Maribor: Women ready to roll

The sun is forecasted to shine on women’s World Cup giant slalom and slalom races in Maribor, Slovenia, this weekend, where Lindsey Vonn will be gunning to take back the points lead on the overall circuit, Maria Riesch will be looking to protect it and Elisabeth Goergl, who earned the first World Cup victory of her career in GS on this hill last year, will aim for a resurgence.

After going on to win the GS in Bormio last year, Austrian Goergl took third in Aspen this season, just missed the GS podium in La Molina, finishing fourth, and finished seventh in Semmering. She is currently sitting in fourth in the GS standings with 157 points, behind leader Tanja Poutiainen with 278 points, Kathrin Zettel with 245 and Manuela Moelgg with 160.

The sun is forecasted to shine on women’s World Cup giant slalom and slalom races in Maribor, Slovenia, this weekend, where Lindsey Vonn will be gunning to take back the points lead on the overall circuit, Maria Riesch will be looking to protect it and Elisabeth Goergl, who earned the first World Cup victory of her career in GS on this hill last year, will aim for a resurgence.

After going on to win the GS in Bormio last year, Austrian Goergl took third in Aspen this season, just missed the GS podium in La Molina, finishing fourth, and finished seventh in Semmering. She is currently sitting in fourth in the GS standings with 157 points, behind leader Tanja Poutiainen with 278 points, Kathrin Zettel with 245 and Manuela Moelgg with 160.

Moelgg will be the first racer down the course in GS run No. 1 Saturday, followed by Poutiainen and Denise Karbon (who took second to Goergl last year) and Julia Mancuso. Zettel will wear bib No. 5, Goergl No. 6 and Vonn No. 8.

U.S. women’s head coach Jim Tracy describes the Maribor course as “somewhat tame,” and says despite a heart-breaking crash that cost her a slalom win last week in Zagreb, Vonn’s confidence has not been shaken.

“She knows she’s fast,” Tracy said. “She just has to eliminate small mistakes.”

In a column she writes for the Denver Post, Vonn compared her almost-win in Zagreb to American track star LoLo Jones, who clipped a hurdle in the Beijing Olympics that caused her to stumble and fall from first to seventh. In Zagreb, Vonn had the victory in the bag, but crashed five gates from the finish line.

“Instead of getting my second slalom win this season – and fourth podium in five slalom races – I walked away with nothing,” Vonn wrote. “You put all that effort into it, you work really hard, the first run goes really well, your second run is going well, you pretty much have it in the bag and then it’s over because of one small mistake. It’s a fine line between being a hero and getting a DNF. You have to dance on that line to even be close to the top three, but it’s the risk you have to be willing to take if you want to be fast.”

Rest assured, Vonn’s risks will not be compromised this weekend.

Vonn and Mancuso are scheduled to start in both the Maribor GS and slalom races, as is Sarah Schleper. Americans Stacey Cook, Megan McJames, Chelsea Marshall and Leanne Smith are also on the start list for tomorrow’s GS.

After making her World Cup debut in Aspen this season, last season’s Ski Racing Junior of the Year Kiley Staples is scheduled to start in Sunday’s slalom.

The American team spent a large part of Friday simply freeskiing the hill at Maribor.

Watch the races live on Universal Sports. Giant slalom run No. 1 begins at 3 a.m. EST Saturday.