Worlds: Vonn wins her second gold medal

Check out the video of Vonn’s winning run on Universalsports.com

Lindsey Vonn is the best woman ski racer the U.S.A. has ever produced and Feb. 9, 2009 she made it official, winning the World Championship in downhill at Val d’Isere, France.

With the gold medal Vonn matches the 1952 record of Andrea Mead-Lawrence. And with four total medals she matches Tamara McKinney’s mark set from 1983 through 1989. Put the two together and throw in the 18 World Cup wins that matches McKinney’s career mark and Vonn holds a share of every major U.S. record available.

Behind at the first split, Vonn gained the lead before entering the Forest, a section of the course that had seen many early leaders fall back. Vonn, though, continued to pad her lead and crossed the finish .52 ahead of Gut and .57 ahead of Nadia Fanchini for her second gold medal of the championships.Check out the video of Vonn’s winning run on Universalsports.com

Lindsey Vonn is the best woman ski racer the U.S.A. has ever produced and Feb. 9, 2009 she made it official, winning the World Championship in downhill at Val d’Isere, France.

With the gold medal Vonn matches the 1952 record of Andrea Mead-Lawrence. And with four total medals she matches Tamara McKinney’s mark set from 1983 through 1989. Put the two together and throw in the 18 World Cup wins that matches McKinney’s career mark and Vonn holds a share of every major U.S. record available.

Behind at the first split, Vonn gained the lead before entering the Forest, a section of the course that had seen many early leaders fall back. Vonn, though, continued to pad her lead and crossed the finish .52 ahead of Gut and .57 ahead of Nadia Fanchini for her second gold medal of the championships.

“I knew that as long as I had a solid run, as long as I didn’t make any mistakes and could nail the bottom section, I could do it,” Vonn said. “There’s a big, left-footed turn which carries you down to the steeps and to the finish. If you nail that turn, you can carry a lot of speed to the finish. I knew it was the most important gate on the course and I nailed it today, the best I have all week. I think that was the reason I was able to make up time on Lara on the bottom. I just gave it everything I had, just like I did in the super G. I’m just so happy that it worked out.”

Held a day late because of snow fall, poor visibility and a course preparation problem, the Monday’s downhill provided a perfect playing field for Vonn’s exploits.

“I did everything I could to be as prepared as possible,” Vonn said. “It was tough with the two days off before this race, but it also gave me the chance to rest up and get my body in full fit condition for this race today. It’s so easy to make a mistake on this course and I really nailed the secitons where it was the most difficult, so I’m just really happy.”

Gut, wearing bib No. 6, established herself early on as the racer to beat, gaining more than a second and a half on momentary leader Stacey Cook, who none-the-less had the best race of her season, finishing ninth. But the 17-year-old Swiss racer who raised eyebrows with her super-combined silver medal in spite of doing very little slalom racing, is now unquestionably a force to be reckoned with.

“It’s very difficult for me to have clenched this sliver medal in downhill. It’s a very prestigious event and it counts a lot in our sport,” Gut said. “I also wanted to prove today that I was not just a star and going back in the clouds after my result in the super combined. I was able to focus and concentrate. I wanted to prove something today and I think I really achieved it.”  

Fanchini, who took time off last season when doctors discovered an irregular heart beat, came back to win the super G at Lake Louise earlier this season, finished second in downhill and third in SG at St. Moritz. After Monday’s bronze victory, she said that Vonn, of all the top racers, simply knows how to execute on every part of the Rhone-Alpes course … and just about every other course.

“She is always so concentrated on the skis,” Fanchini said through a translator. “She is always pushing. She is the best in speed, the best on the curves, the best in everything. This is the reason why she won.”

Vonn said she was extremely nervous at the start of the race and credited husband Thomas for calming her down.

“He was like, ‘Come on! Do you want it? I know you want it.’ And I did. I wanted it more than anything else,” Vonn said. “He reminded me of that when I was in the start. That gave me confidence in myself and allowed me to ski the way I did today.”

Thomas Vonn says his role in his wife’s career is primarily of a technical nature, “like the mechanic on the car in a car race,” but on Monday, she made a special request that he be at her side for emotional support before she kicked out of the gate. And so he was.

“She was nervous. She specifically asked me to be in the start with her and she’s never done that before,” Thomas Vonn said. “I tried to keep my cool and keep her level … take away the hype of the race.”
  
After the race, as Vonn made her way through the TV cameras and ravenous journalists, she stopped to exchange a kiss on the cheek with the farmer who gave her the cow after her World Cup win in Val d’Isere in 2005. Though she didn’t get another cow out of her world championship victories, she did get some cheese.

“He’s a really nice guy,” she said of the farmer. “I’m glad he’s here.”

When asked where the downhill championship ranks on her list of life goals, Vonn began to say that it’s the highest on her list. Then she stopped herself to say that her only goal coming into the championships was to win a single gold medal. To win two is more than she could have hoped and the achievement ranks right alongside winning the World Cup overall title last year.

