The German team dominates the Super-G events in this early part of the season as Hilde Gerg triumphed in Val d'Isere three weeks after the success of her teammate Petra Haltmayer in Canada's Lake Louise.

The 1997 Super-G World Cup champion beats by 67/100 of a second Austria's Renate Goetschl, the 2000 Overall World Cup champion, while Tanja Schneider came in 3rd.

Alexandra Meissnitzer, the 1999 Overall World Cup champion and double World Champion at Vail, captured an encouraging 4th place , her best result since she badly injured herself at her knee in November 1999 during a fall in Lake Louise while training on snow. Sweden's veteran Pernilla Wiberg was 5th.

Favorites such as France's Carole Montillet or Switzerland's Corinne Rey-Bellet skied out in the upper part of the windy "OK" course, while Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister, the leader in the Overall standings, or Haltmayer lost much time on the leaders, mostly because of strong guts of wind blowing in the upper and middle part of the run.

Dorfmeister had to be content with her 6th place. Haltmayer was a disappointed 22nd this time!

Janica is having fun

Croatia's wondergirl Janica Kostelic achieved a nice comeback in the World Cup points in taking a promising 12th place - last week she failed to qualify for the second run in the slalom at Sestriere. She only lost 1,59 second on Gerg. Janica seemed particularly relaxed on her way down the difficult "OK" course was quite pleased by her performance.

"I enjoy so much to race after this long period of injuries and pain that it definitely helps me to have a great time what ever I do on my skis" she said.

"I don't feel any pressure on me so far and this helps me to progress at my own rhythm. I was not too disappointed at Sestriere, I knew that I still need much time to find back my best timing. For the moment, things are really fine".

Gerg on the fast track

An excellent four-event skier in her younger years, Hilde Gerg celebrated her greatest triumph in February 1998 when she beat Italy's Deborah Compagnoni in the Olympic slalom at Nagano to clinch the gold medal and the title. Unfortunately a leg fracture almost two years ago turned the Bavarian into a different skier and forced her to focus on the speed events like downhill and Super-G's. Not a bad choice at the end - last March, she ended her tenth World Cup season with a nice win in downhill during the Finals at Are, in Sweden.

In Austria's Soelden, the 26-year-old German did poorly in the opening giant slalom last October, which reinforced her conviction to skip the technical races this season.

"When I returned after my injury, it hurt a lot when I trained with the small skis in the technical events" she explained. "But it went fine with the long skis" she added after celebrating her 11th World Cup victory on Saturday.

"I think we made the right choice when we decided to concentrate on Super-G's and downhill since it's an Olympic year. I don't believe to have a credible chance to fight for the Overall World Cup victory this winter. It would be fun to get another medal in another specialty".

"When you break a leg, you never know whether you will be able to ski again, let alone win".

This race also allowed Renate Goetschl to show again her potential in the speed event after some discrete results in the first downhills and Super-G at Lake Louise three weeks ago. The 1999 downhill World Champion lost most of her dominance during last winter - winning no World title or World Cup standings in St Anton or Are.

Her friend Michaela Dorfmeister is enjoying a much better season start so far with a win in Giant Slalom at Soelden and some strong finishes at Lake Louise. Her 6th place helped her to retain the lead in the Overall World Cup classification, her main goal this winter.

Dorfmeister hopes to reinforce it again on Sunday in the Giant Slalom, the third this season. Among her main rivals Switzerland's Sonja Nef, Norway's Andrine Flemmen, the winner from Copper Mountain or Canada's Allison Forsyth, 2nd in Colorado.