SANTA CATERINA, Italy, 31 January 2005 — Anja Paerson of Sweden continued her meteoric rise in women’s skiing as she stunned a host of favorites to claim the world championship super-G crown here yesterday.
Paerson, the reigning champion of the overall World Cup, the slalom and the giant slalom, clocked 1min 17.64sec to claim her first world title in the speed discipline ahead of Italian Lucia Recchia and American Julia Mancuso.
Recchia came second at 0.45sec to give the hosts their first medal with Mancuso third at 0.76, thus claiming the United States’ second medal in as many days following Bode Miller’s super-G gold on Saturday.
The 45-strong field reached speeds of around 115 km h on the way down the Deborah Compagnoni slope, named after the region’s most famous woman skier and which was only inaugurated a few weeks ago.
And it obviously proved too much for some of the discipline’s top names, most of whom fell victim to the slope’s speed-inducing gradients barely 30 seconds after leaving the start gate.
Defending world champion Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, her compatriot Alexandra Meissnitzer, Martina Ertl of Germany and France’s Carole Montillet all failed to finish the race after falling victim near the top of the course.
That left Paerson, who had started ninth last from the field of 30 virtual contenders, with an increased chance of holding on to top spot after her time had pushed Recchia down into second place.
The 23-year-old Swede negotiated the super-G course perfectly, despite all racers only being given one chance to inspect it beforehand.
