Joy in Austria, Goergl wins DH, Vonn snares silver

By Published On: February 13th, 2011Comments Off on Joy in Austria, Goergl wins DH, Vonn snares silver

Elisabeth GoerglThere is great joy in Austria today (Feb. 13).

Elisabeth Goergl picked up her second World Championship of the week at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany bringing Austria her 22nd global downhill title (men and women) and first since 2003 with a beautifully executed run that set the tone for a Murder’s Row of top competitors who would ski just after her. Though they would challenge, none could out race her on this day as she won her first elite downhill and brought the Austrian women’s team its third consecutive win at these championships.

“It’s the downhill,” Goergl simply said when question why this medal was a little more special to her than the super G title she won on Tuesday. “You have to be lucky with the course, the skis, the material. Everyone wants to win.”

With a courageous effort that fell 0.44 seconds short, American Lindsey Vonn added a silver medal to the gold she had won in the event at Val d’Isere in 2009  and local favorite Maria Riesch (0.60 back) contributed the bronze medal to the roaring approval of her hometown fans. Riesch also won the bronze medal in the super G.

“Today feels like a gold medal,” said a very pleased Vonn. “It’s a really great feeling and I couldn’t be happier. I could feel the speed today. It was a fun downhill and I enjoyed racing it today.”

The U.S. ended up with three skiers in the top 10, a feat not accomplished in a downhill in 15 years, with Julia Mancuso (super G silver medalist) finishing sixth and Laurenne Ross, the first skier on the hill today, finishing tenth for her best top-level result ever. “This is the best result of my career and I’m glad that it happened at World Champs. I really nailed the bottom part of the course. It wasn’t a perfect run, but it was one of the better runs that I’ve had,” said Ross.

Tina Maze, the combined silver medalist, charged hard enough to push
Mancuso down one more notch and Daniela Merighetti was solid in
finishing seventh, but the race was essentially over with Vonn’s run.

With many anticipating a repeat of yesterday’s men’s downhill results when similar warming temperatures resulted in a softening and slowing course it appeared for a bit that earlier skiers might stay in the leader’s box through the race, but when Goergl-Riesch-Mancuso-Anja Paerson and Vonn ran in the 16 though 20 start positions respectively – Murder’s Row – that supposition was quickly dismissed.

Goergl was exceptional in every way. She got out of the start house quickly and powerfully, skied a strong line the length of 1.8mile Kandahar course and unseated Swiss Lara Gut from the cat bird seat by nearly a full second (0 .94), setting new markers at every interval timing position. “I wouldn’t do anything differently,” said Goergl whose wins this week bookended her teammate Anna Fenninger’s super combined victory on Friday.

Largely keeping the soon-to-be 30-year-old Goergl (her birthday is a week from
today) off the downhill top spot, have been her podium mates of today.  Riesch and Vonn have combined to win the last 14 consecutive World Cup downhills. That streak climbs to 15 if you count Vonn’s victory at the Vancouver Olympic Games.

“Lizzy [Goergl] has stepped up and she’s done incredibly well. Her runs were amazing. I watched her run from the super combined and I thought ‘wow’. She’s stepping up and it’s really cool to see,” said Vonn of Goergl ending the streak. “She’s a really hard worker and a very nice person. It’s fun to see people really step up in World Championship events.”

Riesch’s run had the local populous frothing with hopeful anticipation as she dipped a few tenths behind early and then slowly began to reel in the Austrian, a hundredth or two at each timing mark. Riesch’s accomplishments are particularly impressive considering she was sick this week with a temperature of 102. Not feeling well, she pulled out of the first training run after two turns and bagged the second trainer all together. Admitting she didn’t feel 100 percent, Riesch said she felt motivated to race as she was aware her fans had traveled far and paid to see her compete.

“I didn’t think I would have a podium finish. It was good that my expectation wasn’t high going in this direction. You shouldn’t talk about how bad you feel, you should just go do it,” said Riesch who visited a local priest for counsel yesterday.”I already have done two podium performances so it is already a good championship for me.”

Mancuso challenged but never came close enough to match the top pack on what she said was a very different feeling track than the one she had trained on.

“It’s amazing how different your strategy has to be if the snow changes and it’s amazing how different the course can change. Today it was like frozen spring skiing as opposed to the ice we had in the first training run,” said Mancuso. “The surface is actually really good. My game plan was just to take risks and make sure to not give myself any room for mistakes. I executed the second half of the course, but unfortunately I’m not sure where the time went on the top part.”

Vonn picked up momentum as her run progressed and she made up the bulk of her time on the last chunk of hill, coming in 0.44 seconds off the pace of the Austrian. It was her first full-on speed run since sustaining a head injury Feb. 2 that has caused her difficulty gauging speed and the first real sign her recovery has approached a successful conclusion. The 2009 Worlds downhill and super G champion pulled out of the the week’s first downhill training and opted to run the final “dress rehearsal” in an unusual costume as she tested the “cloudy head,” which slowed her to a seventh-place finish in he super G,  wearing loose fitting free skiing clothes to slow her down.

Vonn has not yet decided if she will run in Wednesday’s team competition or any other remaining events at these championships. Bode Miller, Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso are currently slated to represent the U.S. Team.

“Of course I’d love to do the team event. I’d love to do the GS and slalom as well.  But I don’t know if that’s the best thing right now for my head,” said Vonn.  “I’m going to talk to my doctors and my husband and we’ll make that decision.”

