CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy, 17 January 2004 — Renate Goetschl won her fourth World Cup race of the season yesterday in a hard-fought super-G in the Italian Dolomites, closing the gap on overall leader Anja Paerson.
The 28-year-old Goetschl hurtled down the Olympia delle Tofane course in one minute 10.59 seconds to edge out Germany’s Martina Ertl by 0.33 seconds.
Ertl clocked 1:10.92 while fellow German Hilde Gerg, the most consistent skier on the women’s tour this season, was third in 1:11.02. France’s Carole Montillet was fourth while Swiss Fraenzi Aufdenblatten equaled her career best finish with a fifth place.
The race was halted temporarily when Canada’s Genevieve Simard collided with a gate and crashed heavily. Simard, who savored her first World Cup victory two days ago on the same course, appeared to have suffered a leg injury and was taken off the hill on a stretcher. Goetschl’s victory, her 10th in super-G, comes just five days after injuring her knee in a fall in Veysonnaz, Switzerland and closes the gap on overall World Cup leader Paerson.
“I’m so happy to win here,” said Goetschl, who won a downhill and super-G in Cortina last season. “It’s hard when you have a race like that when you know you have to risk everything.”
Goetschl though said she was still not thinking about the overall title, despite trailing Sweden’s Paerson by the slender margin of 72 points. “I’m not thinking about the overall standings I just want to do my job, get my confidence back after Sunday and to take it race by race,” she said.
Paerson, a technical specialist, has made radical improvements in the speed events this season and made her downhill debut in St. Moritz, but says expectations are way too high.
“Everyone now expects so much from me in the speed events and I can’t really enjoy it anymore,” she said after finishing 14th.
