Garmisch - Women's GS

Well done Tina Maze!! A really great second run to hold on to first place in deteriorating conditions; a well deserved gold medal after all the "just missed" placings of the last couple years? Brignone of Italy also kept her head on the second run to add a silver medal to Italy's total so far and I was delighted that Tessa Worley, who had what must have been a disappointing first run for her, managed to hang on to a podium place by claiming bronze. Alas Maria Riesch was a DNF, skiing out on the second run while about a second up on the leader, at that stage. Not sure she's actually recovered from flu yet, so I hope she's well for the slalom and didn't get injured today.

On the debit side, I see Hölzl was unable to take part in the second run due to serious back pain, not sure if she will be featuring again here, and Hannes Reichelt has apparently injured his knee after a training fall and has (as far as I know) withdrawn from the rest of the programme in Garmisch, at least. I understand that Didier Cuche has broken his thumb after a training fall but is apparently going to race in the men's GS tomorrow anyway - tough lot, ski racers, but it seems a very full racing programme this year and I wonder if the strain is beginning to tell?

Tessa Worley - take a bow! To come into an event as favourite, make a mess of the first run (didn't ski aggressively enough) could have realy hurt her. Instead, she produced a barnstorming second run to snatch an unlikely podium from 19th. Yes, she was of course helped by the better snow, but her second run was something special.

Congrats to Tina Maze for holding it together, and also to Brignone, who could easily have cracked after seeing 16 successive skiers fail to beat Tessa Worley's time. What games the Italians are having!