Tanja Poutiainen delighted at silver medal from FIS World Championships

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Tanja Poutiainen, 24, became the first Finnish woman ever to win a World Championship medal in Alpine skiing, when she finished 2nd behind Anja Pärson of Sweden in the giant slalom at Santa Caterina in Italy.
      Poutiainen was 3rd after her first run, 0.36 seconds behind her friend and rival Pärson, and a few hundredths of a second behind Nicole Hosp of Austria.
      The Finn delivered a flawless and aggressive 2nd run, producing a time on the course that was only beaten by one other competitor, and with two skiers left to go, she knew she had collected a medal of some description. Hosp failed to match the performance and faded into 5th place, but Pärson, who has often struggled this season in both giant slalom and slalom World Cup events, was up to the challenge and finally emerged the winner over Poutiainen by a margin of 0.19 seconds.
     
The two women are close friends and an "Anja-Tanja" competition was widely expected in advance of the race. Tanja Poutiainen leads the giant slalom standings in the FIS World Cup and has already wrapped up the 2004/2005 slalom World Cup title. Pärson, meanwhile, was the reigning World Champion in this discipline, and has clearly come into form at the right moment. This was already her third medal in these World Championships.
      For Poutiainen and all her supporters, including her Swiss coach Michael Bont, this has already been a truly magnificent season, and winning a medal at the World Championships is almost icing on the cake.
     
Poutiainen first came to international attention in 1997, when she won the world junior slalom title, but since then she has battled with injury and only really blossomed last season, after her maiden victory on the World Cup circuit. This year she has been consistency itself, and on Tuesday she showed that she can also rise to the big occasion.
      She now will be among the favourites for Friday's slalom competition, although Pärson will also be looking for a fourth medal. Third place in the giant slalom on Tuesday went to Julia Mancuso of the United States, who hauled herself up from 7th on the first run.
     
Today should have seen the appearance of the Finnish men in the giant slalom, most noticeably medal hope and 1999 Slalom World Champion Kalle Palander, but a labour dispute involving employees of the Italian broadcaster RAI means that the event has been postponed until Thursday, originally scheduled as a day off from competition.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Tanja Poutiainen makes Finnish slalom history (24.1.2005)

Links:
  FIS pages

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