Paerson Takes Cup Lead With Giant Slalom Win

Defending champion Anja Paerson of Sweden took the lead in the World Cup overall standings for the first time this season with a victory in a giant slalom event Wednesday at Lienz, Austria.

Paerson, who also claimed the lead in giant slalom points, was clocked in 2 minutes 9.94 seconds. She was 0.21 seconds faster than Nicole Hosp of Austria.

Tina Maze of Slovenia, who won the season-opening giant slalom at Soelden, Austria, finished third, 0.40 behind.

The United States failed to place a skier among the top 20 for the first time this season. Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., finished 24th, one spot ahead of Kristina Koznick of Eagen, Minn.

Kildow is a speed specialist increasingly focusing on the technical disciplines and still learning.

“I was attacking it. I skied aggressively, but I made mistakes,” said Kildow, whose best giant slalom finish was ninth last season. “I think I’m skiing better than I have been. It’s a step in the right direction.”

Paerson passed Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria and Janica Kostelic of Croatia in the overall standings. Dorfmeister finished 23rd. Kostelic, who lost the giant slalom points lead, was sixth.

“I had a really bad start in the super-G and downhill, and I didn’t expect to be up there,” Paerson said of the overall standings after her 29th World Cup victory. “The Olympics are really what I’m counting on.”

Paerson leads the overall standings with 540 points, eight more than Kostelic. Dorfmeister is third with 510 points.

Paerson was aggressive on both runs. She was the fastest on the first at 1:05.99. Her time of 1:03.95 on the second was .02 slower than heat leader Hosp.

Hosp was fourth after the opening leg but made the podium for the first time this season with the fastest second run (1:03.93).

In all, only two of 10 Americans qualified for the second run.

Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., still using replacement boots after forgetting her racing pair this month at Lake Louise, Canada, was 31st her only time down the slope.

Lauren Ross of Stowe, Vt., was 33rd and Jessica Kelley of Starksboro, Vt., was 34th. Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., in her first World Cup race since reinjuring her back and undergoing surgery in November, was 36th.

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Chad Hedrick of Spring, Texas, tuned up for the Turin Olympics by winning a 5,000-meter speedskating race at Kearns, Utah, but in a time well off the world record he had predicted at the U.S. long-track national speedskating championships.

Hedrick completed the 12 1/2 -lap race in 6:16.10. He missed the world mark of 6:08.78 set by Sven Kramer of the Netherlands this month at the Utah Olympic Oval.

“This isn’t important for me,” Hedrick said about the weeklong event. “This is just gearing me up for the big show.”

Perhaps hampering Hedrick’s attempt was the fatigue he felt after skating the 1,000 meters earlier in the day. Nick Pearson of Vernon, Wis., edged him by one-hundredth of a second in that race.

Three-time Olympic medalist Chris Witty of West Allis, Wis., won the women’s 1,000, her strongest event, in 1:16.44. She won gold at that distance in the 2002 Olympics with a world-record time of 1:13.83, which still stands.