Sestriere -- The Canadian women's alpine ski team left the Alps yesterday empty-handed and downhearted.

A mistake on the tough Sestriere Colle course cost Genevieve Simard a medal in the giant slalom. It has been 14 years since Canada won an Olympic women's alpine skiing medal.

Simard, of Val-Morin, Que., was only 0.40 seconds behind bronze medallist Anna

Ottosson of Sweden, who had a two-run time of two minutes, 10.33 seconds. Simard finished fifth.

"It's a little hard to accept when the objective is a medal," she said.

Julia Mancuso of the U.S. won the gold with a combined time of 2:09.19. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was second in 2:09.86.

Defending Olympic champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia pulled out of the race because she was sick.

Mancuso's gold was the first Olympic title for the U.S. since 1998, when Picabo Street won the Super-G.

"I was freaking at the start because the course was tough," Mancuso said. "It was a difficult second run. I just couldn't make any mistakes in the second run because there were so many big turns on the bottom."

Poutiainen's silver was the first alpine medal for her country.

"When I crossed the finish line, the first idea to come up was 'I got a medal in the Olympics,' " the 25-year-old said. "That's a huge thing for any athlete, especially for the first time to get a medal.

"For sure, it's also historical for Finnish alpine skiing."

Simard went off-line just before the flats near the bottom of the hill and lost time because of the snowy conditions on the course.

"The second run I took some risk and I made a mistake and it through me off of my focus a little bit. I wasn't able to carry as much speed as I wanted to at the end of the course on the flats," she said.

Heavy snow was falling during the second run in the afternoon and visibility was difficult.

The start of the race was changed to 2,370 metres from 2,430 because of the poor conditions.

"I was disappointed they took the start down because they took away some distance," Simard said. "I'm in good shape, physically, so (the higher altitude) was a bit of advantage I had over the other girls."

Brigitte Acton, a Sault St.-Marie native, said she also took risks to try to move up.

Acton ascended three spots to finish in 11th in 2:11.71.

"A lot of girls hold back when it's tough conditions -- sometimes I do, too," Acton said. "But I didn't do that (yesterday). I just went for it and used it to my advantage."

Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, B.C., was supposed to compete in the GS. But she crashed on Feb. 13 during the second training run for the downhill competition. She underwent surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament this week.

"She's just enjoying the morphine," Acton said.

Kerrin Lee-Gartner won Canada's most recent women's medal -- a gold in 1992.

"Technically, I'm right there with the best girls. I'll be there in four years," the 25-year-old Simard said.

"For sure we were unlucky. The fifth place is so close."

Thomas Grandi competes today in the slalom for Canada. He won two World Cup GS races last year.