Olympics: Riesch leads after first slalom run; Schleper leads U.S., Vonn out

WHISTLER, BC – On possibly the wettest day Whistler has seen so far these Olympic Games, Maria Riesch, gold medalist in the super combined and World Cup slalom leader, put down the fastest first run time in the women’s slalom.

Starting in bib No. 5, the tall, graceful German came down amid large flakes of snow in  50.75 seconds.

The Czech Republic’s Sarka Zahrobska stands second, .40 seconds of the pace, followed by Austrian Marlies Schild in third, .65 seconds back. Riesch’s sister Susanne stands fourth .71 second behind her sibling.

Downhill gold medalist, American Lindsey Vonn straddled a gate in the middle of the course and was disqualified for the second run.

“My outside ski got caught in the soft snow and I didn’t make a recovery as quick as I would have liked to,” she said.

Vonn suffered a broken finger when she fell in the first run of the giant slalom Wednesday morning, but was still smiling when she walked through the finish area of her last Olympic race Friday. Though she had a very strong run in slalom last World Cup seasons with two victories, two podiums and two fourths, this season she’s only finished three slalom races on the World Cup, taking second in the season opener, then eighth, then 18th immediately after fracturing her wrist in Lienz. Even though Friday’s race ended earlier than she’d hoped, the American who’s carried the weight of her entire country’s hopes for medals going into these Games met her own expectations and got what she came here for … and more.

“I am going home happy, maybe a little more broken than before,” Vonn said. “I got the gold medal that I came here for. Even though I didn’t get all the medals that everyone else expected me to get, I accomplished all of my dreams, and that’s what you have to keep in perspective. I have that gold medal and despite everyone else’s expectations, my goal was to win one gold medal and that is what I did.”

The big story for the rest of the day is U.S. teammate Sarah Schleper. The Vail native leads her team with a time of 51.83, in ninth place going into this afternoon’s second run, the only racer starting with bib 20 or higher to pop into the top 10. The seven in the lead, in fact, were among the first nine to start.

As her husband Federico and 2-year-old son Lasse waved from the crowd, Schleper came in bloody however, having smacked her chin on a gate during the morning warm up and wearing bandages to cover what looked like a reasonably deep, bloody gash.

“I smelled my flesh burning … that was kind of weird. I was like, ‘What’s that smell?’ I felt the pain and then all of a sudden my jacket was covered in blood,” she said. “I turned my bib around. It was a nice distraction up there.”

Though she was the 26th racer down the hill, Schleper said the track was holding up well and pointed out that there were workers raking out every gate.

“There were some tricky spots because this new snow is so grippy, then the track is a little slick, so our edges are prpeared for the slicker snow,” she said. “If you grab a little bit of that grippy stuff you have to keep your balance and just keep fighting. I know I got tripped up on the section up top and I almost went out but I fought to stay in.”

Schleper is 1.08 seconds out going into the second run, easily in contention for a medal since as it stands, she is less than a half second out of third place going into the second run.

“I’m hoping to just put it on the line and see where I end up,” she said.

Fellow Americans Hailey Duke and Megan McJames in the 32 and 34 bibs did not make the 30-women second run flip with 32 and 35th-place results, respectively, but every racer who finished the first run will get a second.

This morning’s run saw 87 women from 47 countries kick out of the start gate. Representatives from Korea, Israel, Greece and Iran gave added color and flavor to the usual World Cup pallet. The crowd offered hearty applause for the skiers from smaller and non-snow countries whether they made the flip to the second run or not.

The second run, which will decide the medals, begins at 1:30 pm local time.

