Canada's Goodman shows promise with 14th place finish in slalom
Flachau, AUT (Tuesday, January 11, 2011) - Canada's Anna Goodman posted a morale-boosting 14th place finish at the ladies World Cup night slalom in Austria on Tuesday, her best result of the season.
Goodman, of Pointe Claire, Que., laid down a solid first run and then attacked the course the second time around to record a combined time of 1 minute, 45.94 seconds.
Germany's Maria Riesch and Tanja Poutiainen, of Finland, shared victory with identical combined times of 1:42.52. Nastasia Noens, of France, was third.
"I'm really happy," said Goodman. "I had a pretty good first run and the second run, I just totally laid everything on the line and it paid off."
Goodman, 24, suffered a serious knee injury in January 2010, and although she was back in action in time for the Vancouver Olympics, it's taken her a while to regain her confidence. Her previous best World Cup result this season was a 24th place finish in Aspen in November.
"It's the first time since tearing my knee that I really went for it and trusted myself," said Goodman, adding she wasn't affected by a minor concussion she suffered a week ago. "Coming back has been harder than I anticipated. But on a day like today, that all disappears and everything seems good."
Marie-Michele Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Que., was skiing well on her first run before a mistake pushed her back to 33rd, with only the top 30 qualifying for the second run. Elli Terwiel, of Sun Peaks, B.C., and Eve Routhier, of Sherbrooke, Que., did not qualify. Marie-Pier Prefontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Que., did not finish her first run and Brittany Phelan, of Mont Tremblant, Que., and Erin Mielzynski, of Guelph, Ont., were disqualified.
"It was a good day for Anna. Her confidence was in need of a boost and she got that today," said women's technical head coach, Jim Pollock. "When she's skiing with confidence she's got a lot of speed.
"Marie-Michele made some mistakes on the way down, otherwise she would have made it (to the second run). Anna's result is a step in the right direction. The next race, we want to see three or four athletes doing that."
Next up for the ladies team are World Cup slalom and giant slalom races in Maribor, Croatia, this weekend.
The men's team is competing this weekend in World Cup downhill, slalom and super-combined races in Wengen, Switzerland.
