Are: Yet another win and globe for Vonn

Lindsey Vonn screamed and tipped over with glee when she crossed the finish line and saw that she’d put down the fastest time in Thursday’s World Cup super-G final in Are, Sweden.

The victory meant yet another globe for Vonn, this time a first for her. She came close to the SG title in 2007 and 2005, taking third in the standings, but the 2009 SG title is hers … to add to her collection.

It’s also getting difficult to keep up with all the records Vonn’s broken this season, but this accounts for yet another, as no American woman has ever won the World Cup super-G title. The win is also her fifth straight in super-G.

“It’s incredible. I was hoping so much that I would win today,” Vonn said after the race. “It’s a huge day for me, I’m so, so happy. What a week it’s been so far. Going into the season, I started off not so strong in super-G. I finally picked up a rhythm and stuck with it. To have five wins back-to-back in super-G was something I never thought was possible.”Lindsey Vonn screamed and tipped over with glee when she crossed the finish line and saw that she’d put down the fastest time in Thursday’s World Cup super-G final in Are, Sweden.

The victory meant yet another globe for Vonn, this time a first for her. She came close to the SG title in 2007 and 2005, taking third in the standings, but the 2009 SG title is hers … to add to her collection.

It’s also getting difficult to keep up with all the records Vonn’s broken this season, but this accounts for yet another, as no American woman has ever won the World Cup super-G title. The win is also her fifth straight in super-G.

“It’s incredible. I was hoping so much that I would win today,” Vonn said after the race. “It’s a huge day for me, I’m so, so happy. What a week it’s been so far. Going into the season, I started off not so strong in super-G. I finally picked up a rhythm and stuck with it. To have five wins back-to-back in super-G was something I never thought was possible.”

Wearing bib No. 22, Vonn shot down the course in 1 minute, 20.63 seconds, followed in close succession by Nadia Fanchini, .08 seconds back and Maria Riesch, .24 seconds back.

Fanchini, who was also in contention for the SG title, put her hand over her mouth and let loose a stifled laugh when she looked up at the scoreboard in the finish area to see what was then the fastest time of the day. She will finish the season second in the SG standings with 416 points behind Vonn’s 461, while Fabienne Suter, who finished eighth Thursday, is third with 408 points.

“I knew in the start that she’d had a really good run and it would take an even better run to beat her,” Vonn said of Fanchini. “I think it was actually a little bit of an advantage today to start later, even though the course got slower. I knew exactly what the other girls had done. I knew exactly what kind of run it would take to win the race. I fought the whole way. I made a big mistake at the bottom and almost crashed, but I kept it together. It was an incredible feeling to come down and know you’d just won the super-G title.”

Riesch, who led for a large portion of the race, had a similar reaction to Fanchini’s after her run. Riesch’s previous best SG finishes this season were fifth places in Bansko and hometown Garmisch, and she recently commented that she couldn’t understand why her SG results weren’t better after landing the 2008 SG title. She crossed the finish line on Thursday, saw her time, shook her head and dropped her jaw, as it was .40 faster than then-leader Renate Goetschl’s (who ended up fourth).

Regardless of the outcome of Friday’s final slalom race in Are, Riesch has already secured the 2009 slalom title, and Vonn wants to stay focused to hang onto her second place in the standings. Vonn said that Riesch is going to visit her in the U.S.  after her media tour next week and, as she discussed extensively after winning her second straight overall title with Wednesday’s downhill victory in Are, the next big goal on her horizon is making her mark at next year’s Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Of her many achievements this season, Vonn said one of the most important has been learning to keep her nerves in check at big events, as she did in the world championships last month in Val d’Isere, where she walked away with two gold medals.

“I especially learned a lot at the world champs. I learned how to manage my nerves on a big day,” she said. “[Before] the downhill race I was incredibly nervous, more than I have been in my whole life. I know next year at the Olympic Games it’s going to be just as nerve-racking, maybe even more. I know now that I can still win with bad nerves and that gives me a lot of confidence.”

