Nolan Kasper (pictured here in Val d’Isere) figured he had scored a coup when he won a battle of rock-paper-scissors with Warner Nickerson for the shotgun seat in the car from the Munich airport (where the cars had
been left) to France for training. Since the loser would have to wait an hour or more for another car, Kasper
figured he had scored. Except his car’s GPS took driver and passengers on a route nobody recognized, and
a misinterpreted command at a tricky intersection caused a back-tracking through Milan (never fun). Eventually, they turned off the GPS and wound up on what he described in his blog as “Tour-de-France-esque”
mountain roads, one of which turned out to be unplowed. Long story short: It took the crew 10 and a half
hours to get to Val d’Isere, well after Nickerson’s car was cooled off in the hotel parking lot.
Vonn to be a mom one day: Yay.
After winning the downhill in Val d’Isere, Lindsey Vonn was waiting for the press conference
to begin and watching the men’s downhill race in Val Gardena live on TV. At that time, Patrik
Jaerbyn was in the lead (he ended up seventh, but still — nice job, Patrik!) and Vonn commented about how much terrain is in the Val Gardena course and how awesome it was that
Jaerbyn was leading. She said she hoped he’d win. When asked if she’d still be racing at
age 41, Vonn said: “No way. Are you kidding? I’m gonna have three kids by then.”
Vonn beats horse for AP award: Neigh.
While they were going head to head on the course in Val d’Isere, good friends Lindsey Vonn
and Maria Riesch were both being honored in their home countries. Vonn became the first
skier to be named the Associated Press’s Female Athlete of the year, while Riesch collected
the German Sportswoman of the Year Award. But only Vonn had a horse — named Zenyatta
— just behind her in the running for her award. “In the back of my mind, I always wondered…
Vonn vs. Horse…who would win?” Vonn joked on her Facebook page. I feel pretty good,
I feel confident, but those sketchy non humans can be so scrappy....I mean I never know
what they’re thinking! Well now we know VONN 1 - ZENYATTA 0 whhaaaaaaat....that’s right
Zenyatta keep walkin...LOL!”