The women will next face off in the giant slalom on Thursday, Feb. 17.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Women’s World Championship Downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, German, Feb. 13, 2011
Equipment

Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
2 Vonn, Head/Head/Head
3 Riesch, Head/Lange/Head
4 Gut, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
6 Mancuso, Voelkl/Lange/Marker
7 Merighetti, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Gisin, Dynastar/Lange/Marker
9 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
10 Ross, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women’s World Championship Downhill, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Feb. 13, 2011.
… It is the fifth of 11 events scheduled at the 41st World Ski Championships. … the third of five women’s races. … It is the 64th downhill held at a World Championships.

It is the second World Championship and third Worlds medal for Elisabeth Goergl having previously won the SG at these World Championships and winning the bronze in combined in 2009. … It is the 22nd World DH title for Austria, the first since Michael Walchhofer won in 2003. … the first Austrian women’s DH title since Michaela Dorfmeister in 2001. … Goergl also wons two Olympic bronze medals, both from Whistler 2010, one in DH and one in GS. … Goergl has three World Cup wins, two in GS and one in super G. … Her best Cup DH finish is 2nd in SanSicario Jan. 27, 2007.

It is the fifth career World Championship medal for Lindsey Vonn. … She won both the DH and SG in the last title meet at Val d’Isere in 2009 and has three silver medals (SG and DH from Are 2007 and today’s race). … She also owns two Olympic medals gold in DH and bronze in SG from Whistler 2010. … It is her 11th podium result of the season. … It is the 54th US medal in World Championship competition.

It is the third career World Championship medal for Maria Riesch and her second from these championships. … She was also the bronze medal finisher in super G. … She previously won gold in slalom in 2009. …. Riesch also has two gold Olympic medals in combined and slalom both from 2010. … It is her 13th podium result of the season. … It is the 90th World Championship medal for Germany, plus a team event win.

Julia Mancuso matches her seventh best placing in a World Championship event. … She matches her ninth best result of the season. …. It is the best of three World Championship results for Laurenne Ross. … and is her best result in World Cup or world title competition. … Britt Janyk matches her third best career World Championship result, tying her SG finish from earlier in these championships. … She placed fourth in SG and 12th in DH at Are in 2007. … It was the first finish of this meet for Stacey Cook.

Medal count
Austria 4 (3 gold, 1 silver)
Italy 2 (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Canada 1 (1gold)
USA 2 (2 silver)
Slovenia 1 (1 silver)
Switzerland 1 (1 silver)
Germany 2 (2 bronze
Croatia 1 (1 bronze)
Sweden 1 (1 bronze)

Place   Garmisch-Partenkirchen
(GER)
  Discipline   Downhill
Date   13.02.2011   Category   FIS World Ski Championships
Race codex   5072   Gender   L
Valid for FIS Points   YES   TD Name   Bedrac Gorazd (SLO)
       
  
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  16  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth  1981  AUT   1:47.24  0.00
 2  20  537544 VONN Lindsey  1984  USA   1:47.68  5.46
 3  17  206001 RIESCH Maria  1984  GER   1:47.84  7.44
 4  13  516138 GUT Lara  1991  SUI   1:48.18  11.66
 5  29  565243 MAZE Tina  1983  SLO   1:48.22  12.15
 6  18  537545 MANCUSO Julia  1984  USA   1:48.30  13.15
 7  22  296008 MERIGHETTI Daniela  1981  ITA   1:48.66  17.61
 8  10  515747 GISIN Dominique  1985  SUI   1:48.70  18.11
 9  9  55750 FISCHBACHER Andrea  1985  AUT   1:48.86  20.09
 10  1  538573 ROSS Laurenne  1988  USA   1:48.87  20.22
 11  19  505483 PAERSON Anja  1981  SWE   1:49.02  22.08
 12  2  565320 FERK Marusa  1988  SLO   1:49.04  22.32
 13  15  515766 SUTER Fabienne  1985  SUI   1:49.14  23.56
 14  21  515806 KAMER Nadja  1986  SUI   1:49.19  24.18
 15  25  106022 JANYK Britt  1980  CAN   1:49.35  26.17
 16  7  296472 FANCHINI Elena  1985  ITA   1:49.53  28.40
 17  14  55947 FENNINGER Anna  1989  AUT   1:49.60  29.27
 18  11  195671 JACQUEMOD Ingrid  1978  FRA   1:49.72  30.76
 19  4  495318 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina  1981  SPA   1:50.05  34.85
 20  12  195983 ROLLAND Marion  1982  FRA   1:50.09  35.35
 21  26  296427 SCHNARF Johanna  1984  ITA   1:50.15  36.09
 22  8  196460 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie  1985  FRA   1:50.18  36.46
 23  24  55766 MADER Regina  1985  AUT   1:50.33  38.32
 24  3  375018 COLETTI Alexandra  1983  MON   1:50.39  39.07
 25  28  537582 COOK Stacey  1984  USA   1:50.53  40.80
 26  30  196573 REVILLET Aurelie  1986  FRA   1:50.94  45.89
 27  27  296431 STUFFER Verena  1984  ITA   1:50.97  46.26
 28  6  155563 KRIZOVA Klara  1989  CZE   1:52.46  64.74
 29  32  35079 SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen  1982  ARG   1:53.92  82.85
 30  35  155431 MARKOVA Daniela  1985  CZE   1:56.08  109.63
 31  31  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena  1984  ARG   1:56.13  110.25
 32  33  155503 KLICNAROVA Pavla  1988  CZE   1:56.37  113.23
 33  34  245051 BERECZ Anna  1988  HUN   1:57.91  132.33
 34  36  695063 MATSOTSKA Bogdana  1989  UKR   1:59.04  146.34
Did not finish 1st run
   23  425880 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth  1991  NOR     
   5  538305 SMITH Leanne  1987  USA   

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”