“The overall was a huge goal for me in my life, but today also was something very special,” she said. “You work so hard and days like today and the super G and the overall are days you remember for the rest of your life.”

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The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

 

Equipment

FIS World Ski Championships

Women’s Downhill, Val d’Isere, France, Feb.  9, 2009

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

2 Gut, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

3 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look

4 Goergl, Head/Head/Head

5 Rolland, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

6 Marchand-Arvier, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

7 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

8 Siorpaes, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

9 Cook, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

10 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

 

Women’s Downhill, 40th FIS World Ski Championships, Val d’Isere, France, Feb. 9, 2009. … It is the sixth race started and fifth completed of ten (11 including a team event) of the title meet. … It is the 262nd World Championship race and the 62nd downhill.

 

It is the fourth career World Championship medal for Lindsey Vonn (Kildow). … And her second gold of the 2009 championships having won the SG Feb. 3. … She also owns silver medals from Are in DH Feb. 11, 2007 and in SG Feb. 6, 2007. … She is the third American woman and fourth American to win a World Championship in downhill. … Picabo Street won at Sierra Nevada ’96, Hilary Lindh at Sestriere in ’97 and Bode Miller at Bormio in 2005. … It is Vonn’s seventh victory of the season and second in DH having won the World Cup race at Lake Louise Dec. 5. … She has also won twice in slalom, once in combined and once in SG on the World Cup this season. … She matches Andrea Mead-Lawrence with two gold medals for the American record and also matches Tamara McKinney with her fourth medal.

 

It is the second World Championship medal for Lara Gut having also earned the silver medal in combined Feb. 6 this season. … It is her fourth podium result of the season. … She won the St Moritz SG Dec. 20 and was third in GS at Semmering Dec. 28.

 

It is the first career World Championship podium for Nadia Fanchini. … She finished fourth in SG at Santa Caterina in 2005. … It is her fourth podium of the season having won the SG at Lake Louise Dec. 7, placing second in the DH at Lake Louise Dec. 5 and third in SG at St Moritz Dec. 20.

 

It is a career best placing for Stacey Cook at a World Championships. … She was also 16th in the combined in this title meet Feb. 6. … Hers is the 36th U.S. top 10 at a World Championship in DH. … It is her best placing of the season, the previous best the 16th earlier at the championships. … Emily Brydon matches her career best in a World Championship DH, a mark (11th) she first hit at Santa Caterina Feb. 6, 2005. … Canadian women have not done better since Melanie Turgeon won the event in 2003.

 

Medal Count:

SUI 1 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze

AUT 1 gold, 2 bronze

USA 2 gold

ITA 1 silver, 1 bronze

CAN 1 gold

FRA 1 silver

NOR 1 bronze

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Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	21	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:30.31	0.00
2	6	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI	1:30.83	7.60
3	8	296729	FANCHINI Nadia	1986	ITA	1:30.88	8.33
4	13	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:31.24	13.59
5	24	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:31.45	16.66
6	14	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:31.51	17.54
7	9	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:31.88	22.95
8	30	296473	SIORPAES Wendy	1985	ITA	1:32.31	29.23
9	5	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:32.37	30.11
10	18	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:32.42	30.84
11	12	105997	BRYDON Emily	1980	CAN	1:32.44	31.13
12	26	196573	REVILLET Aurelie	1986	FRA	1:32.63	33.91
12	19	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:32.63	33.91
14	15	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:32.64	34.06
15	25	225206	ALCOTT Chemmy	1982	GBR	1:33.04	39.90
16	23	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:33.25	42.97
17	4	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:33.35	44.43
18	27	465059	MIKLOS Edith	1988	ROU	1:33.41	45.31
19	3	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:33.42	45.46
20	11	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:33.44	45.75
21	17	106402	VANDERBEEK Kelly	1983	CAN	1:33.59	47.94
22	31	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	1:33.61	48.23
23	2	296431	STUFFER Verena	1984	ITA	1:34.26	57.73
24	22	55069	GOETSCHL Renate	1975	AUT	1:34.32	58.61
25	33	565315	ROBNIK Mateja	1987	SLO	1:34.56	62.12
26	1	206175	STECHERT Gina	1987	GER	1:34.65	63.43
27	29	538038	MARSHALL Chelsea	1986	USA	1:35.40	74.40
28	34	495615	MORLANS Leyre	1987	SPA	1:36.12	84.92
29	7	155563	KRIZOVA Klara	1989	CZE	1:36.31	87.70
30	35	35089	SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena	1984	ARG	1:37.31	102.31
31	36	35079	SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen	1982	ARG	1:38.91	125.70
32	37	65090	VAN BUYNDER Isabel	1991	BEL	1:42.27	174.81
Did not finish 1st run
	32	375018	COLETTI Alexandra	1983	MON
	28	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT
	20	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN
	16	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI
	10	515170	STYGER Nadia	1978	SUI