VAL D'ISERE, France - American Lindsey Vonn started a possible quest for a record medal haul at the Alpine skiing world championships by winning the opening women's Super-G raced on Tuesday in front of thousands of spectators amassed along the course and around the finish line.

Vonn mastered a treacherous piste and low visibility to beat France's Marie Marchand-Arvier to take her first title at a major event and stay on course to become the first woman to eventually make the podium in all five disciplines at the same FIS World Championships. France's Marie Marchand-Arvier, the second racer to start, made the most of perfect conditions on a sun-lit course while her rivals had to deal with poorer visibility and thrilled the home fans with a surprise silver medal, 0.34 seconds back.

Austria's Andrea Fischbacher took the bronze,40/100 of a seconds behind the winner, in a race that saw several competitors skiing out, among them Swede Anja Paerson, who had won the last two Super-G World titles for the event.

Other favorites as Germany's Maria Riesch also struggled and finished far behind the podium.

Vonn, the Overall World Cup champion and current leader, captured her first gold medal after winning two silvers in downhill and Super-G, each time behind Paerson, at the previous worlds two years ago in Are, Sweden. She became the first US female Super-G World Champion in the history of the sport and also the first US women to clinch gold at FIS World Championships since 1997, when Hilary Lindh captured the downhill title at Sestriere, in Italy.

"It was for sure a challenging race which requested incredible determination, but I managed to give all I had in me during my run," said the skier from Minnesota. "It was also a strange race. I saw all the others having problems and many going out and I started wondering what would happen to me," added Vonn, the 21st to start in a race that high-profile rivals such as fellow American Julia Mancuso and Austria's Renate Goetschl also failed to finish. "I knew I needed an amazing run and I had it. I'm so relieved to have won a gold medal at last."

The 24-year-old, once mostly a speed specialist but now a true all-rounder, won her third race in a row in five days after taking a World Cup slalom Friday and a super-G Sunday in the German resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The skier from St Paul, Minnesota, who said before coming here that she thought she could win five medals, was the only favourite to cope with the delicate turns down the steep, icy Solaise piste, staging a top-level race for the first time.

"It was also difficult because you couldn't see well," Vonn also commented . "Fortunately flat light is not a problem for me, I can perfectly coop with those kind of condition. When I was younger, I used to ski in the night at home or at Mt Hood by all kinds of conditions, including when it was foggy so I can deal with it. I just follow my instinct and let it go while trying to execute my plan. It worked out perfectly for me today and I wish to thank all the people who have helped me for so many years. To win a gold medal is definitely a major step for me after having reached so much already on the World Cup tour. This experience will also help me a lot next year at the Vancouver Olympics."

A noisy crowd went wild after the unheralded Marchand-Arvier clocked the fastest time and held it until Vonn came down.

"I skied well on the top section but then I made a mistake in a sharp right hand turn and I didn't think it would be good enough for a podium," said the Frenchwoman, regarded more as a downhill racer. "This is beyond my wildest dreams, especially in the Super-G, which is not my best event. I felt butterflies in my stomach this morning and I felt ready to cry - but for happiness," she also explained at the post-race press conference. It was amazing to hear all that crowd encouraging me during my run, it gave me much momentum. I enjoy skiing on such a difficult course, it was pretty exciting. I think it was good for me that the French Ski Team could compete and train here in past years. It helped me to memorize all those tough turns and clock that fast time"

Fischbacher, who celebrated her first World Cup win a year ago, saved the honour of her team with her 3rd place ahead of her younger teammate Anna Fenninger while the Swiss Team failed to deliver the performance it was aiming for after their excellent results in the six Super-G competitions. Lara Gut, the 17-year-old winner at St Moritz, lost much time on the leaders during her run. Sweden's Jessica Lindell Vikarky also struggled after reaching two podiums in a row last week, including her win at Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Press conference of the three winners of the Super G women's race

The Austrian athlete Andrea Fischbacher wins the bronze medal, she is very satisfied with herself and this medal comes as a surprise because she didn't expect it. She describes the slope as difficult and demanding however the weather and snow conditions were very good.

Marie Marchand Arvier, the French athlete comes in 2nd place. Very moved she explains her joy and pride to win a medal at home on the first day of the championship. She hopes that it will motivate the rest of the French team and that they will do as well as her. She also expresses the extreme sensation she felt as she skied down the slope and she heard the crowd support her, their support motivated her immensely.

The winner, the American Lindsey Vonn is radiant as it is her first time as a world champion. For this race she had to fight and to give it all she's got. She explains her victory as team work, thanks to her husband, her sponsor and her coaches, she was ready and had a good strategy. Even though she was alone on the slope, the whole team wins together.

