Women's Giant Slalom
Switzerland's Sonja Nef and Canada's Allison Forsyth will never forget this last giant slalom of the regular season here in Sestriere, Italy.

	Sonja Nef

Sonja celebrated her third victory of the season, beating the surprising Spanish racer Carolina Ruiz-Castillo by only 7/100 of a second and by 60/100 the leader in the World Cup standings, Michaela Dorfmeister. Nef still remains in the race for the Overall GS World Cup title.

Canadian Allison Forsyth was leading a major race for the first time in her career but she couldn't take the pressure and had a disappointing second run, thus relegating her to 8th place, 1.25 seconds behind Nef.

"In Lienz or Cortina where I came in 2nd, I was not among the fastest three in the first run and I could attack from behind. But it's so difficult when you're there at the start, the last skier to go and everything is now in your hands.." — Allison Forsyth (CAN)

Caroline Lalive finished 13th and was the only US skier to qualify. Kristina Koznick, who celebrated an amazing slalom win here yesterday, missed the cut by several seconds. Yet she will compete in Bormio in GS, since she scored over 400 points with yesterday's win.

The charming Sonja Nef tried to comfort Forsyth during the award's ceremony. The Swiss racer knows the kind of emotion that Allison was feeling – in February 1996, during the World Championships at Sierra Nevada, Nef crashed in the second run of the giant slalom after having clocked the fastest time in the opening run and has struggled during most of her career, in the early stages plagued by injuries (she had her right knee operated on six times from 1989 to 1996) and bad luck. For the past three years Nef has trained alone with a private coach during the summer.

This winter, Sonja was paid back for all her sacrifices and her determination and today, she reduced the gap between her and Dorfmeister in the Overall standings to 38 points.

"I can't believe I have won this race," she said. "I have not trained since my crash in the slalom at Are last month and I only decided on Friday morning to come here. My right ankle was in bad shape for a long time until I got great treatment for an Austrian specialist in acupuncture. He did a great job with his needles. I owe him a lot. I had a great season and I will be quite relaxed at Bormio. If I can only win there, it will be a great final."

Forsyth needed some time to recover from her disappointment and her eyes were still red when she received her prize.

"It's just too bad, I missed a great chance today," she said. "I felt very confident this morning and I had a very aggressive run down the demanding course. The snow was very slick and you needed to ski with determination. Everything was fine and I felt secure after establishing a new best time with an advance of 40/100 on Sonja Nef."

I was excited because this is what I was aiming for over the past months – shooting for victory after a strong first run.

"But it turned out to be a disaster for my nerves. I was not able to remain focused and to concentrate properly. I was so nervous and confused, too – it was a nightmare. I was not able to ski well in the second run and I lost a lot of time. I skied too far away from the gates, it was terrible.

"I have never imagined that it could be so tough. There is a big difference between fighting from the back and from the front. In Lienz or Cortina where I came in 2nd, I was not among the fastest three in the first run and I could attack from behind. But it's so difficult when you're there at the start, the last skier to go and everything is now in your hands," Forsyth continued.

"This will be a great experience for the future, I will never forget it. Fortunately, I have a last chance now at Bormio. The course there seems quite demanding, as well, with a long gliding section at the end. This is good for me. I hope to have a better attitude there next week."

	Castillo Shocked

Sestriere will also be a milestone in the career of the little-known Spanish racer Carolina Ruiz Castillo, who is only 18. She scored some points in the season's start in Copper Mountain, where she was 18th, but she didn't confirm her potential afterwards. She was just aiming to qualify once more – and now she is on her way to the finals at Bormio.

She is the first skier on her team to score a top-3 finish since March 1992, when Blanca Fernandez-Ochoa was 2nd at the Finals in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. She started in 46th position in the first run.

"This is fantastic for the team and myself, I never expected this to happen," she said. "I was amazed to be 6th this morning and I felt ready for more when I saw that I was not far away from the leaders. I pushed myself at the limits and it worked out great. This results will help us a lot because ski racing is not such a popular sport in Spain. There are a lot of tourists who ski in Spain, but only a few racers."

Michaela Dorfmeister didn't even know her. "Where does she came from, I have never seen her before?" asked the Austrian. "This is quite funny, I never thought to finish once behind a Spanish racer. Beside this I had a great second run. I moved up from 13th to 3rd place and this is a strong boost for my morale before the finals. The edges of both skis were ruined this morning after I skied over some stones and I couldn't turn properly in the final part. But things went perfect this afternoon."

The next women's race, a downhill, is planned for next Wednesday on the Stelvio course at Bormio. It will be followed by a super G Thursday and the technical races over the weekend. Only one more week to go!

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent