Maria Riesch, the winner of the ladies' World Cup slalom season opening, who is also the reigning World Cup and world champion in slalom, was happy about winning at Levi on Saturday, especially because it wasn't so easy.
"It was a perfect day even it wasn't easy. There were huge expectations on me after the great successes last season and I was quite nervous because of that. Also my performance hasn't been perfect in the last few weeks so I didn't really feel self-confident", the winner said.
She'd worked hard in the summer and hoped for good results this season.
"Slalom seems to be working well but giant slalom is still missing even if I have trained a lot. I hope some day I'll be on the podium in giant slalom as well", she smiled.
Riesch is now the only ski racer to have won twice at Levi, which staged its 9th World Cup event on 14th November.
Today's runner-up and last year's Levi winner, Lindsey Vonn, was also very satisfied about her race.
"I'm definitely happy about this race. My goal today was try and get into the top five so this's a really good result for me", said Vonn.
She likes the Levi Black slope and also praised the conditions. "The snow and course were perfect and the lights were nice also, so it was really fun to race here tonight", Vonn added.
The American changed her skis for this season and she thinks that it was a good decision. "We did a lot of testing during the summer and I´m really happy about my Head skis now."
"I really love Levi, this hill reminds me so much of racing back in Buck Hill," said Vonn, who finished 3rd in the FIS World Cup slalom standings last season in addition to capturing event World Cup titles in downhill and super-G. "It would have been nice to get the win again, but I had a big mistake at the bottom and Maria had a really good run so it's tough to say if I would have beat her without that mistake."
Near the bottom of the course Vonn boot-topped a gate and was nearly knocked off course, yet made a stunning recovery and maintained her composure to finish a mere .08 behind Riesch.
Today's third-ranked, Tanja Poutiainen, too, was happy about her success at Levi.
"I feel almost like a winner because this is my first time on the podium at Levi since 2004. It's great to finish third in front of my own people", said Poutiainen after her home race. She's happy with her slalom at the moment.
"Last few years I have been a little bit stronger in GS and now I'm starting my season with a podium in both so everything seems to be fine and I can just continue on", she said at the beginning of her 12th World Cup season.
By Anu Virtanen, World Cup Levi
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