ASPEN, Colorado, 28 November 2004 — Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen won the women’s alpine World Cup giant slalom here Friday, ahead of Sweden’s reigning World Cup champion Anja Paerson and Croatian Janica Kostelic.
Poutiainen, 24, captured the first giant slalom victory of her career, adding it to the world cup slalom win she claimed at Levi last season.
“When I saw Kostelic cross the finish line, I was unbelievably happy,” said Poutiainen, who feared second-leg mistakes had cost her a chance at victory.
With a total time of 2min 12.49sec, Poutiainen finished nine hundredths of a second ahead of Paerson, who last year claimed not only the overall World Cup crown but also the slalom and giant slalom disciplines.
The Swede had started off the season with a win, capturing the season-opening giant slalom last month at Solden, Austria, but said she wasn’t surprised to see the Finn — runner-up at Solden — emerge from her shadow.
Kostelic, in her second race since returning to competition, settled for third place after edging Poutiainen to post the top time in the first leg, which was raced in driving snow with poor visibility.
“The first leg was strange,” Kostelic said. “I felt awful, and when I saw the time I couldn’t understand it.”
The result was particularly encouraging for the 22-year-old. Kostelic, the first woman to take three alpine skiing gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, missed last season with various health problems, notably surgery on her thyroid gland.
