ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. The American Lindsey Vonn wins the ladies downhill in the Swedish Are today (Feb. 26), ahead of giant slalom world champion Slovenian Tina Maze, .13 seconds behind and overall World Cup leader Maria Riesch rounding out the podium in third, 0.21 seconds behind.

Since 28 February 2009, the winner of a World Cup downhill was always either Lindsey Vonn or Maria Riesch.

With her 3rd downhill win of the season and 3rd victory in Are, the 26-year-old Vonn stands before the successful defense of the small globe in downhill. The reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, has accumulated 520 points over Riesch’s 417 making up a lead of 103 points with three ladies’ downhills remaining on this season’s calendar.

The World Championships silver medalist of Garmisch-Partenkirchen put down what looked like a calm run keeping a tight line to claim her 40th World Cup victory, which puts her in fifth place in the all-time standings.

“The course today was tough and had some difficult turns. I like the snow in Are as it is similar to what I find in Colorado. Also, I am used to the Scandinavian slopes because my husband got relatives in Norway. Every skier has their own way of skiing and we all have our favorite courses and Åre apparently suits me well,” Vonn said.

In No. 11 bib, Maze put down an impressive downhill run in a time of 1:41.06 on a challenging course that had many of the top favorites struggle at the same few gates including Paerson, Goergl, Kamer and Merighetti. The Slovenian, who is on a roll ever since she won her two medals at the worlds, held the lead through the next nine racers until Vonn bumped her to second by posting the fastest time of 1:40.93, wearing bib No. 20.

“I feel much better than I did yesterday and I am very happy about my second place. It has been two years since I competed in downhill but I trained a lot so now downhill and the speed feels more natural to me. I felt like I did not have much control over my line because the snow was different from yesterday and it was very bumpy,” Maze said.

With her third place finish in a time of 1:41.14, Maria Riesch stayed on top of the overall standings with 1416 points to Vonn’s 1240. The American made up some ground with her downhill victory today but still trails Riesch by 176 points. The German, who won two bronze medals at her home championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, captured the 13th World Cup podium of the 2010/11 season.

"It went really well despite the challenging course setting. It wasn’t an easy race and it was hard to find a perfect line. It was hard to turn the skis on time in the turns and on the knolls due to the way the course was set but overall I really like the hill and the snow here in Åre," Riesch said after the race.

Joint favorites, Anja Pärson at her home race and the Austrian double world champion Elisabeth Görgl both skied out in the same section and failed to finish.

The best Swiss was Dominique Gisin in fourth, .69 seconds behind, followed by fifth place finisher Stacey Cook of America and the surprisingly strong Viktoria Rebensburg in sixth place.

Behind the seventh place finisher Marion Rolland of France, the Salzburg native Andrea Fischbacher got 8th being the best Austrian.

The race was overshadowed by the bad crash of the Swiss Nadja Kamer in No. 16 bib. The 24-year-old was too far from the gate in a key passage in the upper part of the course and collided with the safety netting in a right hand turn, thrusting her through the air.

She finally came to rest on the opposite side of the course. After the first aid treatment on the piste, the Swiss was brought down to the valley by toboggan. This incident caused the race to be paused for about 15 minutes, during which Anja Paerson carrying bib No. 17, had to wait at the start.

According to the Swiss ladies’ head coach Mauro Pini, Kamer did not suffer any serious injuries except for her arm. The medical report said that Kamer has a hand contusion. As a preventative measure the hand was put in plaster until further details are known regarding a possible injury of the scaphoideum. “Fortunately, her knees and back seem to be intact but she is still in a bit of shock after the crash,” the coach from the Tessin said.

The ladies continue with a super G in Are on Sunday, Feb. 27. The race kicks off at 10:30 CET time.

FISalpine.com
Saturday 26 February 2011