pohorje mountain that sits in the backdrop of Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city after the capital Ljubljana. However, the snow was well-groomed and tight, allowing good race conditions for most of the competitors.

Nicole Hosp, Anja Paerson and Martina Ertl

Saturday's giant slalom and the slalom scheduled for Sunday are the last women's World Cup races ahead of the World Championships to be held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Feb. 2-16.

AP, 25.01.2003

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