ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. Germany’s Maria Riesch went two-for-two in the downhill department winning her second World Cup downhill race in as many days in Lake Louise, Alberta.

Riesch tore down the Lake Louise ladies’ track in a time of 1-minute, 29.60 seconds, edging out good friend and World Cup comrade Lindsey Vonn by a slim margin for the second day in a row. Vonn, who almost lost control of her skis at one point, made an incredible recovery and ended up only 0.10 seconds off the top spot. Switzerland’s Dominique Gisin finished in third, 0.78 seconds out of first to take her first ever podium spot in Lake Louise.

After the race, Riesch attributed her victory to both skill and a little bit of luck.

“I’m really happy with the two races, I think I did some really good technical skiing, in both races, I lost some time in the last section, but in the end it was enough to win. I was also a little bit lucky with twelve hundredths yesterday and one-tenth today, but you need luck sometimes, and here in Lake Louise it was on my side and I’m really proud of the two races.”

Vonn, who has won at least one race in Lake Louise every year since December 2004 was upbeat about her performance. She told reporters she was hoping Sunday’s Super-G would be her day to win.

“I’m happy with another second place today. It’s a little painful losing by one-tenth of a second again. I made a huge mistake, I caught an edge and went down on my hip on the top part of the steeps. I avoided what could have been a pretty bad crash so I’m happy with that, and it was definitely a positive day despite losing by a tenth. I was looking for revenge today, but it didn’t quite happen for me, but my skiing is definitely there, and tomorrow is going to be another day to try and get back at Maria a bit,” Vonn said with laugh.

Gisin, who had never been on the podium in Lake Louise before today, was ebullient after her third place finish, and told reporters she was disappointed with her result in Friday’s downhill where she finished in 15th, but thrilled to make up for it today.

“I’m really happy, a podium is just great here in Lake Louise - my best result. With the sun shining, it was awesome today. Yesterday it was pretty tough and I was all over the place, but today it worked out and everything is okay. I just tried to ski down solid and stable and I think it’s important for me to be more stable and less daring,” Gisin, who is also an amateur pilot in her spare time, said with a laugh.

Italy’s Daniela Merighetti also had a great day finishing in fourth place, followed by Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl in fifth, Julia Mancuso of the United States in sixth, Tina Maze of Slovenia in seventh and Gina Stechert of Germany in eighth 1.19 seconds out of the lead.

Austria’s Anna Fenninger and Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter ended up in a tie for ninth position - each one capturing a second top ten result in as many days.

Sunday’s Super-G race, the last one of the week here in Lake Louise is scheduled for 11am local time.

By Michael Mastarciyan
FISalpine.com
Saturday 4 December 2010