Vonn wins her first World Cup downhill of the season in Val d’Isere

After taking runner-up finishes in the first two World Cup downhill races of the season, American Lindsey Vonn stepped up to the top of the podium in convincing fashion today (Dec. 18) in Val d’Isere, France.

Yesterday, three feet of fresh snow canceled a World Cup super G here. Today, the skies cleared, temperatures dropped to the low single digits and an exciting World Cup women’s downhill was held in the majestic French Alps on challenging softer snow.

Vonn overcame a couple of breaks in form at the top of the course to take the win by a 0.68-second margin over Swiss duo Nadja Kamer in second and Lara Gut in third. It was Vonn’s second win of the season and the three-time overall champion’s first in a downhill this year after she finished second behind German Maria Riesch at both of the season’s first two downhills in Lake Louise, Canada in early December.

“I made a really big mistake on the top part of the course and I honestly thought that I would not be able to win the race,” said Vonn, who recorded her 35th World Cup victory today and her 19th in the downhill. “I just tried to make up as much time on the bottom as I could. I just tried to stay in my tuck as much as I could and just ski clean and aggressively and thankfully I was able to make the time up and come away with a win, so I was really happy about today.”

Vonn won six of eight World Cup downhills last season, including all of the first five. She is also the reigning Olympic and World champion in the discipline, the latter title she won here in 2009. With the win, Vonn again grabbed the red bib indicating the current downhill standings leader, something she has been rarely without over the last four seasons.

“I’m really psyched to have the red bib back, It means a lot and I hope that I can keep skiing well and hang on to it until the end of the year,” said Vonn, who also gave credit to the organizers for pulling off the race under such demanding circumstances. “Downhill is my favorite event so I always love the red bib in downhill.”

It was Kamer’s third career World Cup podium and matched her best finish to date. It was Gut’s fourth World Cup podium.

Attention has been on Gut this week since Swiss-Ski announced Thursday that the 19-year-old was suspended from racing
in two upcoming World Cups in Semmering, Austria, after making critical
remarks about the team’s head coach following races last week in St.
Moritz. Gut, who won two World Championship silver medals (downhill and
super combined) here in 2009 at 17 years of age, missed nearly all of
last season after badly injuring her hip.

Austrian Elisabeth Goergl, who returned to a speed race only two weeks after partially tearing a ligament in her left knee at the Lake Louise super G, was 0.96 off the winning pace in fourth.

French racer Ingrid Jacquemod finished fifth on her home course. The only other French racer to score was Margot Bailet, with a career best 17th place finish.

Riesch, the current overall points leader, just didn’t have it today. The six-foot-tall, double Olympic gold medalist didn’t come within a second of Vonn at any point down the 43-gate course, finishing 24th.

“The new snow was a big challenge for the wax, the service men and for me,” Riesch told fisalpine.com. “I think I can show my abilities more when there’s hard snow. I can push more. The conditions today are not my favorite. I like the ice more, like it was in Lake Louise. This was a little soft because of the new snow. But if you want to be a world-class skier you have to ski fast in every kind of snow.”

The American speed group had their fourth strong outing in as many races today. Julia Mancuso skied solidly to an eighth place finish, though she is still looking for a little more speed. She has finished in the top ten of all four of this season’s speed events, including a third place result in the Lake Louise super G. Leanne Smith finished 18th for her fourth consecutive World Cup scoring result this season, while Laurenne Ross took 23rd. Alice McKennis grabbed the last World Cup points in 30th.

“They did a good job pushing out all the snow, but it was pretty soft still. I just a lost a little time in the middle but it was another solid downhill finish,” said Mancuso. “Skiing’s going well, I definitely want to go a little faster but it’s a good solid finish.”

Canada’s Britt Janyk finished 13th, to score her first World Cup points of the season.

Vonn now trails Riesch in the overall standings by only 52 points. Goergl is is 195 points behind Vonn in third with 286. Mancuso stands fourth with 268 points.

Today’s 2845-meter course down the O.K. run, pushed racers to compete for a full 20 seconds longer than the season’s first two downhills in Lake Louise.

Local course workers spent all of the last 24 hours working tirelessly to pull off today’s race, trying to avoid the second cancelation in two days and the second downhill cancelation in two years (last year’s downhill here was canceled due to fog and snow).

Swiss skier Andrea Dettling gave fans a scare in the early going. Wearing the four bib, she lost her balance in the middle of the course, taking a wicked looking tumble into the safely netting. To everyone’s surprise, she jumped up almost immediately and skied down under her own power.

Women’s World Cup racing in Val d’Isere continues tomorrow Dec. 19 with this season’s first super combined.

Images by Gepa (top) and Zoom

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Equipment
Women’s downhill, Val d’Isere, France,, Dec. 18, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Vonn, Head/Head/Head
2 Kamer, Voelkl/Tecnica/Marker
3 Gut, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
4 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
5 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
5 Schnarf, Volkl/Lange/Marker
7 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head
8 Mancuso, Voelkl/Lange/Marker
9 Paerson, Head/Head/Head
10 Stuffer, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

Women’s World Cup downhill, Val d’Isere, France, Dec. 18, 2010. … It is the tenth of 37 races on the women’s 2010-2011 World Cup schedule. … the ninth held. … It is the third of nine scheduled downhills. … It is the 155th World Cup race hosted at least in part by Val d’Isere. … the 60th downhill.

It is the 35th career World Cup won for Lindsey Vonn. … extending the U.S. record. … It is her 19th career DH win. … She is one win behind Katka Seizinger and is sixth all time among women for Cup victories. … third among women in DH wins behind Anne-Marie Moser Proell’s 36 and Renate Goetschl’s 24. … It is her fourth Cup win at Val d’Isere and third in DH (Seizinger registered five wins). … It is her first win of the season.

It is the third career Cup podium for Nadja Kamer and matches her career best result from the Haus DH of last season when she was also second to Vonn.

It is the fourth career World Cup podium for Lara Gut and the third time she has placed third. … She has podiums in three different disciplines (DH, SG and GS).

Julia Mancuso matches her 19th best Cup DH result. … It is her fourth best of six scoring Cup finishes at Val d’Isere. … and third best in DH having won and placed second on consecutive days in December 2006. … It is her sixth straight top 10 placing. … It is the first scoring result of the season for Britt Janyk, her 37th career top 13 placing. … It is her career best result at Val d’Isere. … Leanne Smith matches her fourth best career result. … It is her fourth score of the season. … It is the sixth career score for Laurenne Ross. … and fourth this season. … It is the 12th career scoring result for Alice McKennis. … and second at Val d’Isere.

Maria Riesch (24th in race) mantains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 533-481 over Vonn. … Elisabeth Goergl (4th in race) sits third with 286. … Mancuso is fifth with 268. … Marie-Michelle Gagnon is top Canadian oveall in 21st place with 100pts. … Vonn takes over control of the downhill standings 260-297 over Riesch with Goergl thid at 155 and Mancuso fourth at 122. … Janyk in 28th with 20pts is top Canadian.

Germany maintains the lead of the women’s Nations Cup standings 1206-1132 over Austria. … The U.S. is third with 962pts. … Canada is tenth with 147pts.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	20	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:51.42	0.00
2	14	515806	KAMER Nadja	1986	SUI	1:52.10	8.12
3	15	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI	1:52.22	9.55
4	11	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:52.38	11.46
5	16	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:52.61	14.20
5	1	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:52.61	14.20
7	6	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT	1:52.82	16.71
8	21	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:52.99	18.74
9	17	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:53.08	19.82
10	35	296431	STUFFER Verena	1984	ITA	1:53.09	19.93
11	18	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:53.19	21.13
12	23	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:53.24	21.73
13	26	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:53.26	21.96
14	36	55766	MADER Regina	1985	AUT	1:53.36	23.16
14	12	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:53.36	23.16
16	5	515782	ABDERHALDEN Marianne	1986	SUI	1:53.41	23.75
17	41	196968	BAILET Margot	1990	FRA	1:53.42	23.87
18	29	538305	SMITH Leanne	1987	USA	1:53.44	24.11
19	32	505886	KLING Kajsa	1988	SWE	1:53.46	24.35
20	25	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI	1:53.54	25.31
21	45	55806	ALTACHER Margret	1986	AUT	1:53.65	26.62
22	7	206175	STECHERT Gina	1987	GER	1:53.66	26.74
23	39	538573	ROSS Laurenne	1988	USA	1:53.68	26.98
24	22	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:53.70	27.22
25	8	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:53.73	27.57
26	38	55882	STAUDINGER Christina	1987	AUT	1:53.77	28.05
27	19	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:53.78	28.17
28	27	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	1:53.87	29.25
29	44	297702	MARSAGLIA Francesca	1990	ITA	1:53.95	30.20
30	24	538685	MCKENNIS Alice	1989	USA	1:53.96	30.32
31	48	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	1:54.00	30.80
32	13	196573	REVILLET Aurelie	1986	FRA	1:54.02	31.04
33	9	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:54.14	32.47
34	42	55970	SCHMIDHOFER Nicole	1989	AUT	1:54.27	34.02
35	3	538038	MARSHALL Chelsea	1986	USA	1:54.31	34.50
36	34	515692	GRAND Rabea	1984	SUI	1:54.35	34.97
37	10	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:54.41	35.69
38	43	55913	MOSER Stefanie	1988	AUT	1:54.42	35.81
39	30	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:54.43	35.93
40	2	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:54.47	36.41
41	40	206323	STIEPEL Isabelle	1990	GER	1:54.61	38.08
42	37	196812	PELLISSIER Marion	1988	FRA	1:54.86	41.06
43	33	55978	VOGLREITER Mariella	1989	AUT	1:54.87	41.18
44	47	297910	CURTONI Elena	1991	ITA	1:54.96	42.26
45	49	297601	BRIGNONE Federica	1990	ITA	1:55.50	48.70
46	53	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	1:55.67	50.73
47	50	538284	MCJAMES Megan	1987	USA	1:56.10	55.86
48	52	35079	SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen	1982	ARG	1:58.94	89.76
49	51	35089	SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena	1984	ARG	1:59.56	97.17
Did not finish 1st run
	46	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA
	31	296623	MAZZOTTI Lucia	1985	ITA
	28	296472	FANCHINI Elena	1985	ITA
	4	515849	DETTLING Andrea	1987	SUI