Courchevel, France – Austria’s Marlies Schield won her second slalom World Cup ski race this season as she was the fastest skier down the course in Courchevel on Tuesday with a combined time of 1:34.95, beating the rest of the field by almost one full second.nSecond place was secured by Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen with a combined time of 1:35.73. This is the fourth time Poutiainen finished on the podium this season. The podium was completed by Tina Maze from Slovenia as she crossed the finish line with a combined time of 2:36.91. This is Maze’s first podium of the season.
Even though the race track was not very long or steep, the first course setting was difficult for the skiers to find their rhythm, resulting in 23 who failed to finish their first run.
Among the first run casualties were World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., and Germany’s Maria Riesch who sits second in the standings. Vonn had a solid run going until slamming the tip of her right ski into a gate 30 seconds into the course on a section that claimed multiple racers.
“It was a challenging course with offset rhythm, and a lot of very, very tight combinations,” said Vonn. “There was a lot of very strange things going on the course today, but as athletes you have to try to do the best you can.”
Olympic Valley, Calif.’s Julia Mancuso nonetheless produced her best Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom result since 2008, finishing 21st with teammate Resi Stiegler, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., in 23rd.
“It was like a survival first run and I definitely got pretty lucky,” said Mancuso. “I wanted to ski solid, but I guess I needed to be a little faster. It will be good to have a little break now over Christmas and then get back into it. I’m very fired up with how things are going.”
With the exception of the Aspen slalom, Mancuso has surged since landing double silver at the Vancouver Olympics, scoring top 25 finishes in every World Cup race this season including a super G third two weeks ago in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada.
“It was a good day for Julia to take advantage,” said U.S. Ski Team women’s technical Head Coach, Trevor Wagner. “She’s been training great slalom and just took it to the hill today.”
For Stiegler, who waved to the booming crowd of thousands then wished a worldwide television audience “Merry Christmas” after crossing the finish line, it was another huge leap toward regaining her World Cup form. She was 25th in Aspen, her first race back since suffering a severely broken leg two races into the Olympic season. Prior to that, she had been sidelined much of the two previous winters with an injury string that began in Dec. 2007.
“Resi is making some big steps,” said Wagner. “She just has to get used to skiing long courses and gaining some more endurance because right now she’s running out of energy on the last half of the course.”
In addition to Vonn and Reisch, the first run course also caused trouble for four-time Olympian Sarah Schleper, of Vail, Colo., and Boise, Idaho’s Hailey Duke, both of whom missed qualifying for the second run.
“Sarah was fourth at the split going onto the flats and then it got really swingy and caught up to her,” added Wagner. “Sarah’s stoked with her performance, she just didn’t look far enough ahead.”
No Canadians qualified for the second run. Erin Mielzynski, of Guelph, Ontario, finished 32nd after the first run, .16 seconds away from qualifying for the second run. Other Canadians were among the course set casualties as Anna Goodman (Pointe-Claire, Quebec), Marie-Michèle Gagnon (Lac-Etchemin, Quebec), Ève Routhier (Sherbrook, Quebec) and Brittany Phelan (Mont-Tremblant, Quebec) were not able to finish the first run.
Tuesday’s race marked the return of the World Cup to Courchevel for the first time since a men’s giant slalom in 1979. “I actually love the hill, it’s a perfect hill,” said Vonn. “The town is great and there are a ton of people here cheering loud for every racer.”
The next women’s World Cup event following the Christmas break will be in Simmerling, Austria, on Dec. 28-29 for giant slalom and slalom races.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Courchevel, France – Dec. 21, 2010
Slalom
1. Marlies Schild, Austra, 1:34.95
2. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 1:35.73
3. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 1:36.93
4. Maria Pietilae-Holmner, Sweden, 1:37.20
5. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 1:37.21