Vonn gained 15 points on current overall leader Maria Riesch
as the six-foot tall German was eliminated in the first round after
straddling a gate in the middle of the course during her second
run and giving the go-ahead to Merighetti.
“It was really fun; the atmosphere was amazing,” said Vonn,
whose handprints were immortalized the night before in the Mu-
nich Olympic Park Walk of Fame. “There were so many people
and I’ve never seen an event like this before, it was definitely a
fun night.”
Unlike your average monarchy, in the kingdom of Zagreb the
queen’s crown is up for grabs every year. And until red-hot Austrian Marlies Schild came through on her slalom-slaying steed,
that crown had never been on the same head more than twice.
With her third consecutive World Cup slalom win, Schild was
again named the Snow Queen, a title she hadn’t held since she
scored back-to-back wins at Zagreb in 2006 and 2007. Just as
she had the week before in Semmering, Schild led in both runs
and finished just ahead of Riesch, who collected her sixth second-place result of the season (fourth in a slalom). Italian Manuela Moelgg ended a streak of non-podium slalom finishes, taking
third to climb atop her first World Cup slalom podium since a
2004 second-place finish in Aspen.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to win this race here, it’s a very, very
good race with a great audience,” said Schild, who battled fog
at the top of a slick track. “It was not easy to ski but it is a really
good feeling.”
With only one goof on her résumé this season (missing the first
gate in the Aspen slalom), Schild has won four of five World Cup
slaloms. And the impressive streak doesn’t end there. The 29-
year old hasn’t missed a Cup slalom podium in a race she’s finished (four DNFs) since December of 2009, a run that includes
seven victories. Need more evidence? Since winning her first
World Cup slalom in 2004, Schild has won 25 of the 48 World
Cup slaloms she’s started. With five slaloms remaining on this
