Maze again leads downhill training at Finals, Mancuso second

For the second consecutive day, Slovenian Tina Maze was the fastest woman down the downhill track in Lenzerheide, Switzerland as training runs concluded today (March 15) ahead of tomorrow’s World Cup Finals downhill.

Maze completed the 2320-meter Silvano Beltrametti course in one minute, 28.20 seconds, 0.30 seconds ahead of American Julia Mancuso in second. Italian Daniela Merighetti finished third 0.40 seconds behind Maze.

“It’s absolutely like spring skiing and you can pretty much do whatever you want on snow like that,” said Mancuso. “I felt like I had a really good top and bottom section, but know I can be faster in the middle. It’s a pretty technical hill, so there’s a lot of opportunity to gain or lose time.”

World Juniors downhill champ Lotte Smiseth Sejersted of Norway repeated her performance of yesterday in fourth.

This season’s World Cup downhill champion, American Lindsey Vonn, the slowest in yesterdays training run, had the seventh-fastest time, 1.37 seconds off the leading pace. She was followed by teammate Stacey Cook in eighth. 

The men will take to the course first in tomorrow’s downhill double header.

“It’s definitely tough starting second behind the men, I think it will be a little chopped up by the time we go but it’s spring time so we have to deal with the conditions,” said Vonn, who admitted to skiing conservatively today. “All-in-all it was a solid training run and I’m happy that I got one good one through the finish that gives me more confidence for the final.”

Overall leader, German Maria Riesch finished 11th.

Starting tomorrow, Vonn will have four races in four days to try and catch Riesch who leads by 23 points.

“I feel good, I’m pretty relaxed. I know what I have to do if I want to try to win the title. I have to perform every day,” said Vonn, the winner of the last three overall titles. “I have to ski with aggression, intensity and focus. This is crunch time, this is where every race counts and I have to go out there and ski my race and let the cards fall where they may.”

Both men and women are scheduled to race the downhill on Wednesday (March 16) and the super G on Thursday. The women’s slalom is scheduled for Friday, March 18 and the giant slalom is slated for Saturday, March 19. The event will close with a team event Sunday, March 20.

OFFICIAL RESULTS – SECOND TRAINING