Arber-Zwiesel, Germany – American Olympic champion ski racers Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso opted to take Friday’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom off prior to Tuesday’s World Championship opening super G.nVonn prepared to race, but didn’t feel confident following her warm-up routine after suffering a mild concussion while training giant slalom Wednesday, while Mancuso had already planned to miss the race. Both will be on the start list for Saturday’s giant slalom.
“I got up this morning prepared to race, but after a few warm-up runs, I wasn’t feeling confident on my skis,” Vonn, of Vail, Colo., explained. “Normally I can fight through injuries, but head injuries are different. You can’t just grit your teeth and go. I’ll go through my normal routine tomorrow morning in Zwiesel and if things feel more normal, I’m hoping to start the giant slalom.”
Austrian Marlies Schild won her fifth slalom of the season, followed by Slovakian Veronika Zuzulova in second. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland completed the podium in third.
Canadian ski racer Marie-Michèle Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Quebec, had a solid result Friday with a seventh-place finish. It was the 22-year-old’s career best result in a World Cup slalom.
“Both courses were pretty difficult and irregular, which left a lot of space for those who attacked it,” said Gagnon, who started with bib No. 31. “I was really happy to qualify for the second run, because when your start bib is outside of the top 30 you know the course will be in bad shape and that there will be a lot of ruts.
Qualifying for the second run was exactly what I wanted,” added Gagnon, who clocked the third-fastest time of the second run. “For the second run, I just gave it my best. There was a lot of fog, but that doesn’t really matter in slalom because you basically just need to see the next gate in front of you. There was wind as well, but not enough to disturb the race.”
Gagnon’s Canadian teammate, Guelph, Ontario-based Erin Mielzynski, also had a career-best result with a 13th place finish. Resi Stiegler, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., topped Americans in 20th as 10 racers went out in the thick fog. The World Cup overall lead did not change as Germany’s Maria Riesch failed to finish the first run. Vonn currently sits in second in the overall standings behind Riesch.
“It was pretty gnarly up there. Visibility was definitely not easy at the top,” said U.S. Ski Team head women’s technical coach, Trevor Wagner. “Resi had an incredible first run and was skiing exactly like she has been in training. It was really good to see. Second run, she just was pushing too hard for those conditions and went too straight at the top, then couldn’t get back into here rhythm.
“They’re calling for less fog tomorrow,” added Wagner, “but a lot more wind. Hopefully we’ll be able to race. It’s been a long time since our last giant slalom and we’ve had a lot of great training.”
Mancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., was participating in more giant slalom training in Reiteralm, Austria, instead of racing in Friday’s slalom.
“I was originally planning to run the slalom, but changed my plan after Sestriere (Italy, the last World Cup stop prior to Friday’s race) in favor of some more giant slalom training prior to World Championships. “The training in Reiteralm was awesome. One day I had the entire place to myself and they gave me a snowmobile so I could make quicker laps. Hopefully the extra training pays off in tomorrow’s giant slalom and also next week at World Champs.”
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships open this Tuesday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany with women’s super G.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Arber-Zwiesel, Germany – Feb. 4, 2011
Slalom
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 1:55.19
2. Veronika Zuzulova, Slovakia, 1:55.87
3. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 1:56.97