Crans Montana Garmisch
Dominique Gisin landed one of the sweetest victories of her career — her first ever in super G at home in Crans Montana.
still claimed the win — the 32nd of her career and the 10th of the season,
breaking the American Cup record for a single season. That was also enough
to secure the downhill globe for the third straight year.
“It was a tough race out there today,” said Vonn after the race. “There was a
lot of changing weather conditions. Sometimes there would be a headwind,
sometimes a tailwind. It was snowing really hard and there was a lot of new
snow in the track. It was changing a lot from racer to racer. I think the U.S.
girls did a great job today.”
True enough. McKennis ended up 12th and Chelsea Marshall landed 20th.
Laurenne Ross, who was among the late starters and fresh off a frenzy of
NorAm victories in Aspen, was 21st. Meanwhile, Smith was bumped to 29th
and Stacey Cook to 31st.
And at least the sun would come out tomorrow.
Crans Montana Super G, March 7
Julia Mancuso rolled into Crans later than the rest of the team, electing to
start only in the super G. And she wasted no time proving that her Olympic
winning streak goes beyond the Games.
It looks like that speed, which may have spent about two years in hibernation before it emerged and led to two silver medals, is here to stay a while with
the Squaw Valley gamer.
And even though the sun was shining on the Crans Montana super G course,
the wind had scarcely died down.
U.S. women’s head coach Jim Tracy said the gusts were particularly strong
for Mancuso, who started things off for the Americans in bib No. 9, but she
barreled right on through it.
Mancuso had the joy of camping out in front of the leader’s board for a large
chunk of the race until Lindsey Vonn came down 12 racers later, beating her
teammate by about three tenths of a second — and appearing poised to break
Bode Miller’s American record for most World Cup wins. But then a girl
You might remember the Swiss racer, or at least the sight of her tumbling
body. Gisin was the girl who took the worst crash on the Olympic downhill
course in Whistler, skidding out of the course after a shaky landing on the
finish jump and proceeding to roll at high speed until being hammered into
the ground one last time and coming to a halt. This is a racer who went into
the Games a month after her eighth knee surgery but also one who is certainly
capable of winning races when she’s not laid up (see back-to-back downhill
wins in Altenmark-Zauchensee and Cortina d’Ampezzo last season).
Although it sounds as if she may have gotten lucky with a tailwind during
her run, it was heartwarming to see the resilient 24-year-old be hoisted on
the shoulders of her coaches when she ended up with her first ever World Cup
victory in her own country.
“That was a great accomplishment for her,” Tracy said of the Swiss skier. “All
of us are really happy for her.”
Gisin beat Vonn by 0.15 seconds and Mancuso held on for third, 0.48 seconds back, for her first Cup podium since February of 2008.
“I’ve been skiing well since the Olympics, so it’s nice to go and do it in the
World Cup, especially in super G,” Mancuso said. “I’m feeling really good
about my skiing so it makes a big difference just standing in the start gate and
enjoying the whole process of it.”
Canada’s Emily Brydon, who announced that she will retire after this season,
finished 16th and teammate Britt Janyk was 27th, but wind got the better of
other North Americans on the course. Stacey Cook, Leanne Smith and Laurenne Ross finished 31st, 32nd and 33rd, respectively, while Alice McKennis
veered off course near the end of her run and missed a gate.
World Cup Finals, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
As the women’s tour rolled into Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for the
last four races of the season, every racer was gunning to end her season on
