ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP 1997/98
Bormio (ITA) Women's 5th Slalom. 05.Jan.1998
Fourth Consecutive Win for Ylva Nowen
Bormio, Italy, January 5--Ylva Nowen celebrated her 28th birthday on January 5th with another slalom victory. The Swede clinched the fifth slalom competition of the season in excellent weather and course conditions on the lower part of the demanding "Stelvio" downhill course in Bormio.
The Scandinavian, unbeaten in that event since the slalom at Val d'Isere, won her fourth race in a row ahead of Germany's Hilde Gerg and Slovenia's Spela Pretnar. Switzerland's Karin Roten conquered 4th place which she shared with the American Kristina Koznick. The other favorites finished behind. Claudia Riegler from New Zealand was 9th and Deborah Compagnoni who lives only twenty minutes away from Bormio finished with a disappointing 12th place. Slovenia's Urska Hrovat, who was in the lead in the first run with Nowen crashed in the middle of the second run and Zali Steggall straddled a gate near the finish line.
The defending Overall World Cup champion Pernilla Wiberg, whose knee still hurts from an injury last October opted out of the event. She will return to competition as soon as her knee heals. With her fourth success in row, Nowen is following in the ski steps of other great slalom skiers such as Switzerland's Erika Hess and Vreni Schneider who both dominated that specialty in the 80's. Hess, a five time World Champion, won six consecutive slaloms in 1981 and Schneider won eight in two periods between 1988 to 1989.
Once again, the shy Scandinavian was embarrassed about explaining her winning streak upon her victory. "Everything goes so easily," Nowen said. "I give my best and it's just nice to race."
Her rivals simultaneously congratulated her on her most recent success and her birthday. "I thought about it, but I still could focus very well on my race. Now I have two good reasons to have a nice party." Tied for the lead with Hrovat after the first run, Nowen had to fight hard in the afternoon on a new course. Set by the trainer of Claudia Riegler, the challenging afternoon course contained 60 difficult turns (6 more than in the morning) with a vertical drop of 150 meters. The final part of the course was sinuous and demanding from a technical and physical point of view, which explains how some skiers such as Hilde Gerg managed to achieve a great comeback to the front positions.
The defending super-G World Cup champion was only 13th before the second run. Ironically, two major errors she made in the first gates of the second run may have helped her to ski stronger. "After these mistakes I could really go for it, I had nothing to loose," the charming German said. "I was very aggressive." She obtained her best standing so far in a World Cup slalom, which had previously been 9th back in 1994.
This was also the case for Pretnar, who was 4th at Bormio in 1995 at the World
Cup finals where she won the giant slalom before breaking a leg in May. A part-time TV reporter on a private station in Ljubljana, the 24-year-old skier from Bled has achieved an impressive comeback this winter. Injured again at in October, her first competition this season was at Park City. She hasn't stopped improving her scores since then. At Lienz two weeks ago, she finished 7th despite a high start number. Sixth in the first run, she again set one of the best times and her best result since her win at Bormio in March of 1995. At Nagano, Pretnar will aim for a medal in slalom, along with her teammate Urska Hrovat who fell after clocking the best intermediate time on the course.
It was also a bad day for local heroine Deborah Compagnoni, who had a strong 4th position in the first run behind Hrovat, Nowen and Trine Bakke from Norway who finished at a far 10th place. After a strong start, Compagnoni lost her momentum and gave up a lot of time in the final tricky part of the course, which also shattered times of many other competitors. She will seek revenge in tomorrow's giant slalom.
This slalom confirmed the strong potential US skier Kristina Koznick, who has been very consistent since the season's start. She was 4th in the opening slalom at Park City and 2nd at Lienz two weeks ago. She also had some problems during the final part of the second run, but she finished well nonetheless.
This result reinforced her positions in the various world standings and her confidence for the upcoming Olympics. "There is another slalom here next weekend, and I will fight for another top position before flying back home for a nice break," she said. "It'll be great to rest a little with my family before moving on to the next races in Sweden. Then it will be time to think about the Olympics." She couldn't attend the competitions at Lillehammer in 1994 due to an injury the previous fall. "I'm looking forward for Japan," she said.
Women'w 5th Slalom, January 05,1998
Rank Name Nat. Total
 1 NOWEN Ylva  SWE   1:27.81
 2 GERG Hilde  GER   1:28.53
 3 PRETNAR Spela  SLO   1:28.58
 4 ROTEN MEIER Karin  SUI   1:28.67
 4 KOZNICK Kristina  USA   1:28.67
 6 EGGER Sabine  AUT   1:28.99
 6 ERTL Martina  GER   1:28.99
 8 BERGMANN Monika  GER   1:29.01
 9 RIEGLER Claudia  NZE   1:29.02
 10 BAKKE Trine  NOR   1:29.15
 11 BIAVASCHI Elisabetta  ITA   1:29.16
 12 COMPAGNONI Deborah  ITA   1:29.18
 13 SEIZINGER Katja  GER   1:29.26
 14 KOELLERER Karin  AUT   1:29.27
 15 BOKAL Natasa  SLO   1:29.31
 16 DOVZAN Alenka  SLO   1:29.32
 17 PEQUEGNOT Laure  FRA   1:29.35
 18 PICCARD Leila  FRA   1:29.37
 19 MAGONI Lara  ITA   1:29.48
 20 ACCOLA Martina  SUI   1:29.82
 21 SALVENMOSER Ingrid  AUT   1:30.12
 22 BORGHI Catherine  SUI   1:30.19
 23 WACHTER Anita  AUT   1:30.21
 24 CHAUVET Patricia  FRA   1:30.22
 25 GERG Annemarie  GER   1:30.25
 26 NEF Sonja  SUI   1:30.62
 27 FLEMMEN Andrine  NOR   1:31.08

Did not finish 1st run:
GRAU Vicky (AND), WAIDHOFER-DUMMER Carolina (AUT), VIDAL Vanessa (FRA), MAIR Manuela (ITA), FORTKORD Martina (SWE), KOREN Katja (SLO), KVOPKOVA Maria (SVK)

Did not finish 2nd run:
HROVAT Urska (SLO)

Disqualified 1st run:
SITAR Nives (SLO)

Disqualified 2nd run:
STEGGALL Zali (AUS), GALLIZIO Morena (ITA)

Did not qualify 2nd run:
ROZSA Edith (CAN), TICHY Katerina (CAN), KURFUERSTOVA Eva (CZE), RAITA Henna (FIN), MASNADA Florence (FRA), DUVILLARD Kristina (FRA), SOURD Isabelle (FRA), PASCAL-SAIONI Christel (FRA), BRAUNER Sibylle (GER), HALTMAYR Petra (GER), BEHRINGER Simone (GER), WOLF Stefanie (GER), MILANI Barbara (ITA), CERESA Annalisa (ITA), PLANK Astrid (ITA), IKEDA Kazuko (JPN), YAMAKAWA Junko (JPN), GILJARHUS Bente (NOR), BOSCH FORRELLAD Monica (SPA), GALINDO SANTOLARIA Ana (SPA), ANDERSSON Kristina (SWE), HANSSON Erika (SWE), YDESKOG Linda (SWE), OTTOSSON Anna (SWE), HAELLDAHL Sandra (SWE), NEUENSCHWANDER Katrin (SUI), OESTER Marlies (SUI), NELSON Tasha (USA), SHEINBERG Carrie (USA), SHAFFER Alexandra (USA)