Olympics: Fischbacher wins SG gold, Vonn bronze

WHISTLER, B.C. (Feb. 20) – Those in the habit of ceasing to watch the race after Lindsey Vonn comes down in the lead missed a lot Saturday in the Olympic women’s super G. Although Vonn nailed the tricky Frog Bank section of the Whistler course where several racers went wide, she lost time on the bottom of the course. She was gleeful when she crossed the finish line three tenths ahead of then-leader Elisabeth Goergl, but then Austrian Andrea Fischbacher fired out of the start even faster than Vonn and built so much speed at the bottom that she finished more than seven tenths ahead.

It wasn’t a big surprise from the world champion bronze medalist who finished second to Vonn by less than two tenths in the last World Cup super G before the Games in St. Moritz, but the real Saturday surprise came from Slovenian Tina Maze, who, wearing bib No. 22 and coming off an 18th place in the downhill where she said she was afraid of the course, also nailed the sections that slowed most racers. She too, reached the finish line ahead of Vonn.

Thus, the Austrian, pumping both fists into the air and screaming as she crossed the finish line took the gold with a time of 1 minute 20.14 seconds and Maze, throwing her head back in joy, nabbed the silver, 0.49 back. Vonn, smiling all the same, walked away with bronze, 0.74 back.

“Olympic medals are hard to come by and to have two medals now  ..it’s cool,” Vonn said. “You can never have a perfect day every day. Today I fought hard. I didn’t ski as well as I could have but a bronze medal is still an Olympic medal. It almost looks like a gold medal … it’s pretty close.”

Though proud of her medal, Vonn admits she took her foot off the gas a bit on the lower part of the course.

“I had a game plan. I wanted to have early pressure and I thought I skied [Frog Bank] really well. I came out of the start gate charging, but as soon as I came out of Frog Bank I just stopped charging. I knew there were no more difficult parts of the course. I wasn’t as aggreseive as I could have been and should have been and that was my only mistake … not attacking as much on the bottom. But I’m happy I conquered that challenging section.”

Fischbacher was just 0.03 seconds off the podium in Monday’s Olympic downhill and said that she may have pushed the limits in super G – the course for which was set by Austrian Juergen Kriechbaum – but it clearly worked out for her.

“I managed to stay standing,” she said. “I just looked down the hill and thought down, down, down. It was a crazy run. I attacked from start to finish. I just had to attack and ski aggressive. You have to go straight and really push to get a good time.”

Maze, who races independently from the Slovenian team, is no stranger to the podium in any discipline. As far as World Cup victories go, with eight she has more than any woman in Slovenian alpine history and is tied with Bojan Krizaj for most wins of any Slovenian racer, man or woman. Still, besides two third places last season, her other super G Cup podiums date back to ’06, ’04 and ’05 and she came into the Games wanting to concentrate her medal efforts on her strongest discipline, the giant slalom. Her Olympic medal is the first ever for a Slovenian in Olympic super G.

“I was afraid a little bit on the downhill, so I didn’t risk all that I could, but it helped me to ski well today,” said the 26-year-old, who dedicated her silver medal to all the racers [Lara Gut, Nadia Fanchini …] who couldn’t race at the Games due to injury. “I’m happy that I did the downhill, and feel the fear, and have all the courage today.”

Julia Mancuso, who had the unenviable position of starting No. 1, put down a solid run except for going really wide on the Frog Bank turn and led until Maria Riesch came down 0.04 seconds ahead. Mancuso ended up ninth and said that, watching the field come down, she wasn’t surprised that someone – two people – put down faster runs than Vonn.

“I thought that Maria [Riesch] skied conservative and then for [Vonn] to come down not too far ahead of Maria and then lose time on the bottom … you never know but I felt like there was a better run to be had and sure enough Fischbacher came down and showed everyone,” Mancuso said, adding that she didn’t get to see Fischbacher’s run. “She [Fischbacher] is a really relaxed skier who flows with the terrain and there was a lot of terrain out there.”

U.S. women’s head coach Jim Tracy did see Fischbacher’s run – Maze’s too – and said that it was clear they weren’t holding anything back, though maybe Vonn was at the bottom of the course.

“The bottom section was a place where, if you ski well you’ll carry decent speed, but in the Olympics,  it’s about putting it all on the line. If you don’t put it on the line you’re not going to be as fast as you want to be,” he said. “That’s classic today of Fischbacher. She put it all on the line. Either she was going to win or go out. Tina is a threat now in every single event. We could see that coming. Tina .. she’s a fighter, just like a lot of the other girls. She deserves this … this was a great result for her.”

Tracy said that while it wasn’t an all-out effort by Vonn, he was very happy about her run.

“I knew that it was good enough for a medal, but to stay on top with five or six more girls coming, it was going to be close,” he said. “I don’t think anyone’s disappointed. A medal is a medal. That’s what we come for. I can’t be more proud of her.”

Leanne Smith charged to 18th in Saturday’s race while Chelsea Marshall crashed hard going into Frog Bank but got up and skied down.
 
As far as the two remaining events – giant slalom and slalom – Vonn said she honestly doesn’t expect much for herself in those events but will, of course, try her best. She has done well in single GS runs this season but has only had two finishing results – ninth in the opener in Soelden and 18th in Cortina. Following last season’s breakthrough in slalom, Vonn was second in the first race in Levi, then eighth in Are, but has struggled since hurting her arm in a crash in the Lienz GS, taking 18th in the following day’s slalom but not finishing a slalom since.

Mancuso, however, is hoping to defend her Olympic gold in GS. She hasn’t finished better than 13th in a GS this season … but as she’s shown in her other Olympic successes this week, her results of the last two years don’t mean much at these Games.

“I’m excited about GS,” she said. “I thought that the hill here was going to be a little easy for GS but the snow conditions are really holding up and it’s been cold at night … it’s really nice snow. I love it.”

Olympic alpine racing continues Sunday with men’s super-combined and giant slalom Tuesday. The women come back Tuesday for GS.

– Shauna Farnell with reporting by Eric Williams and Sarah Tuff

Images by Gepa

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Women’s Olympic super G, Whistler, BC, Canada, Feb. 20, 2010
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
3 Vonn , Head/Head/Head
4 Schnarf, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
5 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
6 Styger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
7 Recchia, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
8 Riesch, Head/Lange/Head
9 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
10 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Women’s Olympic super G, Whistler, B.C., Canada, Feb 20, 2010. … It is the fifth of ten races scheduled for the Olympics. … the third women’s event.

It is the first Olympi
c medal for Andrea Fischbacher. … She was fourth in the DH Wednesday (Feb. 17) and placed 13th in super G in 2006. … It is the 102nd Austrian Olympic medal (alpine skiing). … and the second of these Games. … It is the 31st Austrian gold and first of these Games. … It is Fischbacher’s first win of the season, though she was 2nd in the St Moritz SG, the last World Cup prior to the Olympics.

It is the first Olympic medal for Tina Maze and just the fourth for Slovenia. … the sixth if including Yugoslavia medals earned before the formation of Slovenia. … Either way it is the first SG medal. … It is the third podium of the season for Maze, all of them second place finishes. … Her previous best this season in SG was fourth at Cortina… She has scored (top 30) 24 times this season.

It is the second Olympic medal for Lindsey Vonn, both in these Games (won gold in DH Feb. 17). … It is the 38th U.S. Olympic medal in alpine skiing. … the seventh of these Games, extending the U.S. record. … It is the sixth U.S. Olympic medal in SG and the second bronze. … It is the third Olympic medal for the U.S. in SG at these Games. … It is the 15th podium finish for Vonn this season. … She is the eight U.,S. skier to win more than one medal in a single Games. … The third of these Games.

Julia Mancuso matches her fifth best of eight Olympic finishes. … It is her fourth best of the season, two of the better representing Olympic medals. … It is the second best of two Olympic results for Britt Janyk, both at these Games. … It is the best Olympic result for Leanne Smith and matches her second best finish of the season. … It is the first Olympic race for Georgia Simmerling who was pulled from the start list of both previous races.

Johanna Schnarf’s fourth place finish is the second time Italy has placed fourth in SG at these Games. … Italy has not won an Olympic medal since 2002. … It is the best placing of her career. … Agnieszka Gasienica Daniel gets the best Polish SG finish in Olympic history. … Alexandra Coletti now owns the top 5 Monaccan finishes in Olympic alpine history. … It is the only result in history for newly recognized Serbia scored by flag-bearer Jelena Lolovic. … It is also her best Olympic result, having previously represented Serbia-Montenegro and Yugoslavia. … Maria Belen Simari Birkner tied her sister Macarena’s Olympic mark for best Argentinia SG result. … Macarena finished one placing shy of the mark. … Maria Shkanova got the first Belarussian alpine result in Olympic history.