Maze wins season-opening giant slalom

SOELDEN, Austria (AFP) –

Tina Maze of Slovenia celebrates winning the women giant slalom during the FIS Ski World cup in Soelden, Austria on October 27.

Slovenia’s Tina Maze won a fog-hit women’s opening giant slalom Saturday, which also saw a sensational first World Cup podium for third-placed Austrian Stefanie Koehle and a crash for US star Lindsey Vonn.

The 29-year-old Maze finished in a total time of 2min 31.41sec, ahead of Austria’s Kathrin Zettel in 2:31.83, in a season opener plagued by fog and bad weather.

Koehle, 26, grabbed her first podium with a time of 2:33.12, as last year’s winner, Vonn, and defending giant slalom World Cup winner Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany went out in the second run.

Maze’s victory was her third in Soelden after 2002 and 2005, equalling the record of veteran Austrian skier Hermann Maier.

“It’s a very special day for me,” she said. “My first run was incredible, I was happy to ski like that, I had a lot of fun. The second run was a big fight for me – I was just trying to fight and ski down.”

The second run in the afternoon was plagued by fog and bad weather and had to be delayed repeatedly, eventually starting at 13:45pm (1145GMT), an hour later than planned.

Tina Maze of Slovenia competes in the first run of the ladies giant slalom during the opening of the FIS Ski World cup in Soelden, Austria on October 27. Maze won the race with a sensational first World Cup podium for Austrian Stefanie Koehle.

Maze added her win gave her “confidence for the season” as she bids for her first overall World Cup trophy this year.

In the last few years, she has finished successively fourth, third and second in the overall rankings.

Koehle, whose best World Cup result to date had been a sixth place in the giant slalom in Lienz, Austria last December, was visibly moved.

“I always imagined being on the podium in Soelden but I never thought it would happen,” said the Austrian, who was just 11th after the morning’s run.

“The conditions were very difficult especially in the second run. We couldn’t see anything, and had to rely that much more on our advisers via radio.”

The second-run exits of Rebensburg and France’s Tessa Worley, who were hot on Maze’s tail after the morning race, played no role in her result, she insisted.

“Of course when somebody goes out, you climb one step higher, but I had the same bad visibility as all the others.”

“My goal for this season was a podium and now I’ve achieved that in my first race. I need to find a new goal,” Koehle added.

The 26-year-old Zettel, who has accumulated eight World Cup wins and 38 podiums over her career but has battled injury in the last few seasons, was in tears following her result.

“It ends a very black, very difficult phase in my career. The last two years or so, after my injuries, were linked with a lot of pain. I asked myself a few times if I should continue skiing.”

Vonn shrugged off her failure to finish.

“Second run I was trying as hard as I could to make up two and a half seconds, which is tough to do, and I got my arm caught on a gate,” said Vonn, who also complained of the poor visibility on the course.

The World Cup opening was also tainted by the car crash death on Friday of 23-year-old Austrian skier Bjoern Sieber.

The Austrian athletes wore black armbands on Saturday in memory of their colleague.

The men are up next with their first giant slalom of the season in Soelden on Sunday.