Swedish Teen Paerson Records Mammoth Upset in World Cup

Anja Paerson of Sweden, a 17-year-old World Cup rookie, stunned a veteran field by coming from 15th place to win a women’s World Cup slalom by .01 seconds Thursday over Australia’s Zali Steggall.

Paerson, as the 15th-place finisher in the first run, had the advantage of starting first in the afternoon session, and she made the most of it, posting a time of 48.82 seconds that was 1.08 seconds faster than anyone else.

She completed two runs in a combined 1 minute 40.84 seconds on a cold and windy day at this Sierra resort.

“I just wanted to come down and make points. Winning, I can’t believe it,” Paerson said. “I know I was fast but not that fast. They were two seconds before me.”

Steggall, the Olympic slalom bronze medalist last year, held a 1.75-second lead over Paerson after the first run, but even that huge margin wasn’t enough to get her past the Swedish teen.

“It’s tough, but it’s the way racing goes,” Steggall said. “You never know when maybe it’ll be your day and you’ll be on top. I had two good runs in really tough conditions, with the wind and the ruts.”

Ingrid Salvenmoser of Austria, seventh after the first run, was third in 1:41.29. She had the second-fastest afternoon run, but at 49.90 seconds it was more than a second slower than Paerson’s time.

Paerson became the third racer from her little village of Tarnaby to win a World Cup race. The first and most famous was Ingemar Stenmark, whose 86 victories still are the most in World Cup history. Stig Strand, who grew up next door to Stenmark and only a few blocks from Paerson, won two races and shared the 1983 World Cup slalom title with Stenmark.