Schild wins opening World Cup Slalom in Levi, Vonn sixth

After a three-week break in World Cup action, the slalom season got underway today (Nov. 13) 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Levi, Finland. Austrian slalom power Marlies Schild took home the win after erasing a .81-second first-run deficit, while defending overall champ American Lindsey Vonn finished sixth, missing the Levi podium for the first time in three years.

After the first run, the race appeared to belong to German Maria Riesch who led by .58 seconds. The difficult middle steep section proved to be the deciding factor as Riesch, the Vancouver Games slalom gold medalist, lost time and had to settle for second place.  

Schild, the 2010 Olympic silver medalist in the slalom, made the second run look easy with the fastest time of the day (55.90) earning her 24th World Cup victory and her second on this hill (also won in 2006).

“It’s awesome, I’m so happy, I’m so lucky today,” said Schild. “I don’t know how fast I was in the flat part because in the first run I lost everything in the flat, but it was good. It was racing.” 

Obviously energized by the vocal, home crowd, Finn Tanja Poutianen charged hard down her home course to a third-place finish after standing fourth at the bottom of the first run. She matched her result on the same hill last year. It is her 39th World Cup podium, following her fourth-place result three weeks ago in Soelden.

Vonn was the only American to make the 30-woman second run, finishing sixth in the first run (.92 seconds behind Riesch). She stayed put in the second run after a costly mistake at the top of the first steep section caused her to take a gate wide, forcing her to her hip and had her scrambling to heroically make the next gate.

“I’d say that mistake cost me eight-tenths to a full second,” said Vonn. “I’ve never made a recovery move like I made today and that is directly attributed to the fitness training that I did this summer and the different exercises I’ve been doing. Just my overall agility is better and I’m happy I was able to stick with it and get some important points toward the overall.”

Vonn, the three-time defending overall champion, finished 18th at the opening GS in Soelden, Austria and currently stands eighth in the overall rankings, 72 points behind Riesch in first.    

In keeping with a historic trend, the majority of the U.S. women made the long journey to Levi only to be disappointed. Sarah Schleper and Megan McJames had trouble under the lights in hazy Levi finishing tied for 47th and missing the second run, 3.49 seconds behind the leader. Hailey Duke was another half second back in 53rd.

“Sarah definitely had a good opportunity, but just skied impaitent and too direct on the steeps,” said U.S. women’s tech Head Coach Trevor Wagner. “She could have popped one in there easily with the way she was skiing. The snow was really grippy and kind of chattery and if you tried to cut the turn off at al, you paid the price for it.”

The Canadians also put one women through to the second run as Marie-Michele Gagnon grabbed the last bib in 30th after the first run. She put down an impressive second run (56.72) on the 61-turn course to finish 16th. The 21-year-old is off to a great start this season, she finished 13th in Soelden.

“I was disappointed with my first run so I went into the second run more angry and aggressive,” said Gagnon. ” The conditions (in the second run) were actually not much better, I just skied the course a lot better.”

Austrian Nicole Hosp had a promising fifth-place result today, marking the beginning of her come-back season. Hosp, the last overall World Cup title holder not named Lindsey Vonn, required surgery a year ago to repair a torn ACL suffered at the World Cup opener in Soelden. 

The German’s appear ready for the World Championships at home in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February as they looked strong for the second World Cup week in a row. Nine German women made the second run led by Riesch and sister Susanne (fourth). Six other German women were in the points as Fanny Chmelar and Christina Geiger finished 10th and 20th, respectively.

World Cup racing continues in Levi tomorrow with the Men’s slalom opener. The Women’s World Cup tour now moves to Aspen, Colo. for a giant slalom Nov. 27 and slalom Nov. 28.  — Eric Williams

Image: Levi Podium (top), Lindsey Vonn fights for a sixth-place finish in Levi. (Gepa)

Equipment

Women’s World Cup Slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 11, 2010
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Schild, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
2 Riesch M, Head/Lange/Head
3 Poutiainen, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4 Riesch S, Head/Lange/Head
5 Hosp, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker
6 Vonn, Head/Head/Head
7 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Head
8 Kirchgasser, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
9 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
10 Chmelar, Volkl/Lange/Marker

The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Women’s World Cup slalom, Levi, Finland, Nov. 13, 2010. … It is the second of 38 women’s races on the season’s World Cup schedule, the first of 10 women’s slaloms. … It is the 11th Cup race held at Levi, all slaloms. … It is the fourth season to have held a November slalom at Levi.

It is the 25th career World Cup win for Marlies Schild. … The 22nd in slalom. … She won the Cup slalom title in 2007 and 2008 before injury forced her to miss the 2009 season. … It is her second win at Levi having also won Nov. 11, 2006.

It is the 43rd career World Cup podium result for Maria Riesch. … her 15th in slalom. … and her fifth in six completed slaloms at Levi.

It is the 39th career World Cup podium result for Tanja Poutiainen. … her 20th in slalom. … and her third in eight completed slaloms at Levi. … She was also third at Levi last season.

It is the 55th time Lindsey Vonn has been in the top six of a World Cup race. … It is the eighth best career World Cup slalom result for Vonn, but her third best of three Cup finishes at Levi. … It is the fifth best of seven career scoring results for Marie-Michele Gagnon and her second best at Levi having placed 13th last season.

The German team had eight skiers score in the race and leads the Nations Cup 436-302 over Austria with Italy third with 115. … The US is seventh at 87 and Canada 10th with 35pts.

Results

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time	FIS Points
1	2	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	56.94	55.90	1:52.84	0.00
2	5	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	56.13	56.74	1:52.87	0.16
3	14	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	56.88	56.30	1:53.18	1.84
4	7	206160	RIESCH Susanne	1987	GER	57.50	56.08	1:53.58	4.00
5	12	55690	HOSP Nicole	1983	AUT	56.87	56.81	1:53.68	4.54
6	11	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	57.05	56.74	1:53.79	5.14
7	3	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	57.29	56.54	1:53.83	5.35
8	24	55759	KIRCHGASSER Michaela	1985	AUT	57.55	56.48	1:54.03	6.43
9	1	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	57.18	57.12	1:54.30	7.89
10	13	206035	CHMELAR Fanny	1985	GER	57.88	56.89	1:54.77	10.43
11	27	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	58.38	56.45	1:54.83	10.76
11	4	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	57.60	57.23	1:54.83	10.76
13	16	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	57.87	57.03	1:54.90	11.14
14	46	196793	MARMOTTAN Anemone	1988	FRA	58.15	56.77	1:54.92	11.24
15	17	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	57.35	57.79	1:55.14	12.43
16	33	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	58.67	56.72	1:55.39	13.79
17	35	56032	SCHILD Bernadette	1990	AUT	58.02	57.38	1:55.40	13.84
18	31	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	57.89	57.66	1:55.55	14.65
19	19	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	58.51	57.09	1:55.60	14.92
20	15	206279	GEIGER Christina	1990	GER	57.79	57.87	1:55.66	15.24
21	21	196806	NOENS Nastasia	1988	FRA	58.56	57.21	1:55.77	15.84
22	57	206355	DUERR Lena	1991	GER	58.45	57.37	1:55.82	16.11
23	34	206290	HUEBNER Monica	1990	GER	58.43	57.43	1:55.86	16.33
24	29	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	58.08	57.87	1:55.95	16.81
25	18	205993	HOELZL Kathrin	1984	GER	58.49	57.47	1:55.96	16.87
26	47	55807	DAUM Alexandra	1986	AUT	58.53	57.69	1:56.22	18.27
27	23	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE	58.56	57.79	1:56.35	18.97
28	43	205239	WIRTH Barbara	1989	GER	58.10	59.10	1:57.20	23.57
Disqualified 1st run
	30	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA
Did not qualify 1st run
	75	555018	GASUNA Lelde	1990	LAT
	74	185334	TOIVONEN Lotta	1992	FIN
	73	306987	OKAMOTO Noe	1992	JPN
	71	185292	ROVE Kristiina	1990	FIN
	70	155479	SMUTNA Michaela	1987	CZE
	68	56059	DEPAULI Jessica	1991	AUT
	67	705349	GANTNEROVA Jana	1989	SVK
	65	425629	LOESETH Lene	1986	NOR
	64	565323	JAZBEC Katja	1988	SLO
	63	65038	PERSYN Karen	1983	BEL
	62	425880	SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth	1991	NOR
	60	297601	BRIGNONE Federica	1990	ITA
	59	435142	KARASINSKA Katarzyna	1982	POL
	58	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA
	56	506350	EKLUND Nathalie	1992	SWE
	55	196725	BARIOZ Taina	1988	FRA
	54	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI
	53	515855	GOOD Esther	1987	SUI
	52	196179	BERTRAND Marion	1984	FRA
	51	196928	WORLEY Tessa	1989	FRA
	50	516280	HOLDENER Wendy	1993	SUI
	49	537792	DUKE Hailey	1985	USA
	48	297134	BORSOTTI Camilla	1988	ITA
	45	355040	NIGG Marina	1984	LIE
	44	106961	MIELZYNSKI Erin	1990	CAN
	42	515733	BONJOUR Aline	1985	SUI
	41	206099	PERNER Nina	1986	GER
	40	538284	MCJAMES Megan	1987	USA
	39	107068	PHELAN Brittany	1991	CAN
	38	105615	ROUTHIER Eve	1988	CAN
	37	506341	WIKSTROEM Emelie	1992	SWE
	36	296509	CURTONI Irene	1985	ITA
	32	515619	GINI Sandra	1982	SUI
	28	196016	DAUTHERIVES Claire	1982	FRA
	26	536481	SCHLEPER Sarah	1979	USA
	25	106633	GOODMAN Anna	1986	CAN
	22	185271	LEINONEN Sanni	1989	FIN
	20	505679	HANSDOTTER Frida	1985	SWE
	8	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO
Did not finish 2nd run
	10	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA
	9	205168	DUERR Katharina	1989	GER
Did not finish 1st run
	72	185317	SOPPELA Merle	1991	FIN
	69	25096	GUTIERREZ Mireia	1988	AND
	66	355055	BUEHLER Rebecca	1992	LIE
	61	306249	HASEGAWA Emi	1986	JPN
	6	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA