Weekend Sports Round-Up: Poutiainen adds second silver medal
Tanja Poutiainen single-handedly secured the two medal that the Finnish team had hoped to achieve from the FIS World Alpine Skiing Championships in Italy, when she finished 2nd behind Janica Kostelic of Croatia in Friday's slalom event.
Poutiainen led the field after her first effort, but errors on her second run dropped her 0.18 seconds outside the gold medal. She remained upbeat, however, feeling grateful that she had not actually skied off the track, which was close on a number of occasions. Third place went to Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic. Poutiainen's friend and rival Anja Pärson of Sweden, the winner of the giant slalom, went out on her second run. Finland's other woman slalomist Henna Raita also had a good day, finishing in 11th place, equalling her best-ever World Championship performance.
In the men's slalom on Saturday, the best Finnish result came from rookie Jouni Kaitala, who eventually came in 13th as many competitors fell by the wayside. Finland's #1 Kalle Palander was one of them. Palander crashed out on his first run, one of several victims of what looked like a hole on the piste.
Palander was less than complimentary about the race organisers' work on the track, claiming that his chances and those of others - including another former World Champion, Ivica Kostelic - had been ruined by the clumsy addition of new snow and water to cover over a gaping hole. Palander had been lying in 4th place at the time.
Kuitunen first to beat Björgen
Finnish cross-country skier Virpi Kuitunen earned a well-deserved first win in Saturday's women's sprint event in Reit-im-Winkl, leaving the Norwegian World Cup leader Marit Björgen second for the first time this year. Hence Kuitunen brought to an end Björgen's long unbeaten run, which is a good sign in view of the Nordic World Ski Championships that will be held in Obertsdorf on February 16th to 27th.
First win for Matti Hautamäki
With jumps of 132.5 metres and 134.5 metres, Finland's Matti Hautamäki took his first victory this year in the World Cup ski-jumping competition at a windy Pragelato hill in Italy on Friday.
Germany's Michael Uhrmann came in second and Thomas Morgenstern of Austria finished in third place. Hautamäki is also looking ahead to the World Nordic Ski Championships in Obertsdorf, and his aim is to collect a medal in the competition.
World Cup leader Janne Ahonen, who has been hit by the flu bug, was again absent from the big hill event at Pragelato, but he still continues to lead the World Championship standings by an overwhelming margin. He has 1526 points so far, with his nearest rival Martin Höllwarth back on 1086 points.
Finns dominate in snowboard big air event
The Finnish men continued to dominate in FIS snowboarding World Cup events at the weekend. At an evening competition in Torino on Saturday, they wrapped up a 1-2-3 in the big air event, with Risto Mattila, Jaakko Ruha, and Jukka Erätuli doing the honours.
Erätuli is currently second in the World Cup standings for this discipline, while Mattila is 3rd in the overall snowboarding World Cup.
Links:
FIS results
Helsingin Sanomat
|
| 14.2.2005 - TODAY |
Weekend Sports Round-Up: Poutiainen adds second silver medal
|
|
