Ladies squeak in final downhill training run ahead of race

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – The women wrapped up their second and final training run today with Austrian Anna Fenninger leading the way 0.03 seconds ahead of Slovenia’s Tina Maze and 0.74 seconds in front of Swiss Lara Gut.

Three days straight of snowfall left the track with soft and bumpy conditions causing several women, including Fenninger, to miss gates. There was a significant wind for the third straight day creating visual challenges for the athletes.

Fenninger is riding high on confidence after taking the victory in the opening event of these World Championships on Tuesday in the super G. Despite missing a gate in training, she will be among the favorites in tomorrow’s downhill race along with Maze, Gut, and Lindsey Vonn, who also missed a gate and finished with the 19th fastest time, 2.36 seconds behind.

“Yeah I think it (missing the gate) was the soft snow because when it is hard, it is easier to turn and then it is possible with that line. But today it was not possible so it was important to be round there and I wasn’t,” admitted Fenninger. “I’m not worried about that because we have an inspection (tomorrow) and then we can see how it is. We have to watch the video tonight and then we have a plan for tomorrow like every time.”

Maze is looking to collect her second straight medal in the second of five events she plans to compete in here. She skied a relaxed and smooth run and was the fastest who completed the entire course. She feels comfortable with her chances going into the race tomorrow.

“Today I could do it better a little bit in the middle part, but I think I had a good run and today I became friends with the slope and I understood the timing and that is really important,” said Maze. “It (the snow) changed and got really soft, but yeah, I hope it won’t be too warm for tomorrow.”

Laurenne Ross and Julia Mancuso led the way for the Americans with the sixth and seventh fastest times of the day, 1.29 and 1.38 seconds back respectively. They will join Vonn and Stacey Cook, who skied away from a crash into the nets during her run, in tomorrow’s race. Cook suffered an arm contusion and sprained thumb in the crash, but she’s excited to race tomorrow.

“I just tried to ski the line and the wind was really difficult, we don’t really train with that much wind, so when you ski down it makes you feel a little less comfortable with what you are doing,” said Mancuso. “Yeah it’s really good in turns and then it’s really bad in other turns, there are a couple of the traverse doubles that if you get low you have no chance and it’s really hard to get the pressure done at the top of the turn too … it should set up nice overnight, especially if it stays windy.”

The forecast calls for a mostly clear evening with abundant, warm sunshine tomorrow. The women are schedule for an 11 a.m. MT start, and the clear and cold overnight temperatures will hopefully allow for a solid surface during the race.

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