Whistler: Styger wins DH, Vonn takes title

One little mistake made the difference by the smallest possible margin. Swiss Nadia Styger got the win but Lindsey Vonn, mistake and all, was second by a hundredth of a second to become just the second American woman to win the World Cup downhill title.
    The American all-time downhill win mark will have to wait at least until March 8 at Crans-Montana. Vonn, skiing well within her abilities, had the win all but locked up, but got pushed low of the line just before the final jump. She was able to clean it up in time to execute the jump, but could not quite catch Styger.
    The testing of the new Olympic downhill course resulted in pleasing results for North America as close behind Vonn was teammate Julia Mancuso in third. Canadian Britt Janyk was fourth and Kelly VanderBeek made it into the top 10 as well.
    Renate Goetschl, the only contender for the downhill crown, finished fifth.    
    "I'm happy with my run," said Vonn. "I just had a little brain-fart there at the bottom."
    She said the flat light from an incoming snow made it difficult to gauge where to initiate the turn. "I started my turn too early, hit some bumps and it sucked me low. I lost all my speed. Four or five tenths for sure."   
    "That little mistake at the bottom will probably help her in the Olympics," said her husband Thomas Vonn. "She knows she can nail this course, she did it in training. She'll be irritated by that mistake. It won't happen again."

 

WHISTLER, B.C. — One little mistake made the difference by the smallest possible margin. Swiss Nadia Styger got the win but Lindsey Vonn, mistake and all, was second by a hundredth of a second to become just the second American woman to win the World Cup Downhill title.
    The American all-time downhill win mark will have to wait at least until March 8 at Crans-Montana. Vonn, skiing well within her abilities, had the win all but locked up, but got pushed low of the line just before the final jump. She was able to clean it up in time to execute the jump, but could not quite catch Styger.
    The testing of the new Olympic DH course resulted in pleasing results for North America as close behind Vonn was teammate Julia Mancuso in third. Canadian Britt Janyk was fourth and Kelly VanderBeek made it into the top 10 as well.
    Renate Goetschl, the only contender for the downhill crown, finished fifth.
    "I'm happy with my run," said Vonn. "I just had a little brain-fart there at the bottom."
       She said the flat light from an incoming snow made it difficult to gauge where to initiate the turn. "I started my turn too early, hit some bumps and it sucked me low. I lost all my speed. Four or five tenths for sure."
    "That little mistake at the bottom will probably help her in the Olympics," said her husband Thomas Vonn. "She knows she can nail this course, she did it in training. She'll be irritated by that mistake. It won't happen again."
    U.S. women's head coach Patrick Riml said he's pleased with her performance: “Lindsey’s downhill win is huge. It’s pretty impressive that she was able to secure that two races before we get done [with the season].
   It was the fourth World Cup win for Styger, but her first in downhill as her previous wins have all come in super G. Less than two weeks ago, Styger was one of the fastest women in training at Sestriere yet had to settle with a frustrating 5th place in the race afterwards. She wanted much more here and she did manage to achieve her potential while steaming down the technically demanding "Franz's downhill" run.
    "I felt confident after the two training runs here earlier this week and I was able to achieve the solid run I was expecting from me," she explained afterwards. "I was surely lucky that Lindsey did that mistake in the last big right turn but I skied the way I wanted," she added.
    "To win a downhill has been a major goal for me, it's the most prestigious specialty in my opinion and the team has been waiting for a long time for this victory," Styger said.
    As good as it all was for Vonn, with the title and all, the placing was at least as good for Mancuso. Although she is among the very elite of the World Cup, currently ranked sixith overall, the perception is she's having an "off-year."  For this race, she said, she just didn't try as hard to be good.
    "I've been trying to be too perfect," she said. "Today I just relaxed and skied a little more in the middle of the ski instead of on the front." She said she distracted herself with slalom training this morning and raced without the benefit of a course report. "I think that helped," she said.
    With the downhill title sewed up, Vonn can now concentrate on the chase for the overall World Cup crown, a title that is currently owned by Nicole Hosp. Hosp has shown no intentions of letting that big crystal trophy go to somebody else.
    "It's still going to come down to the last week," Vonn predicted. "Nikki going to be skiing her heart out… And so am I. I will have to really be on my game especially in the tech events, because she's going to be top three in all of them."
    Hosp is measurably better in slalom and GS than she is in Vonn's specialty of downhill, but she placed 15th in the race to maintain contact. The two had entered the race tied in the standings.
    "She's a very, very smart skier," said Vonn. "She tactically smart. She knows when to put the pedal to metal and when to back off. This result, likely it won't effect her all. What it will come down to is energy. Energy at the end of the year."
    The two are headed for a showdown in Bormio, in Vonn's estimation, and that has an added bit of intrigue. The women will be racing the men's downhill course at Bormio, a course the men have termed difficult. "It'll be pretty gnarly," she said with a hint of a laugh. "By the time those icy turns come around, I'll be ready… and maybe she won't."

   Ski Racing staff and Patrick Lang contributed

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The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's Downhill, Whistler, BC, Feb. 22, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Styger, Volkl/Lange/Marker
2 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
3 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
4 Janyk, Volkl/Lange/Marker
5 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
7 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
8 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
9 VanderBeek, Volkl/Lange/Marker
10 Ruiz Castillo, Dynastar/Lange/Look

Women's Downhill, Whistler, BC,
Feb. 22, 2008. … It is the 29th race of the women's 38 event 2008 World Cup schedule. … It is the eighth of 10 scheduled downhills. … It is the second race of a four race set (both genders) at Whistler. … The races are test events for the 2010 Olympic courses. … It is the second women's World Cup race ever held at Whistler, the first was also a downhill (different course) held March 6, 1994 and won by Katja Seizinger. … Women's FIS Race Director Atle Skaardal is the only person to have won two World Cups at Whistler (both DH's, '93 and '94). … It is the 15th World Cup at Whistler.
    It is the fourth career World Cup win for Nadia Styger and the first in downhill. … Her other three wins have all come in super G, the most recent March 3, 2006 at Hafjell-Kvitfjell, Norway. … She has never won a podium placing that was not a win. … Her second best finish this season is fourth scored at Sestriere in DH Feb. 9.
    It is the 27th career World Cup podium for Lindsey Vonn. … Her 16th in DH. … It is her seventh podium of the season and sixth in DH. … The other five are all wins. … It is her second podium of the season in Canada.
    It is the 19th career World Cup podium for Julia Mancuso. … Her eighth in DH. … It is her sixth Cup podium of the season and second in DH. … It is the second time this season Vonn and Mancuso have been on the same podium having finished first (Vonn) and third at St Anton Dec. 21.
    It is the fifth time Britt Janyk has been fourth or better in a World Cup race. … Three of those are from this season and two from last. … It is her third best career DH result behind a win at Aspen and a third at Lake Louise both scored last December. … It is the 16th time Kelly VanderBeek has finished a World Cup race in the top 10. … The sixth time this season. … It matches her fifth best result of the season. … Emily Brydon matches her 59th best career placing in 17th. … It is her 13th best – of 13 scoring results – this season. … her eighth best of the season in DH. … It is the fifth best result of the season for Stacey Cook. … Her second best in DH behind Aspen where she was 20th. … It is the second career scoring result for Chelsea Marshall. … Leanne Smith finished .14 of a second out of 30th place and the final World Cup points.
    Winning margin is .01 of a second. … Top seven finishers are within a half a second. … top 11 within a second. … Top 25 within two seconds. … Vonn takes sole possession of first place in the World Cup overall standings 1063-999 for Nicole Hosp (15th in race). … Maria Riesch (a DNF) holds third at 891 and Elisabeth Goergl is fourth at 877. … Marlies Schild (11th in race) is fifth with 871 pts and Mancuso sixth at 810. … Vonn stretches the lead in the downhill standings to 655-368 over Renate Goetschl (5th in race). … Vonn cannot be caught with two races remaining and has won the DH title. … She is the second American to win the World Cup DH title after Picabo Street who won it in both 1995 and '96. … Canadians Britt Janyk and Kelly VanderBeek are third and fourth in the downhill rankings with 350 and 301 pts respectively. … Mancuso is seventh with 232.

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Women's World Cup DH — Whistler

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	11	515170	STYGER Nadia	1978	SUI	1:45.30	0.00
2	17	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:45.31	0.13
3	16	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:45.49	2.44
4	19	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:45.65	4.49
5	22	55069	GOETSCHL Renate	1975	AUT	1:45.69	5.00
6	21	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:45.73	5.51
7	10	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:45.77	6.03
8	23	296729	FANCHINI Nadia	1986	ITA	1:45.86	7.18
9	18	106402	VANDERBEEK Kelly	1983	CAN	1:45.89	7.56
10	4	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:45.97	8.59
11	13	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	1:46.13	10.64
12	8	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:46.23	11.92
13	1	55212	MEISSNITZER Alexandra	1973	AUT	1:46.35	13.46
14	7	55588	RUMPFHUBER Ingrid	1981	AUT	1:46.39	13.97
15	12	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:46.43	14.49
16	20	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:46.45	14.74
17	15	105997	BRYDON Emily	1980	CAN	1:46.50	15.38
18	28	296472	FANCHINI Elena	1985	ITA	1:46.65	17.31
19	9	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:46.67	17.56
20	2	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:46.78	18.97
21	3	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:46.98	21.54
22	6	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:47.00	21.79
23	24	206175	STECHERT Gina	1987	GER	1:47.08	22.82
24	26	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:47.16	23.85
25	37	538038	MARSHALL Chelsea	1986	USA	1:47.18	24.10
26	25	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:47.56	28.97
27	41	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:47.68	30.51
28	27	515429	DUMERMUTH Monika	1977	SUI	1:47.69	30.64
29	5	225206	ALCOTT Chemmy	1982	GBR	1:47.89	33.21
30	43	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:47.93	33.72
31	40	538305	SMITH Leanne	1987	USA	1:48.07	35.51
32	34	196573	REVILLET Aurelie	1986	FRA	1:48.10	35.90
33	30	296431	STUFFER Verena	1984	ITA	1:48.25	37.82
34	36	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:48.32	38.72
35	39	565261	ROBNIK Petra	1984	SLO	1:48.42	40.00
36	38	515692	GRAND Rabea	1984	SUI	1:48.63	42.69
36	29	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI	1:48.63	42.69
38	31	55691	SPONRING Christine	1983	AUT	1:48.72	43.85
39	45	106410	DESFORGES Emilie	1983	CAN	1:48.94	46.67
40	35	296473	SIORPAES Wendy	1985	ITA	1:48.97	47.05
41	42	375018	COLETTI Alexandra	1983	MON	1:49.18	49.74
42	33	505449	BENT Nike	1981	SWE	1:49.26	50.77
43	44	296763	HOFER Larissa	1986	ITA	1:49.27	50.90
44	46	536884	LUDLOW Libby	1981	USA	1:49.82	57.95
45	49	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA	1:50.00	60.26
46	47	106662	POLESCHUK Danielle	1986	CAN	1:50.04	60.77
47	51	515587	PUENCHERA Jessica	1982	SUI	1:51.18	75.38
48	50	315149	LOLOVIC Jelena	1981	SRB	1:52.50	92.31

 

Did not start 1st run: WILHELM Kathrin (AUT)

Did not finish 1st run: BORSOTTI Camilla (ITA), RIESCH Maria (GER)