Anja Paerson is locked in another battle with Janica Kostelic for the overall World Cup title. You would never know it by listening to the Swede, however.
"What am I second? I am so focused on the Olympics, I don't know where I am in the standings," Paerson said. "I will skip some World Cups if I have to -- I want to be in good shape for all five events at the Olympics. I will do a lot for that."
Paerson picked up an unexpected World Cup downhill win Friday to close in on Kostelic, who she edged by three points for last season's title. She is second to the Croat with 685 to 782 points.
Paerson's downhill triumph was only the second among her 29 World Cup titles. The Swede raced down a slope buried in thick snow to clock 1 minute, 37.70 seconds with the top four separated by only .09.
Michaela Dorfmeister took second at 1:37.74, with Swiss skier Fraenzi Aufdenblatten another .04 back. Kostelic missed the podium by .01 seconds in 1:37.79.
"It was unbelievably close," Paerson said. "I can't believe I won. I have been fighting the downhill all year and I didn't come here with a positive attitude -- I was hoping to finish top 10."
Paerson said the downhill win will allow her to concentrate on other disciplines heading into the Turin Olympics, which start in three weeks.
She will enter five races, trying to pick up her elusive first Olympic gold medal -- the slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super-G and combined.
At Salt Lake City in 2002, Paerson settled for a bronze and silver while longtime rival Kostelic stole the show with three golds.
"The pressure on me is really high back home in Sweden," Paerson said of the Olympics. "When I do bad in the downhill or super-G, they ask me why I am entering. Now that my downhill is in order, I can maybe concentrate on the super-G or slalom."
The only points the 24-year-old Swede had collected in a rocky downhill season was an 18th at Val d'Isere, France. In two other races she failed to finish and was 53rd.
The downhill will be followed by another Saturday and a super-G Sunday, the first World Cup races held at the newly designed Franz Klammer slope since 1997.
The revamped slope had been billed as one of the hardest and most dangerous on the women's circuit before the skiers arrived this week.
Skiers said it didn't live up to the hype and was on the slow side for a downhill, flat at the top followed by a series of curves. That helped technical racers like Paerson, who has won 26 slaloms and giant slaloms.
"People were saying this was the most difficult slope on the women's circuit -- I was surprised at how easy it was. It was very technical," Paerson said.
Dorfmeister closed in on Lindsey Kildow for the lead in the downhill standings, with 252 points to the American's 274.
Kildow was ninth in 1:38.59 after winning the last two downhills. The American turned in poor times on the slope all week in practice, followed by a 29th in qualification.
Dorfmeister, 32, will retire after the Olympics and would like to earn a gold. She won a super-G silver at Nagano, Japan, in 1988, missing the top prize by a fraction of a second.
"I was frustrated when I came down the slope just .04 behind today. When I saw how close the top racers were, however, I felt lucky," Dorfmeister said. "At the Olympics you will need a lot of luck. Everything has to be right that day."
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