Monday,
October 29, 2007
Italian Denise Karbon
Wins Season-Opening Giant Slalom World Cup- Italian American Julia Mancuso,
Second
The
ANNOTICO Report
Denise
Karbon [Brixen (Bressanone),Trentino-Alto
Adige] fought seemingly endless battle with injuries including a
shattered knee then a broken ankle, and THEN a costly blunder by the
Italian Ski Federation who had forgotten to freeze her World Cup rankings to
protect her starting position.
Thus she was
plummeted from a top-30 starter down into the 80s, Karbon's
late start numbers meant she was constantly skiing on rutted snow as she tried
to claw her way back to the top.
Despite
those obstacles, the 27-year-old Italian, who has been dogged by serious
injuries since she was 13, won her first World Cup race in four years on
Saturday at the season-opening giant slalom at the Rettenbach
course in a two-run combined time of two minutes 23.21 secs..
Olympic
champion, Italian American Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif.,
finished second.
SOELDEN,
After struggling
to overcome a shattered knee then a broken ankle - as well as a damaging plunge
in the World Cup standings - the 27-year-old Italian won her first World Cup
race in four years on Saturday at the season-opening giant slalom.
"It's my
first victory in a long time," said Karbon, who
tore down the Rettenbach course in a two-run combined
time of two minutes 23.21 seconds. "But then, it's the first time in a
long time that I haven't been injured."....
But it was a
thoroughly enjoyable event for Karbon, whose health
problems started when she was 13 and broke her femur. Her first day back on
skis, she shredded her cruciate ligaments.
Karbon posted her first and only
other victory at Alta Badia,
In August 2004,
she fell while training in
She was still
unable to compete in 2005-06, and when she arrived crying and afraid at the
bottom of the foggy giant slalom course at the Turin Olympics, many thought her
career was over.
To make matters
worse, the Italian Ski Federation had forgotten to freeze her World Cup
rankings to protect her starting position.
Plummeting from a
top-30 starter down into the 80s, Karbon's late start
numbers meant she was constantly skiing on rutted snow as she tried to claw her
way back to the top.
But last season, Karbon regained confidence after placing ninth in
"I couldn't
be more surprised," Karbon said. "I went
through a lot of tough times so this is quite an emotional time for me. I think
of the people around me and how I had to fight, not just for myself, but to
motivate and excite them."
Olympic giant
slalom champion Julia Mancuso finished runner-up in 2:23.54 after a sizzling
top section on her second run to come back from 12th position in the opening
run.
"I had a
wake-up call after the first run," Mancuso said. "In the second run
my technique was poor but I was much faster. When I got down I was excited to
be top 10 and then everybody kept falling back. I was definitely surprised to
be on the podium."
Olympic silver medallist Tanja Poutiainen, who led after the opening run, slipped to
fourth after a disappointing second effort.
Overall World Cup
champion Nicole Hosp of
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (and are Archived) on:
Italia
Italia
Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com (3 years)
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net