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Karbon wins again, Vonn sixth

Associated Press
Vail, CO Colorado
Italy's Denise Karbon celebrates after winning an Alpine skiing World Cup women's giant slalom race, in Ofterschwang, Germany, Jan. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)
AP | AP

OFTERSCHWANG, Germany ” Despite a broken left thumb that made it hard to grip her ski pole, Denise Karbon captured a giant slalom World Cup event Saturday for her fifth victory in six races.

Karbon, who broke the bone during training on Wednesday, finished with a combined time of 2 minutes, 22.26 seconds on the Ofterschwang course. She was ninth after the first leg, and had the best time in the second run of 1:11.41 to increase her lead in the discipline standings.

“I’m really proud to hear the Italian national anthem so often this season, but I really had difficulties holding the pole today,” Karbon said.



Overall leader Nicole Hosp of Austria led Karbon by 1:09 seconds after the first leg and finished second, 0.08 behind. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was third, followed by teammate Kathrin Zettel.

Lindsey Vonn of the United States remained second in the overall rankings by finishing sixth in 2:22.84, while teammate Julia Mancuso was 11th.

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Vonn had the fourth-fastest time in the second run.

“Lindsey won the bottom split and did a great job on that final run,” U.S. coach Chris Knight said. “She’s been working it out. GS was her weakest event but she’s been making steady progress. She stands in a little better position on her skis and gets more power out of (her stance) now.”

Maria Riesch of Germany, third in the overall standings, crashed in the second run.

Karbon wore a protective glove on her left hand. She will skip the slalom on Sunday.

“The fracture is still too fresh,” she said. “And the impact of the pole is much harder in the slalom.”

Hosp maintained her overall lead with 839 points, ahead of Vonn by 66 points. Riesch is third at 713, followed by Mancuso at 703.

Knight said Mancuso’s timing was a bit off.

“Jules had a couple of mistakes on the top,” Knight said. “Her timing was a little off and she was a little late with her pressure on her skis. She’ll pick that up again with a little more training.”

Hosp also admitted mistakes eroded her big lead after the first run.

“In the second run, I made one or two small mistakes and that cost a lot of time,” Hosp said. “But I am very happy with the second spot, which is by far my best result in this discipline. I am not really looking at the overall standings. I just try to remember how to race well.”

Karbon, who improved two spots in the overall standings to seventh place, increased her lead in the giant slalom standings to 181 points ” 560 to 379 over Goergl.


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