Vonn recaptures form to win downhill
Source: Agencies |
February 27, 2011, Sunday
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LINDSEY Vonn left her recent injury worries behind her to dominate a World Cup downhill in Are, Sweden, yesterday and snatch her seventh victory of the season.
Hampered by concussion after crashing in a giant slalom training ahead of the world championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the American was in splendid form to bag her 40th career victory and her 21st in a downhill.
"It was hard at the worlds and after Garmisch, I took a week off which I spent in a wellness, doing nothing. I needed it both physically and mentally," Vonn told reporters.
"Then in training I realized things were clicking into place and I didn't have these concentration lapses anymore.
"I was back in the race," she said.
The three-time World Cup winner clocked one minute 40.93 seconds ahead of giant slalom world champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who finished 0.13 seconds adrift.
The margin was slim but the task was not an easy one for Vonn as she started shortly after a break caused by a crash by Swiss Nadja Kamer as the visibility was going down on a tricky course that neither world champion Elisabeth Goergl or local favorite Anja Paerson were able to complete.
"I was looking for the perfect line to avoid mistakes today knowing that the girls who wouldn't make mistakes would win. It wasn't easy because it was very dark," Vonn said.
World Cup leader Maria Riesch, winner of Friday's super-combined, was third, losing 40 points in her battle with Vonn in the overall standings.
Riesch still leads Vonn by 1,416 points to 1,240 with a Super-G taking place on the same course on Sunday.
Kamer was injured in a spectacular crash after tangling with a safety net and tumbling down the course before being taken away on a stretcher.
Swiss head coach Mauro Pini said Kamer was suffering from pain in her arms but no fracture had been detected.
In Bansko, Bulgaria, Italian Christof Innerhofer continued where he left off at the world championships by winning the super combined yesterday.
The Super-G world champion, who also won a silver in the super combined and bronze in downhill earlier this month in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, beat Germany's Felix Neureuther by a hundredth of a second over the two-leg race.
Innerhofer's only previous World Cup win was a downhill in Bormio in 2008.
Third place went to unheralded Frenchman Thomas Mermillod Blondin, who clinched the first podium spot of his career.
Compatriot Jean-Baptiste Grange was fastest in the morning's slalom but crashed out in the downhill on the rugged Banderiza piste in the first World Cup race to be help in the Bulgarian resort.
"When you're on a roll, keep on rolling," said Innerhofer. "I skied with the same frame of mind as in Garmisch and I don't know how long this will go on but I'm really thrilled," he said.
Hampered by concussion after crashing in a giant slalom training ahead of the world championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the American was in splendid form to bag her 40th career victory and her 21st in a downhill.
"It was hard at the worlds and after Garmisch, I took a week off which I spent in a wellness, doing nothing. I needed it both physically and mentally," Vonn told reporters.
"Then in training I realized things were clicking into place and I didn't have these concentration lapses anymore.
"I was back in the race," she said.
The three-time World Cup winner clocked one minute 40.93 seconds ahead of giant slalom world champion Tina Maze of Slovenia, who finished 0.13 seconds adrift.
The margin was slim but the task was not an easy one for Vonn as she started shortly after a break caused by a crash by Swiss Nadja Kamer as the visibility was going down on a tricky course that neither world champion Elisabeth Goergl or local favorite Anja Paerson were able to complete.
"I was looking for the perfect line to avoid mistakes today knowing that the girls who wouldn't make mistakes would win. It wasn't easy because it was very dark," Vonn said.
World Cup leader Maria Riesch, winner of Friday's super-combined, was third, losing 40 points in her battle with Vonn in the overall standings.
Riesch still leads Vonn by 1,416 points to 1,240 with a Super-G taking place on the same course on Sunday.
Kamer was injured in a spectacular crash after tangling with a safety net and tumbling down the course before being taken away on a stretcher.
Swiss head coach Mauro Pini said Kamer was suffering from pain in her arms but no fracture had been detected.
In Bansko, Bulgaria, Italian Christof Innerhofer continued where he left off at the world championships by winning the super combined yesterday.
The Super-G world champion, who also won a silver in the super combined and bronze in downhill earlier this month in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, beat Germany's Felix Neureuther by a hundredth of a second over the two-leg race.
Innerhofer's only previous World Cup win was a downhill in Bormio in 2008.
Third place went to unheralded Frenchman Thomas Mermillod Blondin, who clinched the first podium spot of his career.
Compatriot Jean-Baptiste Grange was fastest in the morning's slalom but crashed out in the downhill on the rugged Banderiza piste in the first World Cup race to be help in the Bulgarian resort.
"When you're on a roll, keep on rolling," said Innerhofer. "I skied with the same frame of mind as in Garmisch and I don't know how long this will go on but I'm really thrilled," he said.
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