ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. LAKE LOUISE, Canada- With another day of snow flurries and flat light, the ladies world cup battled down a challenging Super-G race at Lake Louise.  Once again, for her seventh consecutive win and 14th at Lake Louise, Lindsey Vonn dominated "Lake Lindsey" and showed that despite her low energy levels, she could still throw down an amazing race and win.  "I was totally empty today.  I woke up and I was so tired. I  tried to conserve energy, did less warmup runs.  Just tried to be as prepared as I could be for the race today.  It was tough.  I gave it everything I had and now i'm completely dead.  I could probably take a nap right here in the finish!!"

With three intense days of weather and waiting, the girls energy was lower and the race times were closer.  The Americans stepped it up for the third day in a row and landed two on the podium.  Julia Mancuso kept the second place trend for the Americans going thanks to her consistent and aggressive skiing.
"I actually didn't ski as well as i could have up top, I thought I did it well but I guess I was kind of slow on the first split and then the pitch was not my best.  I skied really fast on the middle."  Mancuso was only 0.4 behind Vonn in the race and at the mid-split was only 0.03 behind Vonn. 

"I was only .03 out at the last split, I made up all this time on her and then she pulled in front by 0.4 seconds so…."

Lindsey Vonn has a touch and glide that is hard to compete with, seen especially well on the final flats where she pulled ahead by almost half a second.  The crowds were cheering excitedly in anticipation of a tighter race, but Lindsey somehow baffled the audience with her complete dominance of the final section

Anna Fenninger stepped it up for the Austrians and landed their first podium of the Lake Louise series.  Today's race marked her second time being on the podium in the super-G race at Lake Louise.  She was thrilled with the result after struggling in the downhill races.

"The race for me here is one of my favourite races every year in the super g.  I love the steep section, and every year I'm very fast.  After the last 2 days its very important for me to be in front in the finish.  its also important to know i can ski fast if its snowing or bad weather or bad conditions.   It's very good for my confidence and I'm happy. "

The ladies head to St. Moritz now and leave "Lake Lindsey" behind until next year.

By Anna Goodman
FISalpine.com
Sunday 2 December 2012