What a great performance from Maria Riesch ! The German champion finished ahead of the Czech Sarka Zahrobska and the Finn Tanja Poutiainen to claim her very first World Cup title ! The young French skier Nastasia Noens clinched the 13th spot after an encouraging run.

Quotes from the winners' press conference
Saturday 14th of February 2009

Maria RIESCH (GER)
Sarka ZAHROBSKA (CZE)
Tanja POUTIAINEN (FIN)

Sarka:
It was tuff slalom. I can imagine this top 3 result is pretty good, maybe even excellent for you.
I'm very satisfied with my result today. Before I said that I will be very satisfied with some medal, doesn't matter gold, silver or bronze. Now I have silver and I'm really happy for it. On 2005 I had bronze, in 2007 I had gold and now silver so I have 3 medals from 3 World Championships. I'm so happy!

How was it to race on the 2nd run course set by your father?
The course was really difficult. My father sets very difficult courses for other people and for me as well. The 2nd run was more difficult than the 1st one, the slope was not so nice. In the 1st run I had the bib 1. At the finish I wasn't satisfied with my 2nd run and I really didn't believe I can win this medal. The course was difficult also for Manue(la Moelgg), Lindsey (Vonn) or Sandrine (Aubert). Finally I'm on the 2nd place, I'm really sorry for other racers but that's sport and today I was lucky.

You always win in the World Championships but your results in World Cup are not so good. Do you prepare Championships in a special way? How do you do?
I don't know because I didn't do a special preparation for the World Championships. I'm really happy to success during them. I have any secrets. I was a little bit nervous for the race because I was the winner from the last one in Are. There was pressure on me, especially in Czech Republic. They want another medal for and from me. I'm second and I hope the next year I will be as good as today for the Olympic Games.

Did you celebrate your birthday, few days ago?
Yes, a little bit, but I will celebrate all the celebrations after the season, like victories or even my birthday.

Tanja:
It was almost the same case last time for the Giant Slalom. You had to wait until the end knowing for your medal today. You need to be lucky sometimes. Tell us about today, about your race.
It's amazing. As you said it is the 2nd times I'm in the same position in the finish. I'm on the 3rd place and there are still racers coming. This feeling, when the feelings are going up and down if you get a medal or not. I can't explain it but I was lucky a little bit today but this is as the sport is. It means you have to fight all the way through like I did today and also on GS. Like that at the end of the day you can stay on the podium.

Maria:
We can imagine what it means to you after all the difficult moments you had last week, with the crash... There were certainly ups-and-downs with your confident, your motivation...
Actually there were not so many ups bur more downs during the last 2 weeks. I'm happy to be back for the very last women event of these World Championships. I was not in such a good mood because of the pressure and the expectations from people and also from myself. I missed the other races, especially the Super-Combined. Today my 1st run was ok, not perfect with lots of little mistakes in the bottom part. I knew I had to attack a lot to win a medal. 3 of the leaders went out but I think my 2nd run was good...

Could you talk a bit about the downs you mentioned?
I was not racing so good during these World Championships. 8 in Super-G, Combined with the expectations very high, the race was actually tuff. Zettel was the favourite, but Gut and Goergl not so much and I missed up the slalom of the Super-Combined. It was a really tuff day for me because everyone expected for sure that I can win a medal. Then the Downhill was also a disappointment for me and it was hard. The technical events come and the GS was OK, my 1st run was OK. I was taking very hard in the 2nd run then I crashed like 6 gates before the finish line and it was the deepest point of my presence there. The better is I could came up and won today.

First gold medal for Maria Riesch

Overcoming a difficult period marked by poor results and crashes in downhill training and in giant slalom, Germany's Maria Riesch captured her first gold medal at the Val d'Isère World Championships thanks to a fantastic second run to win the spectacular women's slalom.

The Bavarian, who hands her team its second gold medal in two days, was only in 6th after the first run before posting an impressive best time in the second to beat by 77/100 of a second defending slalom World Champion Sarka Zahrobska from the Czech Republic while Finland's Tanja Poutiainen was again 3rd.

Italy's Manuela Moelgg and American Lindsey Vonn, who had clocked the fastest times in the first leg, both skied out in the second run while France's Sandrine Aubert, 3rd best in the morning, lost much time on her way down the slope because of a crash.

Italy's Denise Karbon finished once more 4th, this time only a mere one-hundredth of a second from the podium, ahead of her teammate Nicole Gius.

An amazing second run for Riesch.

24-year-old Riesch, a four-time winner this winter in slalom, signed off in style after missing out on a medal in her previous four events and suffering bruises in a downhill training crash last week.

"After the second run I just didn't think this was possible," all-rounder Riesch said afterwards. "This is just amazing after all I've been through here. Everybody believed I could do it but me. The Championships had been so tough for me and I was a bit discouraged. I missed a great medal chance last week in Super-combined with that slow slalom run and then I felt much weight on me in the following races. There was already much pressure on my shoulders prior the first races here, some German newspaper even expected me to win as much as four medals in Val d'Isère. It's hard to deal with all this expectation."

"In the first run, I was not aggressive enough so I was ready for a great comeback in the afternoon. I hit everything pretty well and I was hoping for a medal but for sure not for the golden one with so many top favorites still waiting to start."