As far as confidence goes, if there’s anything Vonn has done this season, it’s become a living specimen of the age-old adage that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

“It’s just stunning. She’s just setting totally different levels,” said U.S. women’s speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser. “You can’t expect something like that. You see that once in a lifetime … some athlete like that. The confidence she’s skiing with now, it’s going to totally different dimensions.”

Watch Friday’s women’s final World Cup slalom race live from Are on universalsports.com.

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The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women’s super G, Are, Sweden, March 12, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
3 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
4 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Paerson, Head/Head/Head
6 Dettling, Stoeckli/Lange/Tyrolia
7 Fischbacher, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
8 Suter, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
9 Marchand-Arvier, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
10 Aufdenblatten, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Women’s super G, Are, Sweden, March 12, 2009. … It is the 34th race of the women’s 2009 World Cup season with two races remaining. … It is the last of seven women’s super Gs. … It is the fourth race of the eight race World Cup Finals.

It is the 22nd career World Cup victory for Lindsey Vonn (a U.S. women’s record). … Her ninth World Cup win of the season (a U.S. record) not including two gold medals from World Championships. … It is her 47th career World Cup podium (a U.S. women’s record). … It is her sixth career World Cup super G win (a U.S. record). … And her fourth of the season (a U.S. record, and matching the women’s World record shared with Katja Seizinger -1998-  and Renate Goetschl -2007). … She has three World Cup titles for the season (matching Phil Mahre’s U.S. record from 1982). … It is the 198th U.S. World Cup win. … Vonn owns nine of the last ten U.S. wins. … It is her fifth straight SG win including the World Championships. … It is her third win in five March races this season.

It is the eighth career World Cup podium for Nadia Fanchini. … three of them coming in super G. .. It is her sixth podium of the season (seven with a bronze medal in DH from World Championships).

It is the 28th career World Cup podium for Maria Riesch. …Her eighth in super G. … It is her tenth podium of the season (11 with a gold in slalom at Worlds). … and her first in super G.

Lindsey Vonn expands her winning margin for the World Cup overall standings to 1788-1359 over Maria Riesch. … Anja Paerson (fifth in race) is third on the overall list with 1035pts. … Vonn secured the title with her win in downhill yesterday.

Vonn wins the super G title 461-416 over Nadia Fanchini. … Fabienne Suter (eighth in race) was the leader in the super G standings entering the race and slips to third at 408.

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Complete results, women’s World Cup SG Final in Are, Sweden:

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	22	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:20.63	0.00
2	18	296729	FANCHINI Nadia	1986	ITA	1:20.71	1.05
3	10	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:20.87	3.16
4	3	55069	GOETSCHL Renate	1975	AUT	1:21.27	8.41
5	19	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:21.52	11.70
6	21	515849	DETTLING Andrea	1987	SUI	1:21.62	13.02
7	8	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:21.67	13.67
8	16	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:21.68	13.80
9	12	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:21.86	16.17
10	17	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:22.14	19.85
11	20	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:22.18	20.38
12	15	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:22.23	21.03
13	7	515806	KAMER Nadja	1986	SUI	1:22.40	23.27
14	5	515170	STYGER Nadia	1978	SUI	1:22.51	24.72
15	9	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:22.56	25.37
16	24	105997	BRYDON Emily	1980	CAN	1:22.87	29.45
17	2	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	1:23.01	31.29
18	13	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT	1:23.03	31.55
19	6	106402	VANDERBEEK Kelly	1983	CAN	1:23.12	32.73
20	1	55766	MADER Regina	1985	AUT	1:23.23	34.18
21	14	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:23.71	40.49
22	25	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	1:23.89	42.86
23	11	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI	1:24.09	45.49
24	4	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:24.44	50.09
Did not finish 1st run
	23	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER