Koznick Finishes Behind Paerson in Slalom Again

Anja Paerson keeps winning World Cup women’s slaloms and American Kristina Koznick keeps finishing second.

Paerson, the world champion, maintained her first-run lead Saturday at Maribor, Slovenia, to easily win her third consecutive slalom race.

The 20-year-old Swede compiled an aggregate time of 1 minute, 38.05 seconds. Koznick, of Burnesville, Minn., was 1.19 seconds behind--runner-up to Paerson for the second straight slalom.

“I skied the first race well and made two mistakes in the second, and Anja didn’t,” said Koznick, who has four slalom victories and was second to Paerson in the last slalom, in Lienz, Austria.

Laure Pequegnot of France was third, 1.25 seconds back, with Tanja Poutiainen of Finland in fourth.

Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., less at home in the slalom than in the faster disciplines, was seventh. Defending World Cup champion Janica Kostelic, struggling to regain her form after three off-season knee operations, was ninth.

Judging by her superior speed and agility, Paerson will be the skier to beat in the slalom at the Feb. 8-24 Salt Lake City Games.

“The Olympics are the high point of this season, and I feel in really great shape,” Paerson said. “Nobody is unbeatable, but I feel very close to this.”

Koznick, whose form also is rising as the Olympics draw closer, responded: “We’ll see about that.” There is another World Cup slalom today in Maribor.

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Didier Cuche of Switzerland won the men’s giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland, to post his first World Cup victory in nearly four years.

Cuche, among the top 10 in more than 30 races over the past three seasons without ever winning, delivered two aggressive runs for a winning combined time of 2 minutes, 23.99 seconds.

He finished 1.15 seconds ahead of Frederic Covili of France to collect his first career win in the giant slalom. Cuche’s only other World Cup victory came in a downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria, in 1998.

Dane Spencer was the top U.S. skier, finishing 10th in 2:26.74. Bode Miller, the first American since 1983 to win a World Cup slalom and giant slalom, was 13th.

Erik Schlopy, 13th after the opening run, nearly crashed early in the second run, dropping to 27th.

Cuche nearly crashed four gates into the final leg, catching his inside ski before making a brilliant recovery and regaining his composure.

At the finish, Cuche dropped to the ground for several moments. He rose to his feet with tears in his eyes as teammates and rivals rushed to congratulate him.

World Cup overall leader Stephan Eberharter of Austria was eighth in 2:26.16.

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Krissy Wendell scored two goals, and Natalie Darwitz had a goal and an assist to lead the U.S. women’s hockey team to a 3-1 victory over Canada in an exhibition at Chicago.

The Americans beat Canada for the sixth consecutive time and improved to 25-0 on their pre-Olympic schedule. Canada fell to 11-6.

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Alaskan skiers Lars Flora and Kikkan Randall won the opening sprint races in the U.S. cross country championships at Bozeman, Mont. ... Felix Gottwald of Austria won a Nordic combined World Cup event for the fourth time this season and Todd Lodwick of the U.S. finished in fourth place at Schonach, Germany. The event featured two ski jumps and a 15-kilometer cross-country race. ... Defending World Cup champion Per Elofsson of Sweden won the pursuit cross-country event at Val di Fiemme, Italy to extend his World Cup lead with a half-minute victory. Russia’s Larissa Lazutina won the women’s five-kilometer pursuit.