Riesch edges Vonn for World Cup super G win in Are, Mancuso third

It couldn’t have been any closer on the Are, Sweden super G track today (Feb. 27).

German overall leader Maria Riesch secured her sixth World Cup victory of the season just one-hundredth of a second ahead of friend and chief rival in the overall standings, American Lindsey Vonn. Riesch now leads by 196 points (1516 to 1320). 

Fellow American Julia Mancuso, the recently crowned super G world championship silver medalist, was 0.79 seconds back in third place for her third World Cup podium of the season.

“It’s a lucky win but it’s good to have luck on your side from time to time. It has not always been the case,” Riesch, who finished second to Vonn in the overall standings the past two seasons, told Reuters. “I have great hopes now (for the World Cup), especially after this weekend in which I managed to beat Lindsey twice. I think I turned the odds on my side and if I cannot win more points, the goal is now not to lose any.”

It was Riesch’s first super G win in since 2008.

The World Cup’s top duo had all the attention this weekend as the World Cup tour resumed following a two week “break” for the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Riesch, a double bronze medalist at her home championships, got things going again on Friday with the win in the super combined thanks to a great showing in the afternoon slalom leg after Vonn had lead in the morning’s super G portion before finishing sixth. Yesterday it was Vonn, with a brand new downhill Worlds sliver medal in her pocket, on top of the downhill podium and Riesch in third.

Today, the two friends literally could not have been any tighter as the sunny skies that had graced the area all week were blanketed with overcast conditions as Riesch crossed the finish line in one minute, 13.24 seconds, a half a hair a head of Vonn. All Vonn could do was throw her head back in disbelief. The pair has finished 1-2 five times this season.

“I thought I skied a good race, unfortunately I lost by one hundredth of a second, which is a snap of your finger. That’s life,” said Vonn, who was on the right side of the hundredths in late January when she won a super G over Riesch by five hundredths. “It’s definitely frustrating, especially at this time of the year, with the overall World Cup so tight. One hundredth is twenty points. It would have been great if we could have just tied.”

Vonn, who maintains a 131-point lead over Riesch in the super G standings with three wins and two second-place finishes this season, came down the freshened up track following a TV break in the No. 16 bib to take the lead from Austrian Nicole Hosp (fourth today) by 0.80 seconds. Three racers later, Riesch had lost most of a 0.15-second advantage at the last split timer, but flicked her wrist across the finish line beam just in time to beat Vonn and claim her 14th podium of the season over all five disciplines.

Another three racers later, Mancuso was the last to come close, but didn’t quite have enough to unseat the top duo as she continues to have her best season in three years. Mancuso, Vonn and Riesch have shared three World Cup podiums this season. Mancuso, a four-time World Cup winner, has gone four years without a victory.

“It was tough light, but it was like that for everyone so it wasn’t a surprise. I definitely made a couple of mistakes but this time it was on the right side of the hundredths, so I was lucky for that,” said Mancuso. “It’s always great to be on the podium. I missed it twice in Cortina [Italy], so it’s great to be on there.”

Nine races remain on this season’s women’s World Cup schedule, four of those being speed races which Vonn has relied on this season as she has struggled in giant slalom and slalom races.
 
“I’m not counting myself out, but it’s looking pretty good for Maria for the overall,” said Vonn. “She knows that and I know that.”

Led by their top guns on the podium, the U.S. squad had another strong day as Leanne Smith recorded the second-best result of her World Cup career in 12th and and Laurenne Ross just made the points in 29th. Stacey Cook, fifth in yesterday’s downhill, finished 33rd.

Britt Janyk led the Canadians in 25th ahead of teammate Marie-Michele Gagnon in 36th.

It was a heartbreaking weekend for local hero Anja Paerson. After leading both downhill training runs on her home snow, the fourth all time winningest woman ski racer just missed the podium in fourth in the super combined and failed to finish the downhill. She was 15 seconds into today’s race when she intentionally skied off course, clicked out of her skis and dropped to the ground clutching her right knee. The severity of the injury is not yet known. She was the only competitor not to finish today. 

The Women’s World Cup now moves to Tarvisio, Italy for a super combined, downhill and super G March 4-6.

Images by Gepa

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee
Women’s World Cup super G, Are, Sweden, Feb. 27, 2011
Equipment
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Riesch, Head/Lange/Head
2 Vonn, Head/Head/Head
3 Mancuso, Voelkl/Lange/Marker
4 Hosp, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
5 Gut, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
6 Gisin, Dynastar/Lange/Marker
7 Schnarf, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
8 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
9 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head
10 Merighetti, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

Women’s World Cup super G, Are, Sweden, Feb. 27, 2011. … It is the 30th race on the women’s 38 race World Cup schedule. … The 25th race held. … It is the fifth of seven scheduled super G’s. … It is the third and final race set for Are this season. … It is the 82nd Cup race hosted at least in part at Are. … the 11th super G, eighth women’s super G.

It is the 20th World Cup win for Maria Riesch and her second of the Are stop having claimed the combined two days ago. … It is her third career win in super G and first SG win of the season. … It is her sixth win of the season and second double at a site having won twice at Lake Louise in December. … Twenty wins ties her with Hilde Gerg for second on the all time German win list, trailing only Katja Seizinger’s 36 wins.

It is the 76th career World Cup podium for Lindsey Vonn. … The 25th in super G. … It is her fifth podium result at Are and second in two days. … It is her 13th podium of the season including the World Championships. … It is the  third time this season she has finished second to Riesch. … The fifth time the duo has finished 1-2.

It is the 23rd career World Cup podium for Julia Mancuso. … her seventh in super G. … It is her first podium at Are. … It is her fourth podium of the season including the World Championships. … It is the ninth time she has shared a World Cup podium with Vonn.

It is the second best career World Cup result for Leanne Smith behind an eighth at Cortina in SG Jan. 21 this year. … It is the 11th top 30 finish for Britt Janyk this season. … It is the 12th career World Cup scoring result for Laurenne Ross. … the tenth this season.

Riesch leads the World Cup overall standings 1516-1320 over Vonn. … Elisabeth Goergl (21st in race) is third at 748pts. … Marie-Michele Gagnon (36th in race) is the top Canadian on the overall list in 29th with 181pts. … Vonn leads the super G standings 460-329 over Riesch with two races remaining . … Lara Gut (5th in race)  is third in the Sg standings with 250pts. … Mancuso is fourth with 235pts. … Janyk is the top Canadian in 17th with 73pts. … Austrian leads the women’s Nations Cup standings 3763-2938 over Germany. … The U.S. is third with 2495 and Can
ada is tenth with 410pts.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	19	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:13.24	0.00
2	16	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:13.25	0.14
3	22	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:14.03	11.43
4	7	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	1:14.05	11.72
5	21	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI	1:14.11	12.59
6	13	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:14.22	14.18
7	6	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:14.24	14.47
8	10	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	1:14.28	15.05
9	9	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT	1:14.30	15.34
10	26	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA	1:14.36	16.21
11	1	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:14.43	17.22
12	4	538305	SMITH Leanne	1987	USA	1:14.46	17.66
13	11	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER	1:14.61	19.83
13	3	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:14.61	19.83
15	2	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI	1:14.65	20.41
16	8	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:14.73	21.56
17	20	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:14.79	22.43
18	32	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA	1:14.82	22.87
18	25	55766	MADER Regina	1985	AUT	1:14.82	22.87
20	5	55806	ALTACHER Margret	1986	AUT	1:14.88	23.74
21	17	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	1:14.93	24.46
22	23	296472	FANCHINI Elena	1985	ITA	1:15.06	26.34
23	33	296431	STUFFER Verena	1984	ITA	1:15.13	27.35
24	14	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:15.16	27.79
25	12	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:15.28	29.52
26	29	297910	CURTONI Elena	1991	ITA	1:15.32	30.10
27	28	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:15.35	30.54
28	24	55970	SCHMIDHOFER Nicole	1989	AUT	1:15.36	30.68
29	30	538573	ROSS Laurenne	1988	USA	1:15.45	31.99
30	40	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	1:15.60	34.16
30	34	515782	ABDERHALDEN Marianne	1986	SUI	1:15.60	34.16
32	27	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:15.75	36.33
33	43	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:15.81	37.20
34	15	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA	1:15.89	38.35
35	38	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	1:15.96	39.37
36	35	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	1:15.97	39.51
37	48	506399	HECTOR Sara	1992	SWE	1:16.01	40.09
38	37	297702	MARSAGLIA Francesca	1990	ITA	1:16.02	40.23
39	42	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	1:16.24	43.42
40	41	297601	BRIGNONE Federica	1990	ITA	1:16.39	45.59
41	39	425880	SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth	1991	NOR	1:16.48	46.89
42	45	206323	STIEPEL Isabelle	1990	GER	1:16.57	48.19
43	31	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	1:16.66	49.50
44	36	55882	STAUDINGER Christina	1987	AUT	1:16.69	49.93
45	46	516280	HOLDENER Wendy	1993	SUI	1:17.03	54.85
46	44	196812	PELLISSIER Marion	1988	FRA	1:17.12	56.16
47	47	375018	COLETTI Alexandra	1983	MON	1:18.13	70.77
Did not finish 1st run
	18	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE