Sestriere, Italy – Sweden’s Anja Paerson lived every Olympic athlete’s dream Wednesday: the feeling of everything coming together for a perfect moment in time.
She experienced it once before, when she won a gold medal at the 2001 world championships in St. Anton, Austria, at age 17. She felt it again in the Olympic slalom to capture her first Olympic gold medal and fill the only void in her illustrious list of accomplishments.
“It was just one of those days when you have total harmony,” Paerson said. “I once had it in St. Anton when I won the slalom there. This is the second time that I have that feeling. It’s just an amazing day.”
Paerson had the fastest first run and the second-fastest second run to win convincingly on a foggy, gloomy evening. Austrian Nicole Hosp claimed the silver medal and teammate Marlies Schild took the bronze. Janica Kostelic of Croatia, who has dueled with Paerson for supremacy in recent years, finished fourth.
Paerson now has five gold medals in major competitions (Olympics and world championships), tying her with the great Swedish star Ingemar Stenmark. Both are from Taernaby, a tiny town near the Arctic Circle. Stenmark, who retired in 1989, holds the World Cup victory record (86).
“It’s something I can’t even imagine,” Paerson said. “It’s too big for me. He’s my idol. I’m just a small girl from a small town in Sweden. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it’s true.”
Paerson won the past two World Cup overall titles, but this season she de-emphazied the World Cup to focus on winning an Olympic gold medal, having taken silver and bronze in 2002. She has skied less strategically on the World Cup and planned her physical training so she would peak at the Games.
“A few years I was skiing for the overall and it kind of takes away the joy from every race a little bit because you’re thinking about the points and you’re always skiing a little bit less than your limits,” Paerson said. “I remember in ’99 in Vail (the world championships), I think nobody skied their limits like I did. I went out, but it was fun.”
Vail’s Sarah Schleper, who had back surgery in November, was 10th for the best American finish.
“Every day is a battle because I have pain and I have to limit myself,” Schleper said. “I can’t just go out there and hammer and take a bunch of runs. That’s been holding me back a little bit because I can’t seem to get my timing.”
Minnesotan Kristina Koznick raced the first run with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and skipped the second run. Koznick was injured Feb. 4 when she accidentally skied off an 8-foot drop-off warming up for a World Cup race in Ofterschwang, Germany.
“I wanted the fairy tale,” Koznick said. “I stood up there and I wanted to walk away with a medal. I knew I could write a book about it if I did. But it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Paerson saw Koznick moments after her accident.
“Seeing her face when she knew there was something wrong with her knee a week before the Olympics, it just tore my heart,” Paerson said.
Paerson made a point of comforting Koznick after her run.
“I was almost crying when I saw Koz come down,” Paerson said. “I hugged her and I said, ‘You have to be proud of your achievement.”‘
