Veteran racer Stacia Hookom (Edwards, CO), riding under a self-imposed "shape up or ship out" edict, overcame gnarly snow conditions Tuesday to finish second behind Olympic snowboard champion Isabelle Blanc of France in a parallel giant slalom on the Rettenbach Glacier. In the men's PGS, Olympic medal-winner Chris Klug (Aspen, CO) posted the top U.S. finish, coming in fifth.

"Today was icy and I'm not good on ice," Hookom said, "so I had to challenge myself...and I was able to hold it together and do well. The second run, one side of the course was worse than the other, and my second run I had the icier course and I let it get the best of me. I kept saying, 'Stacia, don't let the mountain get the best of you' and it turned out to be a lot of fun."

Hookom, 27, who was a sophomore biology major at the University of Colorado and put medical school on hold to focus on riding, was second for the fourth time in her career. The last time was in the 1998 season also at Soelden.

"It's been so long since I've been in the finals. I've always wanted to win a World Cup and I've been close, but it just hasn't happened. So I said, 'Stacia, this is your chance that you've worked eight years for, don't let it pass you by. I didn't get the win," she said, "but I didn't let it pass me by. I consider myself a strong rider on the flats but Isabelle is the Olympic gold medalist and she was better today. She had a great race...

"I felt like I gave it my all," she continued. "I was a little disappointed, which sounds ridiculous when you get second place for the first time in five years, but I've had second place before. You know, being top 20 is good but I've had that; I don't need it any more. To justify me continuing in this sport, I need to start winning these things. I did surprise myself a little, but I felt I had it in me."

Hookom, who began snowboarding when she and a friend saw a sign for free riding lessons at Vail more than a decade ago, said she and another friend discussed her racing during the Snowboard Team's training camp at Colorado's Copper Mountain last week. He pointed out her Chevy Truck U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix PGS victory and both U.S. titles a year ago, as well as a PGS win two years ago at Breckenridge and convinced her she could beat the other riders. Now, Hookom's looking to be top-5 in every World Cup race, she said.

"I'm so glad I got to be on the podium again," she said following the second World Cup PGS of the new season. "I need to be going all-out all the time."

In the men's race, Chris Klug was defeated by Slovenian Dejan Kosir in the quarterfinals. Frenchman Mathieu Bozzetto went on to defeat Austrian Felix Stadler in the final and Kosir dropped to fourth behind Alexander Maier of Austria.

The racing continues Wednesday with a parallel slalom.

— Courtesy, US Snowboard Team