It’s definitely a remarkable and emotional victory that Pernilla Wiberg celebrated today in the fifth World Cup slalom of the season held on the foggy "Pohorje" mountains near Maribor. The 1997 overall World Cup winner had to wait almost two years to enjoy another success after a disappointing 1997-'98 campaign marked by a series of injuries and health problems. It’s also her first success after the rise of two other Swedish ski stars, Ylva Nowen, winner last winter of the slalom World Cup title, and the 17-year-old Anja Paerson, who captured a slalom earlier this winter at California’s Mammoth Mountain.

"This is a wonderful achievement for me and a perfect way to start the new year," Wiberg said. "I had to wait a long time for this. I only started in September to train on snow and I have skied less than 10 days in slalom. I was hoping to be back in shape at the end of December and it was very important to me to be third the other day in Semmering.

Wiberg came back from 9th place in the first run to beat by 29/100 Germany’s Hilde Gerg, the leader after the first run. Nowen took 3rd at 49/100. Paerson was also very fast in the second run and she moved up from 20th to 4th place making it three Swedes among the top-four.

Other favorites had a more difficult time dealing with the demanding race conditions - including banks of fog and a ruined course. Switzerland’s Karen Roten, a winner and a second in the last two slalom races skied out in the second run after clocking the 6th best time in the morning. America’s Kristina Koznick, a strong 2nd in the firt leg at only 30/100 behind Gerg, made a major mistake in the upper part of the course and never found her rhythm. She had to be content with a 9th place.

Slovenia’s Spela Pretnar finished 11th after clocking the third best time in the morning. Zali Steggall from Australia went from 8th to 28th and last place after almost missing a gate in the first foggy part of the second run. All the racers complained about the difficult weather and course conditions, especially those who had to take part in all three events organized during these past two days.

Pernilla Wiberg was of course incredibly happy after her fantastic second run which brought her the 23rd World Cup success of her career and her 14th in slalom. She is the only active competitor to have won events in all alpine specialties. She has also collected five gold medals in Olympic Games and Ski World Championships since 1991.

"It was a big boost for my morale, Wiberg said, "the season start was okay - I had some ups and downs, especially in the downhill at Veysonnaz where I crashed after setting a fast intermediate time but I never gave up my hopes to come back."

"The snow conditions were very bad in the first run and I didn’t manage to have a good first run. Before my second start, the trainers told me that the conditions were better and I decided to take all risks. I had nothing to lose and I could really go for it. It was quite tough to wait at the finish line. I was hoping for a top-3 place as I had lost much time on the leaders. This win is great for my confidence looking ahead to the World Championships in Vail. It will be hard to beat Alexandra Meissnitzer in the World Cup but I want to fight for more gold medals at Vail."

A gold medal winner in giant slalom, slalom and combined, Wiberg aims for more titles in the speed events after coming 2nd in the Olympic downhill at Nagano. In fact, she has won a downhill at Vail in March 1997 during the World Cup finals as well as a slalom before receiving her Crystal Globe. This success in front of the strongest skiers of the specialty, including the Olympic champion and the 1998 slalom World Cup winner is also special since Pernilla is no longer training and traveling with the Swedish team. She had to split from the national team to remain closer to her boyfriend, Bodvar Bjoerke, a trainer for the Norwegian Ski team, with whom she lives now in Monte Carlo.

Without her crash in Veysonnaz, she would still have a serious chance to challenge Meissnitzer in the 1999 overall World Cup. Hilde Gerg was not too disappointed after missing by a few tenths of a second the historical opportunity to become the first skier to win two races in two days in Maribor. She did however give an impressive performance by taking 2nd in that treacherous slalom a day after winning a Super-G.

"The course was really in bad shape when I started in the second run and I couldn’t ski as well as in the morning," she said. "I was tired at the end. But it’s good to be back on the podium in slalom after all. It’s my best result since my Olympic win."

It was also a good day for Ylva Nowen, back for the first time on the podium since her fourth victory last winter in Bormio. "I’m slowly recovering my form," she said. "It’s very good for my morale to have done so well in this difficult race after such a fight. I need to feel relaxed to be able to ski at my best."

The next women’s races will take place during the coming weekend in Germany’s Berchtesgaden. Another slalom and a giant slalom race are scheduled there.

—Mountain Zone European Ski Correspondent