St. Moritz, Switzerland – After skiing off course in Friday’s super combined, Vail, Colo.’s Lindsey Vonn skied a tactically perfect weather-shortened super G in St. Moritz on Saturday to capture her 57th Audi FIS Alpine World Cup victory and fourth this season. Julia Mancuso continued the U.S. Ski Team’s speed dominance with third place behind Friday’s super combined winner and current World Cup overall leader, Tina Maze of Slovenia, for the fourth straight World Cup speed race where two U.S. athletes have been in the top three.

“I was definitely disappointed after yesterday’s race,” Vonn said of her performance on Friday’s super combined in which she skied out of the slalom course. “I skied too conservatively in the super G and didn’t really have anything going on in slalom. Today I came out charging, I knew that it was gong to be really difficult to win.”

The win scuttled Maze’s self-stated quest to win all three weekend World Cup ski races in St. Moritz. For her part, however, Maze was pleased with her results on Saturday.

“I would have liked to win and I gave all I could but I am still really happy with placing second here today,” said Maze. “Second day, second podium! That’s great!”

“The other girls are skiing so well, Tina (Maze) and Julia (Mancuso) and Maria (Hoefl-Riesch). It has been a tight field in super G. I’m definitely going to have to fight hard,” Vonn added. “The way Tina has been skiing is really great for the sport. I have a lot of respect for her and she is obviously skiing well in all five events. I’m only skiing well at the moment in downhill and super G.”

It was the 20^th super G podium of Vonn’s impressive career, placing her second in all-time SG wins behind Austrian great Hermann Maier (24). She is now five short of tying another Austrian, Annemarie Moser-Proell, for the women’s all-time World Cup win total with 62. Saturday’s super G podium was the second of the season for Mancuso. U.S. women have now captured eight of the possible 12 podium finishes this season in World Cup speed races.

“We just have a really good set-up now, with great coaches. We have a great role model like Lindsey to look up to. So, it’s just helping everyone to be fast,” Mancuso explained.

High winds forced organizers to lower the start of Saturday’s race, although no snow fell and the sun started poking out at the beginning of the race, unlike Friday’s super combined where flat light was the rule.

Following Saturday’s race, Maze now leads the overall by 167 points over Vonn, who is currently third behind Hoefl-Riesch, who finished fifth on Saturday. Mancuso is fifth in the overall standings.

In other U.S. results on Saturday, Leanne Smith of North Conway, N.H. was 15^th, followed closely by Bend, Ore.’s Laurenne Ross in 17^th. Stacey Cook, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., finished 26^th.

World Cup ski racing action closes in St. Moritz on Sunday with women’s giant slalom.

“Tomorrow is another race, another opportunity,” said Vonn, who admitted, “I have not been doing so well in the last GS races and hope I can turn it around.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
St. Moritz, Switzerland – Dec. 8, 2012
Women’s Super G