Arber-Zwiesel, Germany – Defending Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany took the wire-to-wire victory in Sunday’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom delayed one day and nearly three additional hours by fog after lowering the start to the minimum.nRebensburg secured victory with a combined time of 1:36.96. Italy’s Federica Brignone was second in 1:37.49, followed by Austria’s Kathrin Zettel in 1:37.85.
Three-time Audi FIS Alpine World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., finished 18th and now trails Germany’s Maria Riesch by 156 points in the overall standings heading into the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, which open Tuesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
“They were so desperate to get this GS completed we had to wait it out. But it always comes at an expense, especially for Lindsey and Julia (Mancuso) who need to go straight into the super G and downhill training runs and then into the tech races,” explained U.S. Ski Team women’s Head Coach, Alex Hoedlmoser. “It’s going to be a lot of days in a row and is far from ideal preparations for the World Championships.”
Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., finished the day in 25th just behind Vail, Colo.’s Sarah Schleper, who crossed the finish line in 21st.
“Sarah definitely has it,” Hoedlmoser said. “She makes some sweet turns and then makes mistakes and it just kills her, especially on a tough course like we had today.”
Canada’s Marie-Pier Préfontaine secured her first World Cup top-10 finish in 9th, giving Canadian women some confidence heading into the World Championships. The Saint-Sauveur, Quebec skier laid down a storming second run to beat her previous career-best World Cup result, a 24th at St. Moritz in December, 2010.
“It feels great. It finally happened,” said Préfontaine. “I didn’t ski my best on the first run but I was still in there and I just attacked the second run as hard as I could.”
Préfontaine’s Canadian teammate, Marie-Michèle Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Quebec, was 29th following her career-best seventh in Friday’s slalom. Brittany Phelan, of Mont Tremblant, Quebec, didn’t qualify for the second run.
The Alpine World Championships get underway on Tuesday with women’s super G.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Arber-Zwiesel, Germany – February 6, 2011
Giant Slalom
1. Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany, 1:36.96
2. Federica Brignone, Italy, 1:37.49
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 1:37.85