ZAGREB, 21 January 2005 — Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen won a Women’s World Cup slalom yesterday but the Croatian fans were left disappointed when Janica Kostelic failed to finish the first leg of the race on her home ground.
Kostelic, who learned to ski on the slopes of Mount Sljeme which was hosting Croatia’s first World Cup race, straddled a gate just 17 seconds into her run. The triple Olympic champion skied slowly down the course before stopping and collapsing in the snow in tears.
Poutiainen, third after the first run, was off the pace on the second leg but made up time on the last part of the floodlit course to win in one minute 50.71 seconds and regain the lead in the overall World Cup standings.
Kristina Koznick of the United States was second in 1:50.78 and Austrian Marlies Schild, the first leg leader, finished third in 1:51.19 after slipping early on her second run.
She heads the overall standings with 806 points, eight more than Austrian Renate Goetschl, who did not ski in Croatia. Kostelic, the overall champion in 2001 and 2003, dropped to third on 789 points.
Poutiainen standings to 460 points ahead of Schild on 340 while Koznick moves above Kostelic into third with 310.
Kostelic was not the only big name to falter during the race which was skied on artificial snow. Austrian Elisabeth Goergl, Germany’s Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer and her compatriot Annemarie Gerg all failed to finish the first leg.
