Women's Slalom
Slovenia's Spela Pretnar proved today that she is the best slalom glider, winning her third World Cup slalom on the rather flat course at Berchtesgaden, Germany, where the first night race of the season took place before an enthusiastic crowd.

	Pretnar

The 26-year-old champion from Bled beat France's Christel Saioni — with whom she shared the victory last November in the first slalom at Copper Mountain, in Colorado — by 92/100 of a second. Norway's Trine Bakke, the winner last week in Maribor, came in 3rd ahead of Austria's Sabine Egger and Sweden's Anja Paerson.

Three US racers skied among the top-20 — Kristina Koznick was 12th, Sarah Schleper 17th and Caroline Lalive finished 19th, despite her high start number of 52. World Cup leader Michaela Dorfmeister didn't make it among the best 30 while her top rival, Renate Goetschl, was 10th — not good enough to pass her teammate Dorfmeister in the overall standings.

An excellent GS skier in the past, Spela Pretnar has now established herself as a very consistent slalom specialist who mostly excels on smooth or easy courses. Last winter she won her first slalom in Åre, Sweden, on another flat run where she dominated all her rivals in an outstanding second run.

Here in Berchtesgaden, where she placed 4th last season, she didn't give her competitors a chance: starting with bib #1 , the Slovene took the lead with an advance of 19/100 on Trine Bakke and 53/100 on the young French Vanessa Vidal, followed by Egger, Saioni and Paerson. She didn't mind the pressure before her second run and remained out of reach for her rivals thanks to another furious run under floodlights. No one could move at her pace in that run — in fact, they all lost more ground to her.

"I enjoy racing later on in the day so I can sleep longer. Night slalom is perfect for me. It's really exciting to win such a tough race..." — Spela Pretnar (SLO)

Spela Pretnar was delighted, of course, by her newest success after finishing at a strong 2nd place last week in Maribor, racing in front of a huge and noisy crowd of supporters. That result was a strong boost for her morale after her disappointing result in the giant slalom, in which she failed to qualify.

"At Maribor I saw that I have strong nerves in skiing as aggressively in the second run," she said. "I went for it even more this time. I enjoy racing later on in the day so I can sleep longer. Night slalom is perfect for me. It's really exciting to win such a tough race."

It's ironic that Spela is enjoying her best season since 1995, when she finished 7th in the Overall World Cup standings after winning the last giant slalom during the finals in Bormio, Italy. Last spring she planned to retire to study economy in the US after her disappointing World Championships in Vail last year where she straddled a gate in the second run of the slalom while fighting for gold after setting the 3rd best time in the opening run. It was a huge upset for her and even her success later on in Åre could not make up for it.

	Bakke

Fortunately for Pretnar, who works as a reporter in the summer for a private TV station in Ljubljana, Slovenia, she changed her mind at the end of May and returned to the team in June. She was also able to get used to her new short Rossignol skis after testing them during the fall. She is now fighting to become the first skier from her team to clinch a World Cup title. Her determination and talent should keep her in the ring with Trine Bakke and Christel Saioni until the last race of the season in Bormio, her preferred ski area. She also already proved how tough she is, coming back to the top in 1998 after breaking her leg in training for the '95 season.

Two of Pretnar's teammates also finished among the top-15 today, as did four French skiers. With three racers among the top-20, the US team also had a good showing. Kristina Koznick was pleased to improve her position between runs: she was only 19th in the first run. Schleper was the best US skiers over the weekend after finishing 11th in GS. She might soon move to among the best 20 in the slalom start list.

The next slalom will take place at the end of the month in another German resort, in Zwiesel. Next week, two speed events are planned in Austria's Altenmark, a downhill and a super G.

— Manučle Joyce, MountainZone.com Correspondent