"They all fought hard and made mistakes, it's for sure tough but also part of the game. I feel very sorry of course for my friend Lindsey who did achieve such a great performance in the first run despite her injured hand," Riesch added. "I know she was also routing for me prior the race, she wanted me to go back home with a medal."

"It's of course wonderful that I'll be able to defend my title in two years at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in front of my fans. It should be a highlight in my career, but in the meantime there are still many other goals to reach for me. I also aim to soon find back my form in the speed events. I don't really understand why I'm struggling now in Super-G after my great results from last winter."

A great season for Sarka.

Czech Sarka Zahrobska, a winner at Aspen last year, made the most in the second run of a course set by her father and coach, Petr, to win her third FIS medal in four years. She clinched bronze in slalom at Santa Caterina in 2005 and then gold at Are in 2007.

"I have now the full collection, this is just great, I'm very happy," said Sarka, 4th after the first leg. "I felt really comfortable on my father's run which was technically more demanding and faster too. This morning I was mostly hoping to get a medal today so I'm pleased now. There were many contenders fighting for a podium finish today and you surely need some luck to get it."

"It has been a good season for me with my first World Cup win in November and this medal. Now I'm aiming for my first Olympic medal at Vancouver next year."
Lindsey Vonn was disappointed.

Lindsey Vonn, grabbing her ski pole with her bandaged right thumb in a splint, was only 0.24 second back after the first run and still in contention for a third gold medal after winning the Super-G and downhill here. The 24-year-old, who needed surgery to repair a damaged tendon after cutting her thumb on a Champagne bottle while celebrating her downhill triumph on Monday, lost her balance and crashed in the first part of the second run.

"It was a bit of a gamble, but I wanted to try it," Vonn said after her race. "I gave it everything I had because my goal was certainly not to finish 20th in that slalom. Unfortunately it didn't work out."

Vonn, who is Riesch's closest friend on the circuit and leads the Overall World Cup standings from the German, can still look back proudly at her campaign in the French Alps resort. "I'm glad for Maria but I would have loved to be on the podium with her," the American also said. "I won two gold medals and I fought until the very end," she added. "The thumb is painful. We'll have to see how we handle this for the rest of the season."

Most of the top skiers of these excellent 40th FIS Worlds will only enjoy a short break at home or on the road as the next World Cup races are already scheduled for the coming weekend at Tarvisio, in Italy. Three races as scheduled there and then three more the following week at Bansko, in Bulgaria. After another weekend in Germany, at Ofterschwang, the entire World Cup tour will meet again at Are, in Sweden, for the Finals.

MMJL
www.valdisere2009.org
Saturday, 14 February 2009

Lindsey Vonn ready for more

Lindsey Vonn left the FIS World Championships in Val d'Isere on Saturday with two gold medals, a cut thumb and a new resolution. "I'm not opening Champagne bottles anymore," she told the press after crashing out of the women's slalom in the afternoon's second run.

The American's last event at the Worlds was hampered by the injury she sustained on Monday while opening a bottle in celebration of her victory in the downhill, her second title after the super-G. The World Cup holder and leader, 2nd after the morning's first run, had the consolation of watching Germany's Maria Riesch, her best friend on the circuit, finally win the slalom.

"I'm happy for Maria but I would have loved to be on the podium with her," said Vonn, who grabbed her ski pole with her bandaged right thumb in a splint. "It was hurting when I crashed but I was fighting. I just couldn't do it," she added.

Before returning to Kirchberg, her Austrian home during the European phase of the World
Cup where she will also visit her cow Olympia won here a few years ago, the skier from Minnesota said she had mixed feelings about her fortnight.

"I was so happy to win my two gold medals and then I cut my thumb immediately afterwards. It was very disappointing. There have been ups and downs here. I was hoping for more," she said.

Back to Innsbruck.

Vonn will return to the Innsbruck clinic where her injury was treated to find a solution for the rest of the season. "I'm going back to Innsbruck tomorrow to work out how we can fix it for the speed events," she said. "The World Cup overall title remains my main goal and it looks pretty good since we have more speed events coming up than slaloms, which is Maria's big event," she said.

Vonn and Riesch are battling it out for the World Cup crystal globe this season along Sweden's Anja Paerson, the triple World Champion from Are who failed to reach a single podium here. The American, who will attend a celebration in her honour in Kirchberg on Monday, leads the German by 179 points.

"Looking back on these World Championships, it's good to have finally won a gold medal at a major event which was something that was really missing in my career," she said. "I'm on the right track for Vancouver," she added, looking forward to next year's Winter Games. "I proved here that I have the potential to excel at big events and I have something to make up at the Olympics."

In 2006, a spectacular crash while training downhill at Sansicarion prevented the American to defend her chances for medal in the speed events. She had to rest at the hospital in Turin instead of training as her colleagues.

At Val d'Isère, she showed her capacity to fight for gold medals in several specialties in Canada - in both speed events but also in Super-combined and slalom.

Yet for the moment, her next goal is to beat Tamara Mckinney's record of 18 World Cup wins that she shares with the Californian Overall World Cup winner since her last triumph at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

MMJL
www.valdisere2009.org
Saturday, 14 February 2009