Updated: 10:56 a.m. MST Tues., Feb. 8, 2011
Originally published: 10:22 a.m. MST Tues., Feb. 8, 2011
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – Olympic champion Julia Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., collected the fourth FIS Alpine Ski World Championship medal of her career Tuesday with a silver medal performance in Garmisch. Mancuso made up nearly half a second on the bottom of the rugged Kandahar super G course to finish just .05 behind Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. Germany’s Maria Riesch earned bronze as defending champion Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., battled the residual effects of a head injury to finish seventh.n”I was inspired to have a great run today. After looking at the course, it was simple,” Mancuso said of her silver medal run. “There weren’t any big tricks with the set, it was just about having a good run on some really difficult snow conditions.”
A week of warm days paired with cold nights had pummeled the track into a constant heat and freeze rotation. The result was mirror slick snow mixed with teeth rattling bumps on a course that balanced high speed turns through dense trees. Vonn called it “way too icy and downright unsafe” on her Facebook page yesterday, but Mancuso seemed unfazed.
“The conditions were definitely different than what we’ve seen on the World Cup, but in ski racing you have to be fast on everything,” Mancuso said. “You have to be fast in the gliding and you have to be fast in when it’s bumpy. It’s always a challenge for me and any challenge is good.”
Mancuso poured on the speed on the lower half of Tuesday’s course, where she made up nearly half a second.
“It almost seemed like Julia knew she over skied the top and had to make up some time,” explained U.S. Ski Team women’s Head Coach, Alex Hoedlmoser. “It was pretty impressive and should give her a huge confidence boost. The conditions were pretty much made for her. It was very challenging and she likes that.”
“The win was decided by a really small margin, but I’m definitely psyched with the silver,” said Mancuso. “I knew I was slow on top and I had to fight my way back onto the podium. Who knows, if I was a little faster in one part, I would have had it. It just gives me more motivation to one day get my gold.”
Vonn gave props to podium finishers Goergl, Mancuso and Riesch. After suffering a minor concussion during giant slalom training last week, Vonn wasn’t certain until the last minute that she’d enter today’s race.
“It’s not hard to see who the best was today, they really deserved it and I’m just disappointed I wasn’t quite with it, my head wasn’t in it,” Vonn said. “I didn’t get the chance to give my best and that was the biggest disappointment for me. But that’s the way it is and Lizzy, Jules and Maria skied great.”
“This is definitely very disappointing for Lindsey,” Hoedlmoser explained. “She realizes that you have to be 100 percent to be on the podium. She did a good job skiing the line, but it wasn’t the full-on all-out attack that she’s capable of. Hopefully she gets better through the downhill training runs because she has the potential to be right in there again.”
The two other U.S. racers entered in Tuesday’s super G, Laurenne Ross of Klamath Falls, Ore., and Conway, N.H.’s Leanne Smith, crossed the finish line in 16th and 19th, respectively. Smith was sidelined in 2009 after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) just weeks prior to Val d’Isere, while Ross has rapidly become a name to watch after slicing to top World Cup finishes in both downhill and super G during her rookie season. Hoedlmoser was pleased with their performance on Tuesday.
“Leanne and Laurenne did a good job,” he said. “This was probably one of the most challenging super G’s we’ve had and both of them executed very well.”
Stacey Cook, of Mammoth Mountain, Calif., wrapped up the U.S. results. She one of 10 racers who failed to finish their run, including Andrea Fischbacher of Austria, who lost both skis in a crash and slid into safety netting lining the course.
Whistler, British Columbia’s Britt Janyk was the top Canadian finisher on Tuesday, stopping the clock in 1:25.42, good enough for 15th place, just ahead of Ross.
“My race was good,” said the 30-year-old Janyk. “It’s a tough hill but I like it. The conditions were nothing like we have seen so far this year, it’s really icy and bumpy but because of the warm conditions the organizers had to make it that way.”
Janyk’s Canadian teammate Marie-Michele Gagnon finished 22nd, followed closely by another Quebecker, Marie-Pier Prefontaine in 24th. Despite their 15-22-24 performance, having three women in the top-30 represents Canada’s best result this season in a super G race.
“The girls had good races,” said team veteran Janyk. “It’s a tough hill and I had raced it before but they hadn’t so they had to make some adjustments. This shows that they are starting to learn how to inspect super G. It also shows that they can execute what they inspected, and that is a key component in speed racing. It was a good day for us.”
Next up on the Worlds calendar in Garmisch are the men’s super G race and women’s downhill training, both scheduled for Wednesday.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2011 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – February 8, 2011
Super G
1. Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 1:23.82
2. Julia Mancuso, Squaw Valley, CA, 1:23.87
3. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1:24.03