Semmering, Austria - Reigning World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) marked her third slalom podium of the year, taking the number three spot in Semmering Monday. Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) had a career-best finish, coming in eighth. Germany’s Maria Riesch won for her second slalom victory in a row.
Riesch, the leader after the opening run, beat out Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen by 0.21 seconds. Vonn finished in a two-run time of 1:56.69.

“Slalom has been going really well for me this season. It’s such a big difference from last year and I feel really good about it,” Vonn said. “Today, for sure, I didn’t have a great first run but I was able to come back. I fought hard.”

According to Vonn, the second run course was more her racing style and that’s where she gained her speed.

“The second run was a great course and it definitely suited me better so I tried to use that opportunity,” Vonn said. “I was able to make up some time. It wasn’t enough to get the top spot, but it’s OK, I’m really happy with third.”

For U.S. Ski Team Women’s Alpine Tech Coach Trevor Wagner, Vonn’s second runs are her strength this season.

“She poured it on in the second run. That seems to be where she is really strong this year. She skied a lot more aggressively right out of the start,” Wagner said. “She is really an all around skier. She’s capable of being on the podium in every event.”

Vonn’s next slalom is in Zagreb and, she hopes, will be an opportunity for her to regain her lead in the slalom.

“Zagreb is great. I didn’t race there last year because of the schedule, so I’m excited for it and hopefully I can get the red [slalom leader's] bib back.” Vonn said.

Vonn, who marked her 35th World Cup podium on Monday, retains the overall lead in the World Cup standings.

Career-best for Duke

Following Vonn for the U.S. was Hailey Duke (Boise, ID), who had a career-best finish, coming in eighth. Duke made the first second run of her career in the Aspen Winternational World Cup.

“It was a total surprise. The whole experience was pretty cool,” Duke said. “I love night slalom, so the whole atmosphere was a big party. Standing at the bottom watching people come down, I was psyched.”

According to Wagner, Duke has been putting in the training hours to get where she is.

“For Hailey it’s an incredible day,” Wagner said. “All the stuff that she’s been working on is finally clicking. In the last 10 days or so it has clicked and the last two slaloms have been great.”

Duke plans to follow her same routine, which she believes will get her where she wants to be.

“I’ll just keep working on the things I have been. There’s more confidence, more stuff in the bank, and I’m just going to keep charging,” Duke said. “I have to keep throwing myself down the hill because I’m not there yet. I just want to keep doing it and keep getting those second runs under the belt.”

Mancuso rounded out the U.S. women in the top 30, finishing 16th for her best slalom result this season.

Acton best among Canadians

Brigitte Acton (Mont-Tremblant, QC) was near a career best result, finishing 19th Monday while Anna Goodman (Pointe Claire, QC) had one of the best second runs of her career to place 21st overall.

“I don’t think the fact it was a night slalom worked to my advantage or disadvantage today. I tried to make sure that it did not affect my preparation. It was a slight advantage for me in that I had just returned from North America and I’ve had a bit of the flu. Having the race start a little later allowed me to get maybe a little more rest, which was good,” said Acton, whose career best SL result is 18th in Aspen in 2006.

Acton, who was 23rd after the opening run, finished in a two-run combined time of exactly two minutes.

Goodman was 29th after the opening run but, boosted by the sixth fastest second run, she ended up 21st in a two-run combined time of 2:00.28.

“It’s just great that it is the two of us. We have been friends since we were kids and we make sure that it’s a lot of fun and we are having a good time. We can also push each other at the same time,” Acton said. “We are both skiing really well but neither of us are satisfied, we know that better results are out there.”

Next up: Croatia

The women compete next in Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 4, one of three ladies slalom races to come in the month of January..

“We’ve got good slalom going on now and if we roll in there and ski like we were skiing here it could be as good or even better,” Wagner said.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2009 AUDI FIS WORLD CUP
Semmering, Austria - Dec. 29, 2008
Women’s Slalom

1. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1:55.97
2. Tanja Poutiainen, Finland, 1:56.18
3. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 1:56.69
4. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 1:56.90
5. Sarka Zahrobska, Czech Republic, 1:57.04

source: firsttracksonline.com

Two weeks after stunning spectators when he came from 65th to finish second in a downhill in Lake Louise, Switzerland’s Carlo Janka clinched his career first World Cup win during a giant slalom in Val d’Isere. The U.S. Ski Team’s Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) struggled under tough light and snow conditions to finish 12th.

The men’s giant slalom, along with the rest of this weekend’s alpine coverage, will be webcast on demand at UniversalSports.com.

Italy’s Massimiliano Blardone took second in the giant slalom and Gauthier De Tessieres of France was third.

According to Ligety, conditions on the course were desirable as the first six racers took their runs, but shifted after that to little light and a choppy course. For example, De Tessieres, 30th after the opening run, had the fastest second run going out first and nearly held on for the win, eventually taking a career best third.

“It’s tough when they start a race and the first six guys who go down get perfect conditions and then it gets blacked out and you can’t see anything. You couldn’t see the ground below you,” Ligety said. “Every single guy around me was just hacking their way down. I tried to go hard but it was just too hard to do when it was that bumpy.”

It has been nearly two years since Ligety, the reigning World Cup giant slalom champion, has finished outside the top 10.

“You have to ski well, as well, but the light really does make a big difference,” Ligety said. “It was hard to struggle your way down that with the light conditions the way they were.”

Reigning overall World Cup champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) was the only other U.S. skier to make it down both runs, finishing 24th on the tricky course.

Men’s Alpine Head coach Sasha Rearick agreed that the conditions on Saturday’s hill were challenging, but said that Ligety did a great job..

“Today was a tremendous challenge,” Rearick said. “Ted was attacking the first run and made a mistake - his ski got caught up between the ice and the grippy snow. He made a fantastic recovery. To be in the top 10 after the first run was amazing.”

The men compete again in a slalom on Sunday in Val d’Isere, the site of the 2009 FIS World Championships this February.

“The guys are skiing slalom well. They’ve had good preparation,” Rearick said.

source: sportsnetwork.com