MMJL
Tuesday, 03 February 2009
Val d'Isere 2009
www.valdisere2009.org

***

Anja Paerson aiming for 8th FIS gold medal

The 40th FIS World Championships begin today with what could well be one of the most exciting women's events of the Val d'Isère 2009 competitions - the Super-G. With as many winners as races since the season-start and so many unpredictable influential parameters involved, over a dozen athletes have chances to reach the podium in that opening race. Add possible changes in weather conditions and a bumpy terrain and then you're sure that almost everything can happen on the fast - and eventually furious - 'Rhone Alpes' course set on the Solaise slopes.

Anja Paerson, the defending World Champion in that discipline, may well be the skier to beat even though the Swede insisted earlier this season that she's more interested in a third Overall World Cup title. Despite her crash at Cortina d'Ampezzo after clocking the fastest intermediate time, Paerson has been pretty consistent in that event so far this season.

Two days ago, she was again very fast in the middle of the newly designed Super-G run at Garmisch-Partenkirchen yet failed to keep her pace until the finish line. She finished 2nd only a few tenths of a second behind USA's Lindsey Vonn, who celebrated her second win within two days in the Bavarian resort, host the 2011 World Championships.

Interestingly enough, the 27-year-old skier from Taernaby also won the Super-G title in 2005 in Santa Caterina, Italy. She certainly wouldn't mind achieved another sensational hat-trick in that specialty after clinched three gold medals at Are two years ago.

The difficult run should inspire that aggressive champion who has clinched at least one gold medal at each World Championships since St Anton 2001. "I think this could be one of the most challenging Super-G slopes I have seen, it should be pretty exciting if the weather conditions remain fair," Paerson told the press on Monday after an hour of free-skiing on the course. "You definitely need good visibility here to ski at your limits but we may well see a lot of crazy things happening here."

Anja ready to fight for it.

As most true top-champions, Anja Paerson has the capacity to raise her level in great occasions as it was the case two years ago in front of her fans at Are. She traveled to the Swedish resort without a win in previous weeks but it didn't prevent her to strike hard there and return home with three gold and a bronze medals.

"I guess this will never happen again, at least not for me, it's tough to do something like that again," she also said. "I'll for sure fight as hard as I can, but I would already be happy with a single medal - especially if it's a golden one," she added with a grin. "There are so many great skiers now and to race in front of my fans two years ago certainly gave me wings."

Earlier this season, Paerson also explained that she was enjoying Maria Riesch and Lindsey Vonn being in the limelight thanks to their great results, allowing her to be more relaxed looking forward for the Val d'Isère Worlds. "That's perfect, they both battle hard for the Overall standings and get all the media attention," she said at Zauchensee where she shared victory in a downhill with Switzerland's Dominique Gisin.

"I know what it takes to win gold medals and I feel very confident about my ability to go again for it - for sure much more than two years ago. We all worked hard since last summer to get the best out of our new material and I'm really enjoying racing. I'm surrounded by a great staff and this helps me a lot too," also commented Paerson, trained for years by her father Anders. "I have been racing at that a high level for so many years now, the most important for sure is to be healthy and happy about my skiing and my live on the circuit."

Lindsey is tough too!

In fact, only a few other racers are fueled with the same toughness than Anja - and of course Lindsey Vonn is one of them. The 24-year-old from Minnesota is enjoying her best form ever and she is mentally ready for even more here during the coming two weeks.

"I am in great shape and I have a lot of self-confidence after all those amazing wins in four events this season," Vonn said on Monday during a press conference. "I have reached much more that expected in recent weeks and this is definitely a strong boost for my moral. I aim to apply the same routine here than on the World Cup tour. A few years ago, I was so excited just to be racing at big events that I had a hard time remaining fully focused, but now I'm used to all the attention of the media and the fans," added the American who clinched two silver medals at Are in February 2007.

"I don't consider myself a great favorite for the Super-G here. The downhill and the Super-combined are my main goals. I was joking with Maria Riesch the other day about our goals here and we said that it would be great if she could win the slalom if I do so in downhill. Of course there are many skiers who would disagree with this plan."

Vonn leads now the Overall World Cup standings with 1,114 points ahead of Riesch who scored 935 so far with three weeks of racing left after Val d'Isère prior the Finals at Are. Anja Paerson is 3rd with 855.

Among the other top contenders ready for a great race on the Solaise slopes are Switzerland's Lara Gut and Fabienne Sutter, Italy's Nadia Fanchini, the actual leader in the Super-G standings, Jessica Lindell Vikarby, the surprising winner at Cortina d'Ampezzo a week ago.

And don't forget Maria Riesch - the 2008 Super-G World Cup champion has never reached a podium in a major event in past years, but things have changed and she is certainly ready to fight back now!

MMJL
Monday, 02 February 2009
Val d'Isere 2009
www.valdisere2009.org