Worley wins third consecutive World Cup GS in Semmering, Mancuso fifth

France’s Tessa Worley has the red GS leader’s bib for a reason.

Worley (21) earned her third World Cup GS win in as many races today (Dec. 28) in Semmering, Austria as women’s World Cup racing resumed following a brief (seven-day) Christmas break. Worley had a combined time of 2:09.66 to take the fourth Cup GS of the season by a whopping 0.62-second margin ahead of German duo Maria Riesch in second and Kathrin Hoelzl 0.78 back in third.

“I’m just so happy for the moment, three is so above what I expected so I’m just really happy and I am going to keep going,” said Worley, who led the first run by 0.18 seconds. “My skis are more stable [this year] so I can do whatever I want without many mistakes so I guess it’s a good thing.”

Worley’s hot streak began in late November when she grabbed her third-career Cup win in Aspen. She won again in St. Moritz two weeks later. Each of her five career podium finishes are wins.

Riesch, who retook the overall lead from Lindsey Vonn (seventh today), tied her career-best finish in a World Cup GS set last season with a second-place finish in Maribor, Slovenia. It is only her third World Cup podium in what has been her and good friend Vonn’s weakest discipline.

Hoelzl, the reigning GS World Champion, currently stands third in the World Cup GS standings with three podiums this season though flu-like symptoms including a sore back nearly kept her from competing today.    
 
The thousands of fans in attendance cheered loudest for their own Elisabeth Goergl in fourth place  with a combined time of 2:10.51, 0.85 seconds off the winning time.

American Julia Mancuso finished fifth with the second-fastest second run of the day (1:04.68) after standing 18th in the first run. She has tallied seven World Cup top-ten results this season in three disciplines.

“I’ve been skiing so good in training so it was nice to put a run together,” said Mancuso of her second run. “The first run, I was getting knocked around a little, and couldn’t get back into my rhythm. I knew I had a lot of opportunity to move up [the second run] because it was so close and tight between the first group.”

Teammate Sarah Schleper was the third and last American to make the 30-woman second run and finished 15th for her season high and third scoring result of the this year. Vonn finished seventh after standing sixth in the first run. The Vail, Colo. native has never been on a World Cup GS podium, though she has collected 69 podium finishes in the other four disciplines.

“I was in a good position to maybe get on the podium today,” Vonn told
the Associated Press. “I just got too round in the middle section, I
just gave the course too much respect. My confidence is there and I know
what to do now. It’s a matter of skiing an aggressive run from top to
bottom but not overskiing and not making mistakes.”

Megan McJames just missed the second run, finishing the first run 32nd, 2.75 seconds off the leading time.

“The little training block over Christmas was really good for everybody,” said U.S. women’s head coach Alex Hoedlmoser. “I’m really psyched with Jules’ [Mancuso] performance in the second run, she had a couple of mistakes in the first run but her second run was really good. She is skiing really well and she knows that she’s fast again, she just now needs to make two runs in a row where she has no mistakes but the speed is definitely there.”

Riesch currently has a 41-point advantage on Vonn in the World Cup overall standings after Vonn lead by three points coming into today’s race.

“The way [Vonn] skis GS, she can be on the podium anytime, what’s missing is that last little bit of risk and she’s going to be on the podium in GS too,” said Hoedlmoser. 

Winner of this season’s first GS in Soelden and Olympic champion in the discipline, German Viktoria Rebensburg (28th in the first run), performed a brilliant second run with a time of 1:04.52 and held the lead through 10 racers until being bumped by Mancuso. She finished ninth. 

Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon finished 23rd. 

The home team put seven women in the points today. Behind Goerg,l the Austrians had two-time winner here Kathrin Zettel finishing eighth, ahead of Stefanie Koehle in 12th, Andrea Fischbacher in 16th and Michaela Kirchgasser in 18th. Marlies Schild took 22nd and Eva-Maria Brem finished 26th.  

Missing from today’s start sheet was 19-year-old Swiss star Lara Gut, who was suspended from competing in both Semmering races by Swiss-Ski after making critical comments of the team’s head coach in the media. 

Women’s World Cup racing continues in Semmering tomorrow with a night slalom. The first run begins at 3 pm and the second run begins at 6 pm CET. Click here to try out
Ski Racing’s new Live Timing window for tomorrow’s race.

Images by Gepa

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women’s World Cup GS, Semmering, Austria, Dec. 28, 2010
Skiers, skis/boots/bindings
1 Worley, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Riesch, Head/Lange/Head
3 Hoelzl, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
5 Mancuso, Voelkl/Lange/Marker
6 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
7 Vonn, Head/Head/Head
8 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Rebensburg, Nordica/Nordica/Marker
10 Suter, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic

Women’s World Cup Giant Slalom, Semmering, Austria, Dec. 28, 2010. … It is the 13th race on the women’s 37 race 2010-2011 World Cup schedule. … the fourth of eight scheduled GS’s. … It is the 17th Cup race held at Semmering, all of them held since 1995 between Dec. 27 and 30 and all women’s races. … winning margin is .62 of a second. … First four skiers are within the same second.

It is the fifth career World Cup victory for Tessa Worley, all in GS. … and her third of the season (and third straight GS) having also won at Aspen and St Moritz. … All of her career podium finishes are wins.

It is the 48th career World Cup podium result for Maria Riesch. … just her third in GS, all coming in the last calendar year. … It is her sixth podium of the season in four different disciplines. … Riesch won the Semmering slalom in 2008.

It is the ninth career World Cup podium for Kathrin Hoelzl, all coming in GS. … It is her third podium of the season and second third place finish.

