Riesch takes season super combined lead with win in Are, Vonn sixth

Just six days after polishing off two weeks of World Championship competition in Garmisch-Partekirchen, Germany, the fastest women on snow dug right back into the World Cup season today (Feb. 25) with the second super combined of the season in Are, Sweden as overall leader Maria Riesch of Germany extended her lead with her fifth victory of the season.

Though it was “just another World Cup,” the intense competitiveness of the World Championships seemed to spill over onto the site of the 2007 title meet as eight fresh worlds medalists filled the top ten spots today.

The run of the day came from recently crowned giant slalom world champ Tina Maze of Slovenia who took to the Gaestrappet slalom course with an intensity none could match. Standing eighth (0.76 seconds back) after the super G leg, Maze ripped to the fastest slalom time of the day in 45.19 seconds then watched as the top seven first-run leaders tried to catch up.

Only first-run runner up Riesch, with a 0.60-second lead on Maze coming out of the slalom start house, was able to beat her as she hung on to 0.40 seconds of her advantage  to claim her third career Cup super combined victory. She is also the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline. With today’s win, Riesch also took control of the combined standings with 145 points.  American Lindsey Vonn (sixth today) and Austrian Elizabeth Goergl (second today) are currently tied for second in the super combined standings with 140 points apiece. Only one combined race remains on this season’s World Cup calendar (Tarvisio, March 3).

Riesch, a double bronze medalist at her home championships in Garmisch, was also able to tack on 60 more points to her lead over Vonn in the overall standings, which she controls 1356 to 1140. Vonn is the reigning three-time overall champ.

“I’m very happy with myself today because it was a long time since I last won a super combined. But also my good super G run showed me I was heading in the right direction and hopefully set the tone for the weekend,” Riesch told Reuters. “There are still lots of points to fight for and we’re both going to claim our share. But I’m going to fight for every one.”

Brand new double world champion (downhill, super G),  Goergl was able to take her third-place standing after the super G all the way to the last podium spot. It was her third career World Cup podium in the super combined and her 27th overall. 

Local favorite Anja Paerson was obviously fighting hard for a home podium but wasn’t able to improve on her fourth-place standing after the super G, missing the top three by only two hundredths of a second.

Vonn led the way into the afternoon slalom leg with a 0.16-second lead on Riesch in the morning super G run, but her recent slalom troubles (four consecutive first-run DNFs) continued as her advantage dwindled down to a 1.16-second deficit and she finished sixth. It was the first time Vonn missed the podium in a World Cup super combined that she finished since March of 2008, a string that includes six top-three results and three wins.

“My super G was really encouraging, but I’m pretty frustrated with my slalom. I’ve been training really well in slalom, but haven’t been able to put it together in a  race,” said Vonn. “I had a hard time with the groove and lost my balance on a rut about 10 gates in and never really got my rhythm back.”

Vonn, the winner of this year’s only previous World Cup super combined, returned to her regular World Cup training and competition schedule in this week’s downhill training runs after pulling out of the World Championships following her silver medal performance in the downhill. She missed the nations team even, the giant slalom and the slalom as she headed to a wellness hotel to continue recovering from a concussion she sustained Feb. 2. She told reporters Friday that she felt fully recovered from the head injury that had her feeling “cloudy” two weeks ago.

“The super G was solid, aggressive and just like I know I can ski. I was driving my skis the whole way down and definitely feeling back to my normal self,” said Vonn. “It’s going to be a battle for the overall title until the last race of season. I’ve still got a lot of fighting to do.”

Teammate Julia Mancuso was close behind in eighth place after standing fifth in the super G. Leanne Smith earned her ninth scoring result of the season in 29th.

Marie-Michele Gagnon was the only Canadian to finish, pulling in a 19th-place result to jump way up from standing 36th after the super G leg.

World Cup action in Are continues tomorrow with a downhill, followed by a super G on Sunday.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Women’s World Cup super combined, Are, Sweden, Feb. 25, 2011
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Riesch, Head/Lange/Head
2 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic   
3 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
4 Paerson, Head/Head/Head
5 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Vonn, Head/Head/Head   
7 Hosp, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
8 Mancuso, Voelkl/Lange/Marker
9 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head
10 Curtoni, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

Women’s World Cup super combined, Are, Sweden, Feb. 25, 2011. … It is the 27th race on the women’s 37 race schedule, the 23rd race held. … It is the third of three combineds on the schedule, the second held. … It is the 80th Cup race to be held, at least in part, at Are. … the sixth combined. … and third women’s combined.

It is the 19th career World Cup win for Maria Riesch. … her third in combined. … It is her fifth Cup win of the season and first in combined. … It is her first victory at Are, though she has now been on four podiums at the site, in four different disciplines.

