Reisch applies pressure to Vonn
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
MARIA Riesch of Germany beat Lindsey Vonn of the United States by nearly half a second in the final downhill of the season to keep the race for the overall title alive between the two Olympic champions and good friends.
Vonn, who took gold in the Olympic downhill, could have clinched her third straight overall title yesterday but she still retains a 225-point lead going into the final three races. A win is worth 100 points.
Riesch claimed an emphatic victory on her home course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, leaving Vonn and the rest of the field far behind. Vonn had already clinched the downhill title.
"When I crossed the line I did not look at the board immediately but when I saw that I was more than a second ahead, I thought I could win this race," Riesch said.
"If Lindsey is half a second behind, I must have had a really good race," said Riesch, who won slalom and combined gold medals at the Vancouver Olympics.
Anja Paerson of Sweden was third, more than a second behind Riesch.
Although Riesch cut Vonn's overall lead by 20 points, the German said she had given up hope of collecting that title.
"I am still 200 points behind, I don't think it's possible. The pressure is off. I am proud of today's win, this is the course for next year's World Championship and it's good to know that I can be fast on it," Riesch said.
Vonn said she would have to "give my best" to win the overall title.
"But if I collect points in the last three races I should be ahead. Maria had a super race today," Vonn said.
In the men's downhill, Carlo Janka of Switzerland won to take the overall World Cup lead with three races remaining.
The Olympic giant slalom champion edged Mario Scheiber of Austria, meaning that the once powerful Austrian team failed to win a downhill race all season for the first time since 1991-92.
Patrick Kueng of Switzerland and Erik Guay of Canada shared third place.
Janka's third downhill victory of the season gave him a 54-point leader over Benjamin Raich of Austria in the race for the overall title. Raich did not compete in the downhill and will look for his chances in the giant slalom and slalom.
Janka covered the 3,300-meter Kandahar course in one minute, 58.45 seconds. Scheiber was .02 seconds behind and Kueng and Guay, who won a super-G race in Norway on Sunday, were both .07 behind.
"In the first half of the race it was not perfect surely, but I made no mistakes at the bottom half," Janka said after his seventh career victory.
Didier Cuche of Switzerland already had secured the downhill title and finished eighth yesterday.
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