It is the 39th top five career World Cup result for Julia Mancuso. … Her third of the season in three different disciplines. … She has been top six in GS at Semmering three times. … Lindsey Vonn matched her third best Cup GS result ever in seventh, one spot better than her next best at the site. … Nine of her ten results this season have been top 10 finishes, five of them first or seconds. …. It is the 54th time Sarah Schleper has scored 15th or better in a World Cup race. … 22nd time in GS. … It is her worst finish at Semmering. … But her best result of the season of three GS finishes. … It is the ninth best of 12 career World Cup scoring results for Marie-Michele Gagnon. … Her sixth best of seven results this season.

Riesch regains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 658-617 over Vonn. … Elisabeth Goergl (4th in race) sits third at 416. … Mancuso is sixth at 339. … Gagnon is the top Canadian overall in 20th place with 130pts. … Worley leads the GS standings 332-235 over Viktoria Rebensburg (9th in race). … Hoelzl is third at 200pts. … Mancuso is the top American on the GS chart in eighth with 131pts. … Gagnon the top Canadian in 15th with 72pts. … Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 1766-1500 over Germany. … The U.S. is third at 1213. … Canada 10th at 177pts.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	2	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA	1:04.47	1:05.19	2:09.66	0.00
2	5	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:04.96	1:05.32	2:10.28	4.16
3	1	205993	HOELZL Kathrin	1984	GER	1:05.07	1:05.37	2:10.44	5.23
4	11	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:05.40	1:05.11	2:10.51	5.70
5	16	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:06.15	1:04.68	2:10.83	7.85
6	6	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:04.65	1:06.30	2:10.95	8.66
7	17	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:05.52	1:05.54	2:11.06	9.39
8	4	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	1:05.57	1:05.61	2:11.18	10.20
9	3	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER	1:06.89	1:04.52	2:11.41	11.74
10	18	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:06.08	1:05.43	2:11.51	12.41
11	7	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	1:05.95	1:05.70	2:11.65	13.35
12	24	55818	KOEHLE Stefanie	1986	AUT	1:06.04	1:05.73	2:11.77	14.16
12	13	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	1:05.94	1:05.83	2:11.77	14.16
14	12	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:06.09	1:05.70	2:11.79	14.29
15	23	536481	SCHLEPER Sarah	1979	USA	1:06.34	1:05.47	2:11.81	14.43
16	15	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:05.86	1:06.08	2:11.94	15.30
17	14	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:05.69	1:06.29	2:11.98	15.57
18	20	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	1:06.01	1:06.04	2:12.05	16.04
18	9	196793	MARMOTTAN Anemone	1988	FRA	1:06.02	1:06.03	2:12.05	16.04
20	21	295445	KARBON Denise	1980	ITA	1:06.42	1:05.82	2:12.24	17.31
21	30	196179	BERTRAND Marion	1984	FRA	1:06.47	1:05.82	2:12.29	17.65
22	31	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	1:06.34	1:06.01	2:12.35	18.05
23	37	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:06.38	1:05.98	2:12.36	18.12
23	25	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	1:06.32	1:06.04	2:12.36	18.12
25	29	296509	CURTONI Irene	1985	ITA	1:06.79	1:05.67	2:12.46	18.79
26	19	55898	BREM Eva-Maria	1988	AUT	1:07.00	1:05.55	2:12.55	19.39
27	26	206355	DUERR Lena	1991	GER	1:06.87	1:05.81	2:12.68	20.26
28	39	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA	1:07.15	1:05.59	2:12.74	20.67
29	10	196725	BARIOZ Taina	1988	FRA	1:06.59	1:06.30	2:12.89	21.67
30	22	296379	GIANESINI Giulia	1984	ITA	1:06.09	1:15.13	2:21.22	77.57
Disqualified 1st run
	62	35089	SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena	1984	ARG
Did not qualify 1st run
	63	196806	NOENS Nastasia	1988	FRA
	61	155697	ZEMANOVA Andrea	1993	CZE
	60	435245	CHRAPEK Karolina	1990	POL
	59	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI
	58	35079	SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen	1982	ARG
	56	565333	BRODNIK Vanja	1989	SLO
	55	185271	LEINONEN Sanni	1989	FIN
	54	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE
	52	435210	GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka	1987	POL
	51	206174	STABER Veronika	1987	GER
	49	197319	BAUD Adeline	1992	FRA
	46	505908	SMEDH Veronica	1988	SWE
	45	515937	FUHRER Kathrin	1988	SUI
	44	296476	ALFIERI Camilla	1985	ITA
	43	538284	MCJAMES Megan	1987	USA
	42	506399	HECTOR Sara	1992	SWE
	41	55806	ALTACHER Margret	1986	AUT
	36	565268	DREV Ana	1985	SLO
	35	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK
	34	298084	AGERER Lisa Magdalena	1991	ITA
	33	106825	PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier	1988	CAN
	32	56087	SIEBENHOFER Ramona	1991	AUT
	28	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT
	27	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA
Did not finish 1st run
	57	305944	KIYOSAWA Emiko	1983	JPN
	53	297910	CURTONI Elena	1991	ITA
	50	515855	GOOD Esther	1987	SUI
	48	306249	HASEGAWA Emi	1986	JPN
	47	206367	HRONEK Veronique	1991	GER
	40	505886	KLING Kajsa	1988	SWE
	38	495065	RIENDA Maria Jose	1975	SPA
	8	297601	BRIGNONE Federica	1990	ITA