Reisch wins super-G; Vonn finishes 4th

Click to Enlarge Browse Vail Daily Photos Germany's Maria Riesch, left, winner of Monday's super-G, gestures with Lindsey Vonn in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Monday. Armando Trovati/AP Get Sports Feeds

Andrew Dampf
Associated Press
Vail, CO Colorado
January 21, 2008

Comments Print Email

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Maria Riesch posted her first victory of the season in a super-G on Monday and relaunched her bid for the overall World Cup title.

The German skied the Olympia delle Tofane course in 1 minute, 25.73 seconds.

Elisabeth Goergl finished second, 0.04 behind, and Austrian teammate Renate Goetschl was third, 0.20 back. Lindsey Vonn of the United States finished fourth, missing the podium by 0.01.

The original race was postponed last month due to bad weather in Aspen, Colo., and had been rescheduled for Friday. It was further delayed due to a snowstorm last week.

There were virtually no fans on an overcast Monday, and the temperature was much colder than it was for Sunday's super-G run on soft snow.

While the course was much harder, the warm conditions from the weekend left the snow bumpy enough to jar several skiers off course.

"Today, it was perfect for me," Riesch said. "The conditions were fair for everyone. Yesterday I was really disappointed. I was second and fifth in the other super-G's (this season) and 18th place was tough to accept mentally. But I just stayed cool and not too upset and I was optimistic for today."

Riesch trailed Goergl midway though her run, but made no mistakes on the more technical bottom section to claim her fifth career victory.

Riesch has struggled with injuries throughout her short career. She has had no problems this season, though, and is challenging for the overall World Cup title.

"It's possible, but my overall goal is to have many good races and end the season without injuries," Riesch said.

Overall leader Nicole Hosp lost her balance and skied off course 10 seconds into her run. She still leads the standings with 759 points. Vonn is second with 733 points, Riesch is third with 713 and Julia Mancuso is fourth with 679. Mancuso finished sixth Monday.

Vonn's downhill win Saturday combined with Mancuso's runner-up result in Sunday's super-G earned the U.S. squad the Cortina super trophy for the weekend's best overall team performance. It was the third straight year the Americans have won.

Riesch took the lead from Anja Paerson in the super-G rankings and now holds a 238-173 edge. Paerson, the triple world champion, finished 12th Monday.

Goetschl has a record 10 wins in Cortina and 22 podiums on the Tofane. She took a turn slightly too wide on the bottom section, which cost her the victory. Still, the podium result somewhat salvaged a disappointing weekend for the Austrian, who had won at least one race in Cortina in each of the past six seasons.

Vonn was the last favorite to start and established a lead of nearly three-tenths of a second midway through her run before she also made a slight error on the bottom.

"Sometimes you're on the right side of the hundredths and sometimes you're on the wrong side," Vonn said. "Everything happens for a reason.

"It was pretty much the same course as yesterday, just a little bumpier. I almost went out and I knew then I lost the race."

Mancuso went wide on a traverse on the upper section and recovered just in time to make the next gate.

Maria Holaus, the Austrian who won Sunday's super-G, skied into a gate and did not finish.