Not only did Lindsey Vonn land her sixth career downhill victory at Lake Louise on Friday, but she did it after kneeing herself in the face at the top of the course and bleeding the rest of the way down.

Vonn won in 1 minute, 26.13 seconds on a shortened course, beating Canada's Emily Brydon, who landed her first World Cup podium on home turf, by .52 seconds and her best friend Maria Riesch, who also finished third in last year's DH at Lake Louise, by .80 seconds.

The near-fall was not captured by cameras filming the race, but Vonn said it happened two or three gates before the first jump.

"There was a slick spot and my ski kind of slid and I caught. My knee hit my chin and I bit through my tongue," Vonn said. "It almost knocked me out but I somehow regrouped and kept going."

The Canadians had a great collective result on home turf, with Britt Janyk taking fourth, Kelly Vanderbeek 13th and Larisa Yurkiw 24th.

Brydon referred to the excitement of her second place on the home course - her first Cup podium since her victory in the St. Moritz super-G in February 2008 - as something on par to what it would be like to win at the upcoming Vancouver Olympic Games.

"This is a really good opportunity for us," Brydon said. "You get the nerves and the expectations and the pressure early on in the season. Then we get to step away from this and get refreshed before the Games. I really struggled with doing well here. I put a lot of pressure and expectations on my own shoulders. It's just about as big as an Olympics for me."

Janyk said her team came into Friday's following the wisdom of Canadian men's coach Johno McBride.

"We said this is our party, this is our house, we're going to be in control of it," she said. "It's tough because you want to perform for the hometown crowd. You want to perform for everybody here. That can be pressure, but sometimes you're using it as your energy. We did that today."

The weather was far from perfect, but Vonn said flat light, snow and adverse conditions actually motivate her.

"I actually kind of like it when it's bad weather," she said. "For me, I have confidence skiing on this course if it's sunny or completely dark. Some of the girls get a little afraid ... mentally that's a little bit of an advantage."

The third place was the seventh downhill podium of Riesch's World Cup career and the third at Lake Louise. She finished with the same result in last season's race and also won here in 2006. The only other podium she had in downhill last season was a second place in Are.

"In Lake Louise, I'm always skiing well," Riesch said. "I hope i can do a little bit better in the speed events this year. To be on the podium in the first race is always good for the self confidence."

Julia Mancuso, who was 10th Friday and whose only top 10 result in downhill last season was 10th in Bansko, was also pleased with her result at Lake Louise, saying that the falling snow didn't affect visibility too much but actually helped.

"I've been fourth here but I've also been 50th," she said. "The snow kind of illuminates the course. It was really consistent the whole way down."

As for racing on the shorter course, she said she hopes Saturday's race starts at the top, because the length gives her more time to reach her top pace.

"I need to hit technical sections at speed," she said. "I'm not real good at making speed on those long skis. Compared to Lindsey, she's really good at making speed. She's taller and she can really generate a lot of speed."

There was no question about Vonn generating speed on Friday. Not only did her "mistake" at the top of the course cost her no time at all, but she managed to shift into the same mental zone that has led her to victory on this course every year since 2004. Her husband, Thomas Vonn said she'd sooner cut her tongue out than slow down on the race course.

"The adrenaline keeps you going," Lindsey said. "It's kind of in my nature. i'm a fighter 'til the end. I've kind of semi-crashed a lot and kept going."

Austrian Maria Holaus, who dominated training all week in Lake Louise, finished fifth in Friday's race.

"It was much harder than yesterday," Holaus said of the course. "The weather is very different than yesterday, but the volunteers worked very hard and the conditions were pretty good. It doesn't matter how the weather is. Everybody has to ski the same. I hope that tomorrow is a bit better for me. I hope to start from the original [start] tomorrow because the downhill is so nice from the very top."

The women's Audi FIS Ski World Cup continues Saturday with another downhill.

By Shauna Farnell
Ski Racing Magazine www.skiracing.com
Saturday 5 December 2009

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