– by Eric Williams and Shauna Farnell

Images by GEPA

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time
1	5	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	50.75		50.75
2	1	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	51.15		51.15
3	7	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	51.40		51.40
4	2	206160	RIESCH Susanne	1987	GER	51.46		51.46
5	9	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	51.64		51.64
6	3	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	51.67		51.67
7	6	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA	51.68		51.68
8	18	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	51.71		51.71
9	26	536481	SCHLEPER Sarah	1979	USA	51.83		51.83
10	11	206279	GEIGER Christina	1990	GER	52.10		52.10
11	29	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	52.11		52.11
11	25	106527	ACTON Brigitte	1985	CAN	52.11		52.11
13	12	206035	CHMELAR Fanny	1985	GER	52.12		52.12
14	14	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	52.28		52.28
15	22	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	52.31		52.31
16	8	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO	52.37		52.37
17	15	505679	HANSDOTTER Frida	1985	SWE	52.50		52.50
18	4	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	52.59		52.59
19	37	106961	MIELZYNSKI Erin	1990	CAN	52.60		52.60
20	13	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	52.93		52.93
21	17	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE	52.97		52.97
22	31	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	53.01		53.01
22	23	106633	GOODMAN Anna	1986	CAN	53.01		53.01
24	16	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	53.09		53.09
25	19	296354	COSTAZZA Chiara	1984	ITA	53.18		53.18
26	24	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	53.20		53.20
27	30	295445	KARBON Denise	1980	ITA	53.44		53.44
28	43	705349	GANTNEROVA Jana	1989	SVK	53.54		53.54
29	27	385027	FLEISS Nika	1984	CRO	53.68		53.68
30	36	355040	NIGG Marina	1984	LIE	53.78		53.78
31	38	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA	53.82		53.82
32	32	537792	DUKE Hailey	1985	USA	54.02		54.02
33	39	65038	PERSYN Karen	1983	BEL	54.09		54.09
34	49	485563	PROSTEVA Elena	1990	RUS	54.20		54.20
35	34	538284	MCJAMES Megan	1987	USA	54.41		54.41
36	21	196806	NOENS Nastasia	1988	FRA	54.49		54.49
37	35	425887	LOESETH Mona	1991	NOR	54.53		54.53
38	46	25096	GUTIERREZ Mireia	1988	AND	54.81		54.81
39	42	385034	FERK Matea	1987	CRO	54.95		54.95
40	52	485505	RAYANOVA Lyaysan	1989	RUS	55.13		55.13
41	53	315187	IGNJATOVIC Nevena	1990	SRB	55.27		55.27
42	33	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	55.64		55.64
43	51	695063	MATSOTSKA Bogdana	1989	UKR	56.46		56.46
44	50	35089	SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena	1984	ARG	56.84		56.84
45	64	665009	SHKANOVA Maria	1989	BLR	56.92		56.92
46	44	435210	GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka	1987	POL	57.06		57.06
47	55	695073	SKRYABINA Anastasiya	1985	UKR	57.53		57.53
48	47	385041	NOVOSELIC Sofija	1990	CRO	58.17		58.17
49	61	715123	NOVAKOVIC Zana	1985	BIH	58.19		58.19
50	70	115115	BARAHONA Noelle	1990	CHI	58.74		58.74
50	65	245059	DOEME Zsofia	1992	HUN	58.74		58.74
52	73	395010	NURMBERG Tiiu	1982	EST	58.91		58.91
53	68	345018	NJEIM Chirine	1984	LIB	58.97		58.97
54	60	35079	SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen	1982	ARG	58.99		58.99
55	66	235110	RALLI Sophia	1988	GRE	59.32		59.32
56	56	715132	KLEPIC Maja	1988	BIH	59.43		59.43
57	82	955000	OETTL REYES Ornella	1991	PER	59.61		59.61
58	58	325061	KIM Sun Joo	1985	KOR	59.70		59.70
59	79	685018	TSIKLAURI Nino	1993	GEO	59.77		59.77
60	72	245051	BERECZ Anna	1988	HUN	59.81		59.81
61	67	665008	KUZMENKA Lizaveta	1987	BLR	59.97		59.97
62	76	555016	FIMBAUERE Liene	1989	LAT	1:00.30		1:00.30
63	80	645000	DENZLER Cynthia	1983	COL	1:01.14		1:01.14
64	77	85022	HARRISSON Maya	1992	BRA	1:01.18		1:01.18
65	86	165030	PAPAMICHALOPOULOU Sophia	1990	CYP	1:02.47		1:02.47
66	78	175043	MOE-LANGE Yina	1993	DAN	1:02.75		1:02.75
67	40	315149	LOLOVIC Jelena	1981	SRB	1:05.67		1:05.67
68	85	265006	KALHOR Marjan	1988	IRA	1:08.65		1:08.65
69	87	345061	CHAMOUN Jacky	1991	LIB	1:09.41		1:09.41
70	81	125021	XIA Lina	1987	CHN	1:10.60		1:10.60