ARE, Sweden, 19 March 2006 — Italian Giorgio Rocca celebrated winning the World Cup men’s slalom title yesterday despite skiing out when leading on the second run in the final race of the season.
Rocca’s mistake handed victory to Sweden’s Markus Larsson who finished in a total time of one minute 41.35 seconds, 0.82 ahead of second-placed Frenchman Stephane Tissot and 0.93 ahead of third-placed Thomas Grandi of Canada.
Rocca, who clocked the fastest time in the first run, was handed the title before the start after rival Kalle Pallender withdrew.
Finland’s former world champion Pallender, the only man in contention to overhaul Rocca, injured knee ligaments in a fall during the giant slalom on Friday.
“I was really going for the win and then I just slipped out,” said Rocca, who became the first Italian man to win a World Cup title since Alberto Tomba in 1995.
“Still, it’s a great achievement, this is a big win. I’m really sorry for Kalle though, I hope he gets better and that we will race together in Levi (in Finland) in November.”
Rocca won the first five slalom races of the season but has since failed to make the podium. He also failed to win a medal on homeground at last month’s Turin Olympics. Overcoming poor visibility in the first run and soft snow conditions, Larsson became the first Swedish man to win a World Cup race in 13 years.
“This is the dream of my life, I can hardly believe it’s true, said an overwhelmed Larsson, who remembers watching on television when Sweden’s former world champion Tomas Fogdoe clinched the slalom World Cup title in 1993 by winning a race in Are.
Kostelic Sets Record, Paerson Takes Title
Croatian Janica Kostelic won the final women’s giant slalom race of the season yesterday to set a World Cup points record.
Swede Anja Paerson, who was seventh, clinched the discipline’s title after finishing one place in front of Spain’s Maria Jose Rienda, her only rival for the crown.
The 24-year-old Kostelic, a double World Cup champion after securing the overall and slalom titles, beat Canada’s Genevieve Simard by 0.61 seconds with her time of two minutes and 6.41 seconds. Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen and Austria’s Nicole Hosp tied for third, 1.54 behind the winner.
Kostelic’s win, the 30th of her career, put her on 1,970 points overall and surpassed Swede Pernilla Wiberg’s 1997 record by 10 points.
It was a fitting day for Paerson to clinch the title as it coincided with the 50th birthday of Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who won a record 86 races during the 1970s and 1980s and who hails from Tarnaby, the same town as Paerson.
