Women's Super G
Canada's outgoing and aggressive Melanie Turgeon achieved a memorable success today on the legendary Olympic run on the Patscherkofel, located near Tyrol's capital of Innsbruck. The first non-Austrian to win on this famous course since the 1964 Winter Olympics, the skier from La Belle Province of Quebec crushed the local top favorites, beating the Overall World Cup leader Renate Goetschl by 36/100 of a second and Tanja Schneider by 49/100.

	Melanie

Another important mention: this is also her very first victory on the World Cup tour after an accumulation of top-5 results in recent seasons.

Other outsiders, such as France's Melanie Suchet, a winner in super G back in 1998, and German Petra Haltmayer also had strong showing as they came ahead of other top specialists, such as Régine Cavagnoud from France and Michaela Dorfmeister from Austria, the winner in the previous super G at Santa Caterina.

"I was so mad after the downhill and today, I won, it's wonderful! I felt that I had the potential to do very well this season and I have been so often disappointed and frustrated because I could not express all my potential...." — Melanie Turgeon (CAN)

Mojca Suhaldolc, the Slovenian winner at Lake Louise; Isolde Kostner, the best at Val d'Isère in December; and Regina Haeusl, who placed 2nd five times in downhill this season, did not even finish the race. American Alison Powers also skied out on her way down the mountain, but her teammate Kirsten Clark was 20th and Jonna Mendes, 26th.

A promising talent in her junior years, Melanie Turgeon was only 16 when she started to compete on the World Cup tour. She was 23rd in the super G at the 1993 World Ski Championships in Morioka, Japan. But injuries had slowed her career. The Canadian came in 3rd in Sierra Nevada, Spain, in the World Cup Finals downhill. She was also 7th in Vail at the last World Championships and she was aiming for more at the start of the present season.

Unfortunately, she had problems keeping a steady attitude, especially when she felt able to fight for a place on the podium. More than once, she missed the opportunity to achieve her potential in a downhill because she put too much pressure on herself and took too many risks. This was the case earlier this season in Lake Louise, St Moritz, Altenmark and Cortina d'Ampezzo, where she also had bad luck with the visibility.

Finally, last week, she reached an excellent 5th place at Are, Sweden, after some strong runs in training. She felt ready for more in Innsbruck, where she was among the fastest in the timed trials. But a change in the weather conditions and warmer snow favored the strong Austrian team in Are. She was not pleased at all with her 5th-place finish — in fact, she was furious as she rushed out of the finish line.

"These Austrians are too lucky — they have won so much this season but they always want more," she said later that afternoon.

Today, she was able to perfectly control her energy and her momentum and achieve an excellent first run. She nailed the bottom of the course, where she gained almost half of a second on her rivals — proof of her excellent physical shape and her clear mind.

Today also marks the first win for the Canadian women's team since the success of Kate Pace at Tignes during the 1992/1993 season. The last Canadian to have won a super G was Lisa Savijarvi, back in 1986, in Japan's Furano.

Following the advise of her trainer and mentor, Piotr, she chose to start with a low number, an excellent choice because the mild temperatures soon made the course difficult.

	Goetschl

"I own him a lot, I can't believe I did it finally," Turgeon said. "I was so mad after the downhill and today, I won, it's wonderful! I felt that I had the potential to do very well this season and I have been so often disappointed and frustrated because I could not express all my potential. I was hoping for more than 5th in the downhill after my excellent training runs and I was able to remain focused and strong in my mind. It took me a long time to win and I really appreciate it."

Despite her 2nd place, Goetschl still had a good day, since she was able to increase her lead on Michaela Dorfmeister in the Overall and super G standings. She will try to fight back in Sunday's race, but she may be aiming more for points than for a victory, at this stage in the season. It could help Melanie to double-up in the second super G here tomorrow.

— Manuele Joyce, MountainZone.com European Correspondent