Pärson sets sights on slaloms
Riesch and Pärson both came away from the downhill and super-G medal-less,
although the German claimed gold and the Swede bronze in the super-combined
event on Thursday.
It sets up a mouth-watering clash between the two in the slalom and giant slalom in Vancouver. Pärson, who rebounded from a horror crash in the downhill to win bronze in the super-combined, is the defending Olympic slalom champion and Riesch is the reigning world slalom champion.
The Swede, in particular, will benefit from a less packed schedule, with the giant slalom scheduled for Wednesday and slalom two days later.
Pärson suffered severe bruising in a spectacular crash last Wednesday's downhill while racing to a near certain silver medal and also complained after the super-G of a numb foot.
"In training I felt comfortable: I thought I could be up for the win," said the Swede, whose super-combined bronze was her sixth Olympic medal, equalling the record set by the now-retired Janica Kostelic of Croatia.
"But in the race I didn't have any feeling in my foot. Trying to get pressure down on my ski was impossible.
"I pretty much tried to ski the whole run with a right foot.
"It was a horrible run and I'm really bummed I couldn't be up there, in for the win."
She added: "It was pretty fast, with the rollers up there. You have to be really aggressive. Everyone was feeling uncomfortable today.
"It was a pretty fair podium," she added of the super-G won by Austrian Andrea Fischbacher, with Slovenian Tina Maze claiming silver and American Lindsey Vonn taking bronze to add to her downhill gold.
Pärson eventually finished in 11th position, 1.84sec off Fischbacher's pace down the Franz's run.
Riesch was in eighth at 1.32sec and admitted that it had been "really tough.”
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although the German claimed gold and the Swede bronze in the super-combined
event on Thursday.
It sets up a mouth-watering clash between the two in the slalom and giant slalom in Vancouver. Pärson, who rebounded from a horror crash in the downhill to win bronze in the super-combined, is the defending Olympic slalom champion and Riesch is the reigning world slalom champion.
The Swede, in particular, will benefit from a less packed schedule, with the giant slalom scheduled for Wednesday and slalom two days later.
Pärson suffered severe bruising in a spectacular crash last Wednesday's downhill while racing to a near certain silver medal and also complained after the super-G of a numb foot.
"In training I felt comfortable: I thought I could be up for the win," said the Swede, whose super-combined bronze was her sixth Olympic medal, equalling the record set by the now-retired Janica Kostelic of Croatia.
"But in the race I didn't have any feeling in my foot. Trying to get pressure down on my ski was impossible.
"I pretty much tried to ski the whole run with a right foot.
"It was a horrible run and I'm really bummed I couldn't be up there, in for the win."
She added: "It was pretty fast, with the rollers up there. You have to be really aggressive. Everyone was feeling uncomfortable today.
"It was a pretty fair podium," she added of the super-G won by Austrian Andrea Fischbacher, with Slovenian Tina Maze claiming silver and American Lindsey Vonn taking bronze to add to her downhill gold.
Pärson eventually finished in 11th position, 1.84sec off Fischbacher's pace down the Franz's run.
Riesch was in eighth at 1.32sec and admitted that it had been "really tough.”
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