Vonn strikes back, handily beating Riesch in Lake Louise super G; Mancuso third

After taking second place behind German Maria Riesch in two World Cup downhills this weekend, American Lindsey Vonn was not leaving Lake Louise without her first win of the season in today’s (Dec. 5) opening super G.

Vonn, who yesterday pulling off a recovery for the history books to salvage a second-place result in the downhill, took the course today with fire in her veins. Her lead on Riesch climbed at every split as she sailed down the 1967-meter course, finishing with almost a full second advantage (0.83 seconds) on her friend and chief rival in this year’s overall race. Vonn now has a staggering 34 career World Cup victories.  

Riesch, the current overall points leader, got things started early in the 10 bib, putting down a solid run (1:21.55) that earned her a 1.11-second lead at the time and the second place result. Five racers later, Julia Mancuso (1:21.61) had the fastest time nearly all the way down the 40-gate course, but slipped behind Riesch by 0.06 seconds in the last few gates to finish third. It is Mancuso’s sixth career World Cup super G podium. Vonn and Mancuso last shared a World Cup podium in last season’s super G race in Crans Montana, Switzerland, where they finished second and third, respectively. 

For the second day in a row, weather conditions in the beautiful Canadian Rockies could not have been better. Cloudless skies and no wind to speak of made for a stellar race day as Austrian Anna Fischbacher, just missed the podium fourth place, 1.62 off the winning pace. Teammate and Olympic super G champion, Andrea Fischbacher (1:22.83) in fifth after taking a heart-stopping spill into the safety netting in the downhill yesterday.

Vonn, who feels right at home on the hill where she has tallied 13 World Cup podiums including seven wins, today grabbed her first super G win in Lake Louise, the site of her first World Cup victory – a downhill in 2004. She is the reigning World Cup super G champion.

“I’m really happy. I really wanted to close out this weekend and leave on a positive note and take advantage of my opportunity,” said Vonn. “I felt like in the downhill I skied well, but with my mistake yesterday I wasn’t able to get the win. I’m just extatic about today. I was worried that I wasn’t going to get a win here in Lake Louise this year, but I gave it everything I had here and I skied with aggression and passion and had a great inspection and I’m just extremely happy with the win today.”

It was another strong day for the U.S. squad (14 top-30 finishes in the downhill doubleheader). Following the two podium finishers, Stacey Cook (20), Laurenne Ross (21), Alice McKennis (22) and Leanne Smith (23) packed the top 25. 

“I just went out of the gate charging. I was psyched to be on the podium,” said Mancuso. “It’s nice to have been skiing really well and consistent in the downhill, so to finish it off with a third place and my best super G result there is refreshing. I’m excited and I think it will just get better through the season.”

The local’s also followed this weekend’s trend (no Canadian racers in the top 30 in the downhills). Marie-Michele Gagnon got some points for the home team with a 27th-place result, followed by Britt Janyk in 33rd.

The overall World Cup race also got more interesting today as Vonn (345) closed the gap Riesch (514), she now trails by 169 points. Vonn is has taken the overall title the last three consecutive seasons as Riesch has been runner-up the last two.

Today’s race saw 56 competitors from 11 nations. The tight, challenging course forced 12 women to DNF.

With the opening speed races under their belts, the women of the World Cup now head a cross the Atlantic of the full-time season to kick off in ernest. Next up are super G and giant slalom races in St. Moritz, Switzerland Dec. 11-12.

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Women’s World Cup super G, Lake Louise,
Alberta, Dec. 5, 2010. … It is the seventh of 37 races on the
women’s 2010-2011 World Cup schedule. … the first of seven
scheduled super G’s. … It is the third of three women’s races
hosted by Lake Louise this season, the last of five total races at
the site. … It is the 86th Cup race at Lake Louise. … the 29th
super G.

It is the 34th career World Cup win for
Lindsey Vonn. … her 11th in super G. … It is her eighth career
Cup win at Lake Louise. … her first win of the season. … It is
the 212th US win. … Coupled with Ted Ligety’s win at Beaver Creek
it is the tenth time the U.S. team has recorded two wins on the same
day, the last coming in Dec. 20, 2006 when Bode Miller won a super G
at Hinterstoder and Vonn (then Kildow) won a downhill at Val d’Isere.

It is the 47th career World Cup podium
for Maria Riesch. … her ninth in super G. … It is her eighth
career podium at Lake Louise. … It is her fifth podium of the
season (in seven races) and third of the season in three races at
Lake Louise.

It is the 21st career World Cup podium
for Julia Mancuso. … and first of the season. … It is her sixth
career podium in SG.

It is the tenth career World Cup score
at Lake Louise for Stacey Cook. … It is the fifth career scoring
finish for Laurenne Ross and her third of the season, all at Lake
Louise. … and her first score in super G. … It is the 11th career
scoring result for Alice McKennis. … and fifth at Lake Louise,
three of them this season. … It is the 17th career World Cup score
for Leanne Smith. … her seventh at Lake Louise and her third of the
season. … It is the ninth career Cup scoring result for
Marie-Michelle Gagnon, but her first in super G.

Maria Riesch maintains the lead of the
World Cup overall standings 514-345 over Vonn. … Viktoria
Rebensburg (13 in race) sits third overall with 224pts. … Germany
leads the women’s Nations Cup 1142-873 over Austria. … The U.S. is
third with 740pts. … Canada is 10th with 75.

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Total Time	FIS Points
1	22	537544	VONN Lindsey	1984	USA	1:20.72	0.00
2	10	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	1:21.55	10.90
3	15	537545	MANCUSO Julia	1984	USA	1:21.61	11.69
4	14	55947	FENNINGER Anna	1989	AUT	1:21.83	14.58
5	21	55750	FISCHBACHER Andrea	1985	AUT	1:22.34	21.27
6	17	515766	SUTER Fabienne	1985	SUI	1:22.43	22.46
7	3	296427	SCHNARF Johanna	1984	ITA	1:22.66	25.48
8	24	505632	LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica	1984	SWE	1:22.69	25.87
9	13	515747	GISIN Dominique	1985	SUI	1:23.02	30.20
10	11	515849	DETTLING Andrea	1987	SUI	1:23.05	30.60
11	30	495318	RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina	1981	SPA	1:23.11	31.39
12	40	505886	KLING Kajsa	1988	SWE	1:23.20	32.57
13	1	205218	REBENSBURG Viktoria	1989	GER	1:23.24	33.09
14	37	55806	ALTACHER Margret	1986	AUT	1:23.32	34.14
15	8	196460	MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie	1985	FRA	1:23.40	35.19
16	27	206175	STECHERT Gina	1987	GER	1:23.47	36.11
17	38	297702	MARSAGLIA Francesca	1990	ITA	1:23.49	36.38
18	12	515573	AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi	1981	SUI	1:23.57	37.43
19	20	505483	PAERSON Anja	1981	SWE	1:23.58	37.56
20	50	537582	COOK Stacey	1984	USA	1:23.78	40.18
21	33	538573	ROSS Laurenne	1988	USA	1:23.79	40.31
22	43	538685	MCKENNIS Alice	1989	USA	1:23.83	40.84
23	23	538305	SMITH Leanne	1987	USA	1:23.84	40.97
24	28	195983	ROLLAND Marion	1982	FRA	1:23.86	41.23
25	31	55978	VOGLREITER Mariella	1989	AUT	1:23.87	41.37
26	9	515560	SCHILD Martina	1981	SUI	1:23.89	41.63
27	34	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	1:24.03	43.47
28	29	55766	MADER Regina	1985	AUT	1:24.06	43.86
29	46	296431	STUFFER Verena	1984	ITA	1:24.10	44.39
30	7	515806	KAMER Nadja	1986	SUI	1:24.44	48.85
31	42	538038	MARSHALL Chelsea	1986	USA	1:24.51	49.77
32	53	196968	BAILET Margot	1990	FRA	1:24.67	51.87
33	25	106022	JANYK Britt	1980	CAN	1:24.74	52.79
34	49	538855	FORD Julia	1990	USA	1:24.82	53.84
35	54	106825	PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier	1988	CAN	1:24.86	54.37
36	44	515782	ABDERHALDEN Marianne	1986	SUI	1:24.97	55.81
37	45	296623	MAZZOTTI Lucia	1985	ITA	1:25.14	58.04
38	51	105920	SIMMERLING Georgia	1989	CAN	1:25.83	67.10
39	47	515997	FEIERABEND Denise	1989	SUI	1:25.90	68.02
40	39	105334	MCBROOM Kelly	1989	CAN	1:26.85	80.50
Did not start 1st run
	55	565369	KOBAL Ana	1991	SLO
	16	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT
	6	295533	RECCHIA Lucia	1980	ITA
	2	55970	SCHMIDHOFER Nicole	1989	AUT
Did not finish 1st run
	56	106988	STEVENS Victoria	1990	CAN
	52	225308	THORBURN Pamela	1986	GBR
	48	206323	STIEPEL Isabelle	1990	GER
	41	55913	MOSER Stefanie	1988	AUT
	36	296008	MERIGHETTI Daniela	1981	ITA
	35	55882	STAUDINGER Christina	1987	AUT
	32	297910	CURTONI Elena	1991	ITA
	26	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO
	19	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO
	18	195671	JACQUEMOD Ingrid	1978	FRA
	5	296472	FANCHINI Elena	1985	ITA
	4	516138	GUT Lara	1991	SUI