Lindsey Vonn smiles in the finish area after winning an alpine ski, …
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But victory was always going to be Vonn’s as she secured a fifth win of the season, moving her clear at the top of the discipline standings and into second overall.
“It was a ideal weekend”, said Vonn, who timed 1 minute, 12.75 seconds on the Kaelberloch course to beat Gut by 0.70. Austria’s Cornelia Huetter in third. Organizers had to lower the start because of insufficient snow conditions in the upper part, shortening the course from its usual 3 kilometers to 1,875 meters.
”It was hard to stay relaxed”, Vonn said about her final run.
She leads the World Cup super-G standings by 80 points over Huetter and climbed to within 38 points of overall leader Gut after her double-winning weekend, which she attributes to time off at home in Colorado over Christmas. After failing to finish in Saturday’s downhill, Gut was showing great pace in the super-G race.
Vonn recalled Sunday that Ankeny used to race against her younger brother, Reed, on the Buck Hill slope. “I want to win as many races as I can, and I think if I can do that it’ll put me in a good position for the overall title”. “But it’s good to see you can challenge Vonn if you have a good run”.
“She is so kind”, Vonn said.
Lindsey Vonn of The United States speeds down the course during a training for an alpine ski, women’s World Cup downhill in Altenmarkt Zauchensee, Austria, Friday, Jan 8, 2016.
The bottom part of this course … was the most important part of the course.
Vonn led another solid American team effort as Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) finished 12th, Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) 28th, Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) 30th, Breezy Johnson (Salt Lake City, UT) 39th, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) 40th and Abby Ghent (Edwards, CO) 41st.
“It took me too long to react”. Possibly even helped by a big mistake at the last split, she was leading Vonn by 0.35 seconds. The rest of the field had to make up at least 1.23 seconds on Vonn in the final run.
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Assuming she continues to race like she did Saturday, she has a chance to add to an Olympic medal haul that already includes one gold and one bronze from the 2010 Vancouver Games. Only Katja Seizinger of Germany won more super-G races in a row – five in 1997.
