Tech Czech
Marlies Schild and Viktoria Rebensburg lock up the slalom and GS titles as the U.S.
women’s tech team finally gets some good news in Spindleruv Mlyn BY ERIC WILLIAMS
Marlies Schild seems to be having a good time on her way to her sixth slalom win of the season.
For the women’s overall title race, the month of March came in
like a lion.
February closed in Are, Sweden, with Lindsey Vonn trailing Ger-
man Maria Riesch by 196 points in the overall standings. On the
way to Tarvisio as the calendar flipped to March, something clicked
for Vonn.
Vonn started saying things like “I’ve got nothing to lose” and “I’m
skiing relaxed, skiing my own run.” Whether she talked herself
into it or she found some magic switch, it worked as she defended
three of her 2010 discipline titles (super combined, super G and
downhill) in Tarvisio while shrinking the chasm between her and
Riesch to 96 points.
As competition moved from Vonn’s preferred speed events to Ri-
esch’s favorite point-packing tech races in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech
Republic, the duo seemed to be on opposite sides of the pressure
vs. performance scale. With her new underdog mentality, Vonn col-
lected the first giant slalom podium of her career and finished her
first slalom in five races while Riesch had two of her worst results
of the season and saw her lead dwindle to 23 points — the small-
est it had been since she became the leader in late December.
Riesch’s teammate Viktoria Rebensburg opened the weekend
with a convincing win in the giant slalom as she took the discipline
lead from French Tessa Worley. No one knew it yet, but it would
be hers for keeps.
In contrast, the woman everyone knew was going to take the
slalom title did just that. With her seventh slalom win including
the World Championships, Austria’s Marlies Schild put the slalom
globe out of her competitors’ reach, completing her triumphant re-
turn from a nasty leg break that ended her 2009 season before it
began.
GEPA
SkiRacing.com APRIL 7, 2011 | 20
