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Serre Chevalier, France
December 4, 1999
Women's Giant Slalom
After a long wait, the women's Austrian team finally celebrated its first victory of the season in the third giant slalom. Michaela Dorfmeister, mostly a speed specialist in the past, achieved an impressive performance on this challenging slope as she beat her teammate Anita Wachter, the most experienced GS skier in the field, by 31/100 of a second.
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Italy's Silke Bachman reached her first podium, taking 3rd place. Croatia's Janica Kostelic, 4th, finished among the top-10 for the fourth consecutive time this season. Two other Austrians, Renate Goetschl and Silvia Berger, took 5th and 6th place.
Three US skiers were able to score points. Kristina Kosnick came in 13th, despite her high start number 64, while Sarah Schleper was 19th after clocking the 8th fastest time in the first leg. Caroline Lalive finished 23rd.
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| "I'm really quite surprised by this victory — especially on this steep and demanding hill....I wish now to recover my momentum in downhill...." — Michaela Dorfmeister (AUT) |
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A member of the Austrian team since the early 1990s, Michaela Dorfmeister excelled in downhill and super G in the past years. Last winter, she reached a promising 6th place in the Overall World Cup rankings after scoring only points in the speed events. She also clinched some silver medals at Vail.
The outgoing and relaxed skier didn't increase her training in giant slalom during the past summer, but her attitude has changed since last spring. Inspired by Alexandra Meissnitzer's brilliant example, Dorfmeister and her teammate Renate Goetschl have become more ambitious and more determined.
"I used to be a good GS skier in the past and I was hoping to get back in shape in that event," Dorfmeister said after the race. "In the past, I only skied GS to improve my technique in super G and in downhill, but I had other goals in my mind for this season. My 3rd place at Copper Mountain was a great boost for my morale. Here I felt quite confident. I was also very aggressive today because I didn't ski so well in Lake Louise.
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"I'm really quite surprised by this victory — especially on this steep and demanding hill," she added. "I wish now to recover my momentum in downhill. I only need some strong training runs to get my old rhythm back. I would enjoy to fight for a top-3 place in the Overall World Cup this winter." For the moment, Dorfmeister is in the lead in the Overall and the GS standings after this race.
Kristina Koznick only lost 19/100 of a second on Michaela in the second run, which helped her to achieved her best GS result on the World Cup tour. "It's great for my morale," she said after the race, hugging her father. "It's definitely a good feeling to ski among the world elite in this specialty, too. It makes my life easier as I can now plan to fight for good results in two events. I should feel less pressure from now on in the coming slaloms. I have tested new skis and I hope to improve my results tomorrow. The slope is pretty demanding and we should have a nice slalom on Sunday," she added.
Among the skiers to beat in Serre Chevalier are France's Christel Saioni, who lives only 90 minutes from here, Spela Pretnar from Slovenia and Janica Kostelic from Croatia. Kostelic finished 4th at Copper Mountain before reaching two top-10's in the speed events at Lake Louise. The skier from Zagreb seems ready to win her first slalom this winter.
— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent