ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. LAKE LOUISE, Canada- Lindsey Vonn writes history in Lake Louise. Winning by the biggest margin in her career, it seemed as if she was skiing a different race than everyone else!

Vonn crossed the finish line in 1minute, 53.19 seconds, 1.95 seconds faster than second ranked Tina Wirather, who was the only skier able to ski within two second of Vonn. Third ranked Dominique Gisin was already 2.06 seconds behind.

She might be going through a tough time in her private life, but Vonn managed to stay very focused and is keeping her spirit up.

“ It’s amazing to have the support of my teammates and everyone on the World Cup. My sister came all the way from North Carolina and is definitely helping me. Everything came together for me today, and I hope I can keep it going this weekend, but I just happy to be back racing Downhill,” a smiling Vonn said with her sister standing by her side.

She might have encountered some wind on the way down but it sure did not affect her overall performance.

“I definitely noticed that the wind was pretty strong, I had a pretty strong head wind coming onto the Followay turn, but I just kept fighting the whole way down. I knew that Heinz, my technician had done some magic with my skis, so I was hoping they would help me on the flats and it was a good run. Despite the wind and everything, it was great,” Vonn commented her run.

With one more Downhill on Saturday and a SG on Sunday, Vonn sure hopes to keep today’s flow going.

“I’m not really sure I’ll be able to do this again but I am going to try do the same thing, go out there ski solid and have fun. I always feel pressure to win; I think it’s the most important thing for me. I know what I expect from myself and I try to do the best every day. But I didn’t really expect this today; I didn’t expect it at all. The most I have ever won was by 1.2 seconds in 2006, I think, and it was here in Lake Louise. I don’t know what to say, it’s unexpected but I am extremely happy.”

After Vonn’s impressive performance, it seemed as if the podium was already decided, but Weirather hammered down the course with bib number 40 to achieve a surprising second place.

“It’s really amazing, I didn’t expect I could go for a podium. I had some luck with the weather and it seems that I had a really good run and am really happy. I had the last four years different kinds of injuries, last year I watched this race on TV and wasn’t even able to ski. And this year I am here, on the podium and it’s just great,” Weirather said.

Last year Gisin left Lake Louise with a third place in the second Downhill, and this year she starts the season with the same result.

“It’s the weirdest third place ever, with two seconds off it’s crazy. But congratulations to Lindsey, she is just impressive. I even think she did the Followay in a tuck, I just wonder how did she do it? But we will analyze it and try to be faster tomorrow. Of course it was windy all the way down so it was hard to tell if you were fast or not, but that’s normal here,” she said moments after being pushed into third place by Weirather.

One couldn’t have wished for a better day for the first ladies Downhill of the season to take place. This morning’s inspection run proved course conditions had improved drastically from the first trainings. The line was completely cleared of all the soft snow, the skiing base was somewhere between compact and icy. And the sun decided to finally show its face and create great visibility along the whole racecourse.

by Ana Jelusic
FISalpine.com
Friday 2 December 2011

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