Lindsey Vonn brings some
color to dark Levi with a
sixth-place result.
Maria Riesch reacts to
having the win ripped out
of her hands after taking a
0.58-second lead into the
second run in Levi.
“Sarah definitely had a good opportunity,
but just skied impatient and too direct on the
steeps,” said U.S. women’s tech head coach
Trevor Wagner. “She could have popped one in
there easily with the way she was skiing up top.
The snow was really grippy and kind of chattery.
If you tried to cut the turn off at all, you paid the
price for it.”
Another second-run hero was Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon, who, after just slipping into the
second run in 30th place, set a pace that landed
her in 16th, her second top- 20 result in as many
races after she finished 13th in Soelden. No
other Canadian took a second trip up the hill.
Canadian teammate Anna Goodman (16th in
Levi last season) was coming back to the World
Cup after her March knee surgery, but her re-
turn was marred by bad luck when she broke a
pole near the top of her first run at Levi.
Another comeback kid, Austrian Nicole Hosp,
had a promising fifth-place result. Hosp, the last
overall World Cup titleholder not named Lind-
sey Vonn, required surgery a year ago to re-
pair a torn ACL suffered at the 2009 World Cup
opener in Soelden.
It was the Germans again coming away with
the most success. Susanne Riesch jumped from
tenth in the first run to fourth, and Fanny Chme-lar took 10th to join Maria Riesch in leading eight
German women into the points in Levi.
The women then packed it up for the North
American swing of the World Cup, heading to
Aspen, Colo. for a giant slalom Nov. 27 and
slalom Nov. 28. The speed skiers then get their
chance in Lake Louise, Canada with two downhills and a super G Dec. 3-5.
Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon
stays consistent to lead her team
with her second World Cup top- 20
result in as many races.
