First Super-combined win for Lindsey Vonn

Manuèle Lang 22.12.2007 16:02 Uhr

A day after dominating her rivals on the treacherous “Karl Schranz” downhill course, Lindsey Vonn celebrated her very first triumph in a World Cup Super-combined after another impressive downhill and a solid slalom run.

The skier from Park City, married since last fall to former ski racer Thomas Vonn, beat by 63/100 of a second her good friend Maria Riesch while Julia Mancuso came in 3rd at 65/100.

18-year-old Anna Fenninger was the best Austrian in 4th place ahead of France’s Sandrine Aubert. Her teammates Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild, still shooting for victory after their downhill race, didn’t finish the slalom leg in the afternoon after taking too many risks and lost much terrain on their US competitor in the Overall World Cup standings. It’s the first time in her career that Schild failed to finish a Super-combined on the World Cup tour. The slalom specialist reached the podium in her previous five Super-combined events, winning one at Reiteralm a year ago.

Kildow is now leading the Overall Cup with 474 points – 55 more than Hosp and 85 more than Riesch. Anja Paerson, who missed a gate in the downhill run earlier in the morning, is now 4th aside of Schild with a delay of 91 points.

10th win for Lindsey Vonn
After collecting a series of top-5 finishes in past combined events, Vonn was definitely aiming for such a performance today. The 23-year-old crushed her rivals in the morning capturing the downhill leg with a huge advance on the other favorites. Hosp and Mancuso, both 2nd , lost 1,48 seconds while Schild, was 2,09 back in 7th place.

In the afternoon, Riesch, an excellent slalom skier a few years ago before suffering two serious knee injuries in 2004 and 2005, turned out to be Lindsey’s toughest rival. The Bavarian from Garmisch-Partenkirchen clocked the fastest slalom run and gained two positions in the rankings.

Yet Vonn, who had a lead of 1,72 seconds on her friend after the downhill, achieved a conservative yet solid run on the steep slalom hill to remain out of reach for the rest of the field.

“I knew what I had to do after being informed of the problems of the top Austrians and I didn’t take too many risks on my way down the slope,” a hilarious Vonn said afterwards.

“I’m so happy because I was hoping hard to win a Super-combined one day, I’m really pleased to share that podium with my good friend Maria who is really skiing well this winter,” added the American who is celebrating Christmas in Germany with Maria Riesch and her family. Her husband is joining her in a few days on December 27th.

“I also feel quite comfortable in the technical events this season. I trained a slalom and giant slalom last fall and my hard work is paying off,” she explained afterwards. “It’s fun to be leading the Overall standings now yet the season is still long. I like to be one of the main players but Nicole Hosp is a remarkable skier in all specialties and she will surely get back at the top after the coming weeks full of technical events. I’ll do my best and if it comes, it comes, if not it’s also OK,” concluded Lindsey who is also leading the downhill standings.

First Super-combined podium for Riesch
Maria Riesch, who already excelled in downhill, Super-G and slalom in recent years, captured her first podium in a Super-combined. She was only 7th in that discipline at the 2007 FIS Worlds at Are in February. On Friday, the graceful German didn’t finish the downhill as many other favorites.

“It’s a good surprise, I guess I was lucky that so many top-skiers went out this afternoon,” she said after the race. “It’s a very good result for me and it’s fun to be on the podium again today, next to Lindsey who really did a great job in the slalom this afternoon. I saw that she was having a solid and controlled run. She deserves that victory after her outstanding downhill race this morning. I’m now looking forward for a nice week at home with her.”

Mancuso, who also won a Super-combined last January at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, also moved-up in the Overall standings after collecting her second consecutive 3rd place here in St Anton. The Californian, 3rd last season at in the final standings obviously found back her momentum during the last two weeks after difficult races in North America. She certainly remains a top-contender for the big Crystal globe.

The next women’s competitions will take place next week at Lienz where a giant slalom and a slalom are scheduled on Friday and Saturday. Two more weekend filled with technical races will follow afterwards at Spindleruv Mlyn, in the Czech Republic, and then in Maribor, Slovenia.

Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild will both be seeking for revenge at those competitions which should also attract thousands of spectators as it was the case in St Anton which deserves to be a regular on the women’s tour. Both the downhill and slalom courses are challenging and spectacular – just perfect for women’s ski racing.