Stacey Cook reacts to skiing to her
third-best finish ever in sixth place
in the Cortina downhill.
Lindsey Vonn is comfortable in
Cortina (or flying above it).
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result marked her third podium of season. But she still didn’t get a win, and had four wins by this time last season.
American Stacey Cook continued her solid downhill season (top- 10 finishes three straight downhills), tying her third-best career finish in sixth place. “The result definitely feels good, but I’m just excited I’m able to ski how I want to race,”
said Cook, who threw her fists skyward in the finish area. “To ski to the best of my ability has been my goal, and not
really care where that ends up on the result board. I think I’ve been doing that. The coaching staff just keeps believing
in me no matter how bad or how good I do. It’s a good scenario.”
Julia Mancuso took ninth while Laurenne Ross and Leanne Smith finished 18th and 30th, respectively. Still working her
way back from a broken leg last season, Alice McKennis finished 42nd.
The Cortina stop was “bring your family to work weekend” for the U.S. Ski Team. Mancuso’s sister April brought her
son to see his aunt race. Alice McKennis’s dad was in the crowd along with Laurenne Ross’s family; Laura Kildow kept
sister Lindsey Vonn company.
The U.S. squad took a blow early in the week when Chelsea Marshall crashed during a training run, injuring her knee
and breaking her shoulder blade.
Swiss skier Dominique Gisin was also lost for the season after injuring her knee in a Cortina downhill training run.
Super G, Jan 15.
A week after missing the World Cup super G podium for the first time in 19 races, Lindsey Vonn wasn’t satisfied just
winning in Cortina — she had to own it. And own it she did, beating Hoefl-Riesch by 0.61 seconds after seeing her
lead rise to more than a second midway through the course.
It was great timing for Vonn to return to one of her “comfort zones” on the World Cup tour. She had five previous Cup
wins on the hill and was in need of some familiar surroundings after recording her lowest super G result in five years
with an 18th-place showing in Bad Kleinkirchheim.
“I say it every time I come here: Cortina is always a special place for me,” said Vonn. “It’s where I got my first podium.
I like the hill. The snow is always perfect here. It’s really dry, dense snow, really similar to Colorado, where I grew up
skiing.”
Vonn, whose 47th career victory moved her ahead of Goetschl to stand alone at third on the women’s all-time win list,
called the course fast and challenging. “I feel like I had a good balance between risk and control today,” said Vonn. “You
had to push the line but not too much. I was really happy with my skiing and I feel confident now, and definitely healthy.
I was struggling last week in Bad Klein with my stomach problem. Now I feel great and have my confidence back and
am looking forward to more racing.”
Her second-place finish capped a two-podium weekend for Hoefl-Riesch, making it an even four on the season for
the defending overall champ, who has had an up-and-down season. “This was my first speed podium of the season in
downhill and super G,” Hoefl-Riesch told FISalpine.com. “It was my goal before the season that I can do results like this.
I did some mistakes in the middle section where I lost some time, because Lindsey was leading by more than a second
at the last split. She definitely skied this section the best — really aggressive. I was a little low sometimes and a little too
