Women's Giant Slalom
Austria's Anita Wachter has proven there's no age limit on winning. Today, Wachter, who will turn 33 in six weeks, won her 19th World Cup alpine race in Lienz, Austria, ahead of much younger athletes. The top-3 skiers all crossed the finish line within 59/100 of a second.

	Anita Wachter

"I was pleased by my first run since I didn't lose much time in that snow storm, and I felt ready to take more risks in the afternoon when the visibility was fine again," Wachter said just after the race. "I had no choice since there were so many good skiers classified within a second, and I could not be happy with 4th place after the first run. The second was technically more demanding, much better for me. Yet I'm sorry for Christiana who had such a strong first run. I hope she will have another chance soon."

Canada's Allison Forsyth, 21, conquered her first World Cup podium with 2nd, and Liechtenstein's Birgit Heeb, 27, in the second top-3 finish of her career, was 3rd.

The fifth women's giant slalom of the season was plagued by heavy snowfall in the morning. Austrian Christiana Mitterwallner, leader after the first run, fell in the first gates of the second run, yet managed to jump back on her skis to finish a far 7th — still her best finish in a giant slalom. Mitterwallner lost her concentration after realizing her helmet was not properly attached.

Switzerland's Sonja Nef finished 4th, ahead of another Austrian, Renate Goetschl, who took over the lead of the Overall World Cup standings. Goetschl has a good chance of maintaining that top position until the end of the season as her main rival, Isolde Kostner, has had problems finishing with points in the technical events.

A legend in her own way, Anita Wachter has won enough races and medals in her long ski racing career to deserve a satisfying rest. A member of the Austrian Ski Team since 1985, Wachter became an Olympic Champion in the combined in 1988. In March 1993, the tiny Austrian achieved her greatest performance when she beat Germany's newest star, Katja Seizinger, in the Overall World Cup standings.

"My season's goal is to win the GS World Cup, but you have to win some races to have a serious chance to clinch that trophy..." — Anita Wachter (AUT)

In fact, Anita would certainly have retired in 1998 after the Nagano Olympics had she not crashed in a Super-G in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo, a place where she celebrated three consecutive GS wins in previous years. Wachter did not make it to Nagano, but she could not give up ski racing in such a sad way. In reality, this accident created new momentum for her — and a very strong one. After a smooth knee surgery in Schruns in a clinic specializing in knee injuries, Wachter felt ready to fight back. She trained harder and better than ever to return to her strongest level in giant slalom. Subsequently, Wachter won four races and a bronze medal in Vail, and she was only beaten by her friend and teammate Alexandra Meissnitzer in the final standings of the '98 GS World Cup.

Wachter still enjoyed racing so much that she decided to go on for one "last season — at least I guess so," as she explained earlier this year. Her season's start was fine with a 3rd place in Tignes, but she didn't qualify in Copper Mountain. Next, Wachter finished 2nd behind her younger teammate Michaela Dorfmeister in Serre Chevalier, and she only placed 5th in Val d'Isère two weeks ago.

It was time for Wachter to check her limits and her motivation and Lienz was the perfect place to do so, a year after her first win of last season in Semmering, near Vienna.

"My season's goal is to win the GS World Cup, but you have to win some races to have a serious chance to clinch that trophy," Wachter said.

	GS Podium

This newest win — her 13th in a giant slalom — put her in second place in the GS World Cup standings, only 27 points behind Dorfmeister. With six more GS races to go until the end of the season, Wachter still has a good chance of reaching her goal. And then it may be a perfect time for her to retire. "I don't know yet," she says. "Many people want me to compete in St. Anton at the 2001 World Championships. It's tough to decide. I just know that I have a harder time each week to leave my new house. Racing is fun, but all these travels around the world are quite demanding for me now!"

Allison Forsyth is not thinking so far ahead at the moment. She is still at the start of her career and happy to have reached her first podium. "It was my main goal this winter, and I'm proud to have been able to attack both runs this time," Forsyth said. "I lost a good chance in Serre Chevalier earlier this month after having clocked the third fastest time there in the first run. I promised myself I would not miss another chance in future. And I did it today. It's just great. Now I feel able to win races too."

The last Canadian to have won a World Cup GS was Kathy Kreiner in 1974 in Germany. Kathy was also the GS Olympic Champion in 1976 — when the event was still raced in one run!

In the slalom, too, Allison hopes to fight for top places against the favorites, such as Spela Pretnar, Christel Saioni, Sabine Egger, Kristina Koznick, Trine Bakke and Anja Paerson, who injured her left foot today.

Other favorites lost ground in this giant slalom, such as Dorfmeister and France's Régine Cavagnoud, finishing 13th and 19th respectively. Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg is resting an injured knee and did not race. America's Sarah Schleper finished 26th, and her teammate Kristina Koznick didn't qualify for the second run.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent