ARE, Sweden-
Anja Paerson of Sweden won her second straight world title in the women’s super-giant slalom Tuesday and American Lindsey Kildow captured silver for her first world championship medal.
Paerson, winless on the World Cup circuit this season after having knee surgery last spring, raced down the sun-soaked WM Strecke course in 1 minute, 18.85 seconds.
“It’s a dream for me,” said Paerson, who won her fifth world title. “I didn’t believe I could win this super-G here as I did in Bormio at the last world championships. I was nervous in the start hut because I’d been testing new skis and boots at home in Tarnaby recently. But 10 seconds into the race, I knew it was going to be OK.”
Kildow was second in 1:19.17. She raced aggressively on the upper section, hitting speeds of 62 mph.
“I’m so glad to finally get one,” Kildow said. “It wasn’t a difficult race, but it was tactical.”
Renate Goetschl of Austria, who has dominated this event on the World Cup circuit this season with victories in three of the five super-G races, won the bronze medal in 1:19.38.
“I made a lot of mistakes, but when you take risks that can happen,” Goetschl said. “Anja was really fast today and there was no way to win without taking a lot of risk. I’m lucky to get the bronze.”
Paerson has struggled on the World Cup circuit this season. After she failed to finish a giant slalom in Cortina, Italy, on Jan. 21, she skipped the next event and returned to Sweden to find “harmony and rhythm” before the world championships on home soil.
The solution Paerson found was to adjust her boots, which she said had been forcing her knees into bad angles on the slopes and preventing her from attacking the courses.
Paerson won gold in the slalom and bronze medals in the downhill and combined at the 2006 Turin Olympics. At the last world championships in Bormio, Italy, she won the super-G and giant slalom and took silver in the combined.
Paerson has the advantage of knowing the Are slopes better than any of her competitors. She grew up in Tarnaby, about a five-hour drive away. She won the downhill in Are during last year’s World Cup finals.
