Lake Louise (AB), Canada – Frigid weather welcomed the women to Lake Louise on Friday, as German ski racer Maria Hoefl-Riesch earned her 25^th World Cup victory in the first downhill of the alpine circuit’s lone Canadian stop.

Extremely low temperatures combined with humidity to enshroud the middle part of the course in a thick layer of fog, forcing the jury and race organizers to delay the start by an hour. But Hoefl-Riesch was unfazed by the delay, and crossed the finish line .70 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland. Italy’s Elena Fanchini rounded out the podium in third, 1.20 seconds off the pace.

“I knew the line and knew what to do,” Hoefl-Riesch said as she celebrated her fourth victory in the Canadian Rockies. “After two good trainings days, I was hoping I would be able to replicate that today and I’m rally happy I did.”

Friday also marked the return of Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn, who finished a conservative 40^th in her first World Cup start since a season-ending injury last February.

“It just was the first race,” Vonn acknowledged after Hoefl-Riesch, her close friend, bested her by a long shot. “It’s tough to come to Lake Louise having not raced not only this season but since last February. So it was a little tough with the nerves. Now that I have that first race over, I think tomorrow I definitely can risk more and be more confident.

“I’m always a positive thinker and I was really optimistic that I could come down in my first race and win,” she added. “It was wishful thinking, but might as well shoot for the best. I was just too nervous. I was really tight and I skied that way. I wasn’t in a really deep tuck. I wasn’t pushing the line where I could have. I just kind of skied it and that’s not my style. I attack a race. Now that I have that first race under my belt I can go after it more tomorrow and know what to expect.”

U.S. Ski Team athlete Julia Ford shed a little light on a tough day for the U.S. women’s speed team, as the Plymouth, N.H. native finished a career-best 21^st.

“It feels really good after the health issues I had last year (concussion). It feels good to be back out here and charging in a healthy state,” said Ford. “Today was a step, but I want to go faster. I want to do better every day. Yesterday was a confidence boost because it was nice to throw one in there so you know you’re capable of doing that. So today was good, but I’m looking forward to being even closer to that top group. Today was a good step but I want to go even faster tomorrow.”

Teammate Julia Mancuso finished 26^th while the rest of the U.S. Ski Team finished outside the points.

“I have to be honest; I’m very disappointed with our results today,” admitted Chip White, head women’s downhill coach for the U.S. team. “It’s one of our most disappointing performances as a group. We have veterans on the team who didn’t perform as expected. Everyone was skiing on the line so I can’t say what was wrong. But we’ll look at video and evaluate tonight.”

The Canadian squad enjoyed better success on home snow, as Larisa Yurkiw put it all on the line and rocketed from starting position 51 into a career-best seventh-place finish.

“Today feels like a dream. I had the number seven in my head all day for some reason,” said Yurkiw, 25, of Owen Sound, Ontario. “It’s the most incredible feeling to ski as well as I can in front of my family and my country, and for myself.”

Yurkiw – who has one other top-10 result on the World Cup circuit from Tarvisio, Italy, in 2009 – was the only Canadian competing in Friday’s downhill. She clocked the fastest first interval time of the day and reached the highest overall speed on the bottom third of the course.

“I had a few points that I really wanted to cover today, but I know the intensity really gets brought up on race day,” she said. “I tried to meet it somewhere in the middle by being extra relaxed today. I feel really happy that I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup
Lake Louise (AB), Canada – Dec. 6, 2013
Women’s Downhill #1