It is the 24th career World Cup podium result for Tina Maze. … her first in combined. … It is her third podium at Are, the other two in GS. … It is her sixth podium of the season including two World Championship medals (gold GS, silver cmb).

It is the 27th career World Cup podium for Elisabeth Goergl. … her third in combined and first in combined outside of Val d’Isere. … It is her sixth podium of the season including two gold medals (SG and DH) at Worlds. … It is her second combined podium of the season. … It is her third Cup podium scored at Are. … all third places. … each in a different discipline.

It is the 103rd top six result in World Cup for Lindsey Vonn. … Of her 13 World Cup combined scores, sixth matches her worst placing. … It matches her fourth best result of 12 at Are. … It matches her 13th best of 20 results this season. … It is the 68th top eight Cup result for Julia Mancuso. … and is her seventh best combined result. … In her eight top 10 combined results she has never placed twice at the same rank. … It is her third best career result at Are. … She has placed in the top 10 in 15 of 22 finishes this season including Worlds. … It is the tenth top 20 Cup result for Marie-Michele Gagnon. … seventh this season … It is her second best career result in combined. … It is the 23rd career Cup scoring result for Leanne Smith. … her fifth in combined.

Riesch leads the World Cup overall standings 1356-1140 over Vonn. … Goergl is third at 738. … Mancuso in fifth at 606. … Gagnon is the top Canadian in 29th place with 181pts. … Riesch leads the combined standings 145-140 over Goergl and Vonn, tied for second. … Gagnon is top Canadian on the combined list tied in 14th with 34pts. … Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup standings 3554-2718 over Germany. … USA is third at 2143. … Cana
da is tenth at 404pts.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	20	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:14.21	45.39	1:59.60	0.00
2	22	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:14.81	45.19	2:00.00	3.78
3	21	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:14.40	45.86	2:00.26	6.24
4	17	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:14.47	45.81	2:00.28	6.42
5	18	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	1:15.40	45.30	2:00.70	10.39
6	19	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:14.05	46.71	2:00.76	10.96
7	11	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:15.48	45.63	2:01.11	14.27
8	14	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:14.50	46.64	2:01.14	14.55
9	16	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT	1:14.55	47.16	2:01.71	19.94
10	28	297910	CURTONI Elena	1991	ITA	1:15.89	46.08	2:01.97	22.39
11	6	196812	PELLISSIER Marion	1988	FRA	1:16.45	45.81	2:02.26	25.13
12	29	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:14.96	47.32	2:02.28	25.32
13	12	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:16.20	46.14	2:02.34	25.89
14	4	55806	ALTACHER Margret	1986	AUT	1:15.35	47.22	2:02.57	28.06
15	33	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA	1:16.40	46.27	2:02.67	29.01
16	26	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:15.38	47.31	2:02.69	29.19
16	15	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	1:16.50	46.19	2:02.69	29.19
18	30	425880	SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth	1991	NOR	1:16.19	46.67	2:02.86	30.80
19	27	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	1:17.04	46.10	2:03.14	33.45
20	32	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:17.79	45.74	2:03.53	37.13
21	10	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:17.05	46.60	2:03.65	38.27
22	44	297601	BRIGNONE Federica	1990	ITA	1:17.81	45.93	2:03.74	39.12
23	34	515782	ABDERHALDEN Marianne	1986	SUI	1:15.83	47.92	2:03.75	39.21
24	8	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:16.61	47.39	2:04.00	41.57
25	23	516280	HOLDENER Wendy	1993	SUI	1:17.20	46.85	2:04.05	42.04
26	5	196968	BAILET Margot	1990	FRA	1:17.05	47.01	2:04.06	42.14
27	9	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	1:17.03	47.06	2:04.09	42.42
28	39	55766	MADER Regina	1985	AUT	1:15.82	48.36	2:04.18	43.27
29	2	538305	SMITH Leanne	1987	USA	1:16.42	47.86	2:04.28	44.22
30	24	515806	KAMER Nadja	1986	SUI	1:14.80	49.63	2:04.43	45.63
31	38	506399	HECTOR Sara	1992	SWE	1:16.97	47.48	2:04.45	45.82
32	41	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:16.57	47.96	2:04.53	46.58
33	1	206323	STIEPEL Isabelle	1990	GER	1:16.84	47.72	2:04.56	46.86
34	3	538573	ROSS Laurenne	1988	USA	1:17.20	49.07	2:06.27	63.02
35	13	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:16.44	1:09.12	2:25.56	245.27
Did not start 2nd run
	46	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN
	45	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA
	43	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI
	37	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA
	36	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI
	35	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA
	31	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER
Did not finish 2nd run
	25	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI
Did not finish 1st run
	42	375018	COLETTI Alexandra	1983	MON
	40	506341	WIKSTROEM Emelie	1992	SWE
	7	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE