SOELDEN AUSTRIA OCT 25 Veronica Smed SWE competing in the womens giant slalom race at the Rettenbach Glacier
SOELDEN AUSTRIA OCT 25 Veronica Smed SWE competing in the womens giant slalom race at the Rettenbach Glacier Soelden Austria the opening race of the 2008 09 Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup The first of 36 scheduled races for the women, and first of eight giant slaloms. … It is the 23rd Cup race at Soelden, all of them October "openers." … Conditions clear and sunny, temperatures hovering at freeze mark. Hermann Maier, Tina Maze, Bode Miller, Andrine Flemmen and Martina Ertl are the only skiers to win twice on the glacier, Maier the only one to win thrice. It is the third career win for Kathrin Zettel, all in GS. … The other two were in Semmering, 12/28/06 and Aspen 11/25/06. … Zettel had been fourth (2005) and third (2007) in previous races at Soelden. … It is the 28th career World Cup podium for Tanja Poutiainen. … It is the second time she has finished second in the Soelden opener, the other in 2004 behind Anja Paerson. It is the fifth career World Cup podum for Andrea Fischbacher. … Her first in GS. … All of her other podiums have come in super G. … She started 26th. Lindsey Vonn matched her third best career GS result in ninth. … Megan McJames, the final qualifier having finished 30th in the first run, had the third fastest second run time and climbed to 14th. … It is her third - and best - career scoring result, topping a 17th at Lienz last December. … Julia Mancuso was 17th to record her fourth scoring finish at Soelden. … She had placed second in last season's opener behind eventual GS title winner Denise Karbon. The race featured strong showings from the late starters. Two skiers with starts in the '60s (Marie Marchand-Arvier 27th and Sanni Leinonen 21st) scored. Swiss teen Lara Gut posted fifth from the 37th start - the best GS showing from a Swiss women since 2003 - and McJames started 38th. Frida Hansdotter, Veronica Smed and Agniesz Gasienica Daniel all tallied points from outside the first seed.
Size: 5119px × 3413px
Location: Rettenbach Glacier Soelden Tyrol Austria Europe
Photo credit: © European Sports Photographic Agency / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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