Football
Reuters 19y

Poutiainen extends overall lead

SANTA CATERINA, Italy -- Austrian Marlies Schild won her second slalom inside a fortnight on Sunday after the World Cup leaders struggled.

Schild, third after the first leg, clocked one minute 29.96
seconds on the difficult Deborah Compagnoni course, which will
host world championship races next month, to beat first-leg
leader Kristina Koznick of the United States by 0.15 seconds.

German Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer was third in 1:30.20, her
first podium place of the season.

Overall World Cup champion Anja Paerson of Sweden, who has
endured a difficult few days in Santa Caterina, lost her left
ski on the second run and world champion Janica Kostelic of
Croatia failed to finish the first leg after straddling a gate.

The misfortunes of her two biggest rivals allowed Finland's
Tanja Poutiainen to extend her lead in the standings despite
finishing only sixth.

Poutiainen now has 706 points in the overall standings, 93
ahead of Paerson and 127 ahead of Kostelic. The Finn also
maintained her lead in the slalom standings where Schild
overtook Kostelic for second place.

The 23-year-old Schild, who won a giant slalom and a slalom
in Semmering, Austria, less than two weeks ago, said the win
would give her confidence for the world championships, which
open on January 29.

"I don't want to think too much about the championships --
anything can happen -- but I will be less nervous than I would
have been without this win," she said.

"Everything seems to be really easy for me at the moment and
I am having a lot of fun."

Paerson, by contrast, felt she had completely lost her sense
of fun.

"I don't really know what happened but I just know I am
really tired," said the Swede, who has branched out from being a
technical skier to tackle all the disciplines this season and
started three of Santa Caterina's four races but placed no
higher than sixth.

"I don't have the energy and the power I had last year,"
added Paerson, who took the giant slalom and slalom titles last
season as well as the overall trophy.

"I think I will have to see about the next races."

Two super-Gs and two downhills are scheduled for Cortina
d'Ampezzo, Italy, from Wednesday before the next technical
event, a night slalom, in Zagreb on January 20.

The 29-year-old Koznick trains apart from the rest of the
U.S. team but was bursting with national pride after posting her
best result in nearly two years.

The Americans have had their first women's downhill winner
in three years with Lindsey Kildow this season and had hopes of
a first podium place for Resi Stiegler, fifth after Sunday's
opening leg before she faltered in the second run when her
goggles became dislodged.

"What Kildow is doing, what everybody is doing, is helping
the whole team," said Koznick. "I am not one of the youngest in
the team but I am really happy if I can help the other girls
with advice."

Kostelic came to grief on a left turn and said she had felt
a twinge in her leg.

"I tried to anticipate the gate too much and just skied
out," said the former overall champion who missed last season
with illness and knee injuries. "My left ski turned too much and
I just skidded to the right."

The slalom was moved at short notice to Santa Caterina from
the German resort of Berchtesgaden because of warm weather.

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