ALPINE:

Vonn wraps up super-G title with victory, Brydon 9th

Jan. 31, 2010 — The Canadian Press         

►Photos: Emily Brydon, above; Lindsey Vonn, below; Marie Marchand-Arvier, bottom (Agence Zoom)

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — Lindsey Vonn won a super-G race Sunday, clinching the discipline title in the final World Cup race before the Vancouver Olympics.

The 25-year-old American timed 1 minute, 1.77 seconds on the Corviglia piste for her ninth win of the season and third in super-G.

"It's a big relief to have that finished up before the Olympics," said Vonn, who also won the super-G title last season.

Marie Marchand-Arvier of France and Austria's Andrea Fischbacher, who crashed in Saturday's downhill, tied for second, trailing Vonn by 0.17 seconds.

Canadian Emily Brydon finished ninth. Brydon had the second-fastest time on the bottom of the course. She finished with a total time of 1:02.41 seconds, within half a second of the podium.

Shona Rubens continued her impressive weekend in St. Moritz, finishing 18th, a career best in super-G. Her final time was 1:02.81.

"There are definitely positives that we can take out of St. Moritz," said Patrick Riml, director of Canada's women’s alpine ski team. "Shona skied well this weekend, pushing hard and racing like we all know she is capable of."

"With Emily, it was a bit of a struggle yesterday (in the downhill), she was a little bit passive. Today was much better. She skied well and is not far from the podium," Riml said. "Now they've got a couple of days to rest before refocusing and getting some high-quality training in Canada prior to the Games."

Brydon enters the Olympic break as the top Canadian, 22nd in the World Cup super-G standings.

Marie-Michèle Gagnon, who has been racing and training in Europe since early November, did not compete to get a little extra rest prior to the Olympic Winter Games.

Marchand-Arvier got her best result since taking silver in super-G behind Vonn at last year's World Championships.

"It's a very good way to prepare for the Olympics," Marchand-Arvier said.

With the victory, Vonn extended her lead in the overall standings to 137 points over Maria Riesch of Germany, who finished 11th Sunday.

Vonn said she skied aggressively Sunday to "take revenge on the hill" after a disappointing fifth-place finish Saturday, when she lost her first World Cup downhill of the season after hitting a hole in the snow and losing too much speed.

Her first career win at St. Moritz was her 31st in World Cup races, lifting her into a tie for seventh on the all-time list with Erika Hess of Switzerland.

In a season marred by serious injuries, Nadia Fanchini was the latest victim of a nasty crash. The 23-year-old Italian's ski caught an edge, sending her tumbling forward through a control gate into a rolling fall. No details of her injuries were immediately available.

Fanchini won a bronze in downhill at last year's World Championships and was expected to challenge for an Olympic medal.

The women race next on Feb. 14 at Whistler Mountain for the gold medal in super-combined.

The race is on Rogers Sportsnet for the second consecutive day, beginning at 3 p.m. in the Eastern and Western viewing region, 2 p.m. in Ontario, 8 p.m. Pacific.  SRC

— Alpine Canada contributed to this report

St. Moritz women’s World Cup super-G results