19 JAN 2001 > Women's Downhill
Isolde Kostner's Revenge
Race Results

Italy's Isolde Kostner celebrated an exciting revenge today in sunny Cortina d'Ampezzo, winning her fifth race here on the demanding "Olympia Tofana" course by the tiny margin of 2/100 of a second over Austrian Renate Goetschl.

Last week, Goetschl beat Kostner by 5/100 in Haus im Ennstal — a defeat which upset Kostner.

French Regine Cavagnoud, the downhill winner here the previous two years was 3rd, ahead of Canada's Melanie Turgeon and America's Megan Gerety.

The US veteran achieved a nice performance on the spectacular course in finishing so close to the top favorites. This is her second top-6 performance this winter which qualifies her for the World Championships at St Anton which begin in 10 days.

Other Americans also skied well, including former winner here Picabo Street who reached a promising 15th place — a bright light in the dark moments she has faced this season. Also in the World Cup points bracket are Caroline Lalive, Kirsten Clark and Jonna Mendes who should also be traveling to St Anton next weekend.

Croatian Janica Kostelic did not compete in this event yet she remains the leader of the Overall World Cup standings, ahead of Goetschl and Cavagnoud, the top favorites now.

Last winter, Kostner won three downhil races but lost the downhill cup to Germany's Regina Haeusl who scored five 2nd places.

Kostner had to fight hard to beat Goetschl, who skied almost perfectly until the last part of the course. She had a slim advance on the Italian when made a small mistake before the last gliding section.

"I had a strong run. I was really skiing well until that last jump," she said. "It's too bad but I don't want to complain. I won twice over Isolde by only a few hundredths of a second. She deserves her success. It's my fault."

Last year, Goetschl dominated the super G here and it's quite probable that the Austrian will regain the lead in the Overall World Cup rankings after the giant slalom race tomorrow.

"It would be a nice boost for my morale going to the World Championships," she said. "You ski better when you have already achieved some great results."

This was also the case for the US skiers who are having such a strong season start. Gerety opened the winter with a great result at Lake Louise and she did well again last week at Haus im Ennstal, so she was relaxed enough today and remained in the lead for almost an hour, quite a nice feeling for her.

"For once I was able to have a solid run from top to bottom and here I am among the elite," she said. With this result, Gerety moves up to 12th place in the downhill World Cup standings. She is also back in the first seed in downhill for St Anton.

"I had no doubt about my potential but I was not in my best mode..."

Street, who needed to reach a top-5 place to have a chance to qualify for St Anton, admitted that she was quite afraid during the training day because of the low visibility and the high speed. But she courageously fought back to end as the second best US skier of the day. "I'm so glad. It's a great victory over myself," she said. She'll try to have another good run in the super G but the favorites seem out of reach for her. Cavagnoud, twice 2nd before winning two races in a row wants to win again - as do Goetschl, Turgeon anfd Michaela Dorfmeister.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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