Women's Downhill
Italy's Isolde Kostner celebrated a crucial sixth World Cup success in the first downhill of the season, held in excellent snow and weather conditions on the Olympic course at Lake Louise.

	Women's Podium

The 24-year-old skier from Val Gardena, Italy, who has not won a race since her success at Cortina d'Ampezzo in January 1998, beat Germany's Hilde Gerg, the 1998 Slalom Olympic Champion, by 6/100 of a second. Kostner also beat Switzerland's Corinne Rey-Bellet by 28/100.

Another German, Martina Ertl, came in 4th while other Overall World Cup favorites had more problems. Austria's Renate Goetschl missed a gate mid-course and did not finish, while Michaela Dorfmeister only finished 15th. Pernilla Wiberg was 17th. Renate Goetschl, the defending Downhill World Champion, was the double winner in Lake Louise a year ago.

"I had some mistakes in the middle part of the course, but fortunately the last gliding section suited me perfectly. I had a nice collections of top-three finishes last winter, including here, but I wanted more...." — Isolde Kostner (ITA)

Other outsiders had a better day: Slovenia's Mojca Suhadloc took an unprecedented 7th place, just ahead of the surprising Janica Kostelic from Croatia. Regine Cavagnoud, the winner in Copper Mountain's giant slalom, finished at a promising 10th place. The Frenchwoman was one of the top favorites after the training runs, but she still needs some time to recover all her power in downhill. She didn't train this event since the end of January, before her crash in Vail where she torn ligaments in her knee.

Jonna Mendes and Kristen Clark, the best US skiers in this event, reached 18th and 21st respectively — good positions for the first speed event of the season.

Isolde was very moved after clocking some good times in the training runs and then having her win confirmed. "I had some mistakes in the middle part of the course, but fortunately the last gliding section suited me perfectly," she said. "I had a nice collections of top-three finishes last winter, including here, but I wanted more," said the double Super G World Champion from 1996 and 1997.

"It has been a frustrating season last winter — my motivation was not the best and I had problems to focus on the race" added the Italian, who didn't clinch a medal at Vail last season. "My good result in the giant slalom at Copper Mountain last week gave me some good momentum and it increased when I clocked some fast time here. This is definitely a very important success for me — the start of a new period in my career. To know that you can win again is most important for an athlete. I hope to be again as consistent as in the past."

In 1994, a few weeks after winning her first race at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 18-year-old "Isi" clinched two bronze medals in super G and downhill at the Lillehammer Olympics. She also won the downhill at Cortina d'Ampezzo three times in a row. She seems to have the potential to fight for a top position in the Overall World Cup standings, which are now wide open after Alexandra Meissnitzer's accident. The great dominator of the past season torn ligaments in her knee earlier this week while training for super G with her team at Lake Louise. She underwent surgery in Salzburg afterwards but she is not expected to ski again before six months.

In Sunday's super G, the Austrian team will aim for revenge and its first success of the season.

— Manuele Joyce, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent