Feb. 26, 2010 — SRC Staff Report

►Photos: Marlies Schild (Paul Morrison, SRC); Maria Riesch (Agence Zoom); Sarka Zahrobska (PM); bottom, Erin Mielzynski (PM); home page, Riesch in action (PM)

WHISTLER, B.C. — Maria Riesch of Germany won the slalom title for her second gold medal of the Winter Olympics on Friday, as Lindsey Vonn skied out chasing her second victory.

Riesch led after the first leg and had a combined two-run time of 1 minute, 42.89 seconds through the snow and fog on Friday.

Marlies Schild of Austria was 0.43 second back to take silver, adding to her bronze in the same event at the 2006 Torino Games.

Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic trailed by 1.01 to get bronze.

Brigitte Acton was 17th to lead the Canadians, with Anna Goodman 19th, Erin Mielzynski 20th and Marie-Michele Gagnon 31st.

Germany's alpine women have enjoyed a stellar Olympics, winning three of the five women's races.

Riesch also took the super-combined and returned to the top step of the podium 24 hours after 20-year-old teammate Viktoria Rebensburg got gold in the giant slalom.

Riesch stood at the start with 0.65 in hand on Schild, who was third-fastest in the first run, but knowing her Austrian rival had set a tough target.

"I heard the Austrian coaches celebrating behind me, so I knew I really needed to attack. Otherwise you get silver," Riesch said. "It worked perfectly."

The result comes as Canadian ski racing marks the 50th anniversary of Anne Heggtveit's Olympic slalom victory in Squaw Valley, Calif. It was the first alpine gold medal in Canadian Olympic Winter Games history.

Acton led the Canadians, finishing in 1:45.93.

"I am not that happy with my second run, that's for sure," said Acton, who was 11th after the opening run. "I am really disappointed but the energy here is lifting me up because I have never felt anything like it racing on home soil."

Goodman was not far behind her teammate, finishing 19th. Goodman raced despite tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee while competing on the World Cup in January. As a result of the injury, she had a limited number of days on snow in advance of the Olympics and will require surgery after the Games.

"I am still happy with how it turned out. I think that all my hard work paid off," said Goodman. "It's a little hard but at the same time I am still happy to be here. There were some times that I didn't think I would make it (to the 2010 Games)."

Mielzynski, who like Goodman and Gagnon was competing in her first Olympics, placed 20th.  Gagnon struggled in the opening run, placing 42nd, but improved dramatically in the second run to end up in 31st position.

Heggtveit's accomplishments 50 years ago were honoured at a Canadian Ski Museum event in Ottawa Thursday night.

Downhill champion Vonn straddled a gate early in her first run and did not finish for the third time in five races.

Vonn was waiting to greet her best friend Riesch at the finish and told her: "Awesome, I'm so proud of you."

Riesch was fast in the top half of her second run but lost some speed in the flats in the middle.

She appeared tired as she approached a closing straight series of gates with the finish-area crowd roaring her on.

Riesch reached forward for the line and, seeing her victory confirmed, crouched forward with both fists clenched in delight. She punched the air then fell to the snow in delight.

Minutes before her run, Riesch's younger sister, Susanne, who was fourth in the morning, skied out when poised to take the lead. The 22-year-old Riesch straddled a gate and lay back flat in the snow in dismay. Siblings haven't medaled in the same alpine event since American twins Phil and Steve Mahre went 1-2 in slalom at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics.

"Fortunately, I didn't get (that news) at the start. That would have not been good for me, for sure," Maria Riesch said.

Riesch is competing at her first Olympics at age 25 after being sidelined by a season-ending injury four years ago.

It's the fourth straight Winter Games that one woman has taken gold in at least two of the five alpine events.

Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister won the downhill and super-G at Torino in 2006; Janica Kostelic of Croatia got three — slalom, giant slalom and combined — at Salt Lake City in 2002; and Germany's Katja Seizinger was downhill and combined champion at Nagano in 1998.

Schild got a fourth medal for the Austrian women's alpine team at Whistler. Austria's men have failed to get a medal in their four events so far.

Schild's boyfriend, Benjamin Raich, is a strong candidate to end that shutout for the "Wunderteam" in the closing slalom Saturday.
Zahrobska, who won slalom gold at the 2007 World Championships, is the first skier from the Czech Republic to win an Olympic alpine medal.

Defending champion Anja Paerson was 20th after the first run and failed to finish her second trip down in what she said was "probably" her last Olympics race.

The 28-year-old Swede was chasing a record seventh career Olympic medal in women's Alpine racing. Her bronze in super-combined last week tied her former rival, Croatian great Janica Kostelic, with six.

Paerson overshot a turn and could not make a right-hand gate, went off-course and then skied down waving to fans. She performed a farewell bow in the finish area.

In the morning run, Vonn could not correct her line after her right, outside ski slid away coming out of a left-hand turn.

"I went out there fighting and it just wasn't my day," said Vonn, who will leave the Vancouver Games with a gold medal from her signature downhill event and a bronze in the super-G. "I'm totally satisfied with everything I have done here. I have the gold medal I came here for."

On a day of difficult weather conditions, racers went through a steady fall of wet snow in the morning.

Course workers scraped the slushy surface between runs to create a more solid and consistent racing track that would better hold the women's sharp-edged skis.

With fog gathering during the second run, television pictures showed racers outlined on a hazy, smoky background along the top half of the course. SRC

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Rank	Bib	FIS Code	Name	Year	Nation	Run 1	Run 2	Total Time
1	5	206001	RIESCH Maria	1984	GER	50.75	52.14	1:42.89
2	7	55590	SCHILD Marlies	1981	AUT	51.40	51.92	1:43.32
3	1	155415	ZAHROBSKA Sarka	1985	CZE	51.15	52.75	1:43.90
4	9	505760	PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria	1986	SWE	51.64	52.58	1:44.22
5	6	195972	AUBERT Sandrine	1982	FRA	51.68	52.78	1:44.46
6	3	185140	POUTIAINEN Tanja	1980	FIN	51.67	53.26	1:44.93
7	31	55576	GOERGL Elisabeth	1981	AUT	53.01	51.96	1:44.97
8	18	295435	GIUS Nicole	1980	ITA	51.71	53.30	1:45.01
9	14	565243	MAZE Tina	1983	SLO	52.28	52.81	1:45.09
10	29	705287	ZUZULOVA Veronika	1984	SVK	52.11	53.03	1:45.14
11	16	296259	MOELGG Manuela	1983	ITA	53.09	52.22	1:45.31
12	8	385032	JELUSIC Ana	1986	CRO	52.37	53.06	1:45.43
13	4	55838	ZETTEL Kathrin	1986	AUT	52.59	53.00	1:45.59
14	11	206279	GEIGER Christina	1990	GER	52.10	53.52	1:45.62
15	15	505679	HANSDOTTER Frida	1985	SWE	52.50	53.17	1:45.67
16	26	536481	SCHLEPER Sarah	1979	USA	51.83	54.05	1:45.88
17	25	106527	ACTON Brigitte	1985	CAN	52.11	53.82	1:45.93
18	30	295445	KARBON Denise	1980	ITA	53.44	52.50	1:45.94
19	23	106633	GOODMAN Anna	1986	CAN	53.01	53.03	1:46.04
20	37	106961	MIELZYNSKI Erin	1990	CAN	52.60	53.49	1:46.09
21	17	505610	BORSSEN Therese	1984	SWE	52.97	53.74	1:46.71
22	36	355040	NIGG Marina	1984	LIE	53.78	53.05	1:46.83
23	24	565320	FERK Marusa	1988	SLO	53.20	53.83	1:47.03
24	43	705349	GANTNEROVA Jana	1989	SVK	53.54	53.92	1:47.46
25	27	385027	FLEISS Nika	1984	CRO	53.68	53.91	1:47.59
26	38	196726	BARTHET Anne-Sophie	1988	FRA	53.82	54.01	1:47.83
27	39	65038	PERSYN Karen	1983	BEL	54.09	53.87	1:47.96
28	49	485563	PROSTEVA Elena	1990	RUS	54.20	54.14	1:48.34
29	21	196806	NOENS Nastasia	1988	FRA	54.49	54.08	1:48.57
30	32	537792	DUKE Hailey	1985	USA	54.02	54.67	1:48.69
31	33	105269	GAGNON Marie-Michele	1989	CAN	55.64	53.87	1:49.51
32	53	315187	IGNJATOVIC Nevena	1990	SRB	55.27	55.21	1:50.48
33	52	485505	RAYANOVA Lyaysan	1989	RUS	55.13	55.69	1:50.82
34	42	385034	FERK Matea	1987	CRO	54.95	55.98	1:50.93
35	44	435210	GASIENICA DANIEL Agnieszka	1987	POL	57.06	55.13	1:52.19
36	50	35089	SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena	1984	ARG	56.84	55.51	1:52.35
37	51	695063	MATSOTSKA Bogdana	1989	UKR	56.46	56.54	1:53.00
38	64	665009	SHKANOVA Maria	1989	BLR	56.92	57.58	1:54.50
39	47	385041	NOVOSELIC Sofija	1990	CRO	58.17	56.74	1:54.91
40	61	715123	NOVAKOVIC Zana	1985	BIH	58.19	57.76	1:55.95
41	70	115115	BARAHONA Noelle	1990	CHI	58.74	59.08	1:57.82
42	73	395010	NURMBERG Tiiu	1982	EST	58.91	59.08	1:57.99
43	68	345018	NJEIM Chirine	1984	LIB	58.97	59.23	1:58.20
44	65	245059	DOEME Zsofia	1992	HUN	58.74	59.58	1:58.32
45	72	245051	BERECZ Anna	1988	HUN	59.81	59.82	1:59.63
46	58	325061	KIM Sun Joo	1985	KOR	59.70	1:00.33	2:00.03
47	66	235110	RALLI Sophia	1988	GRE	59.32	1:01.09	2:00.41
48	79	685018	TSIKLAURI Nino	1993	GEO	59.77	1:02.55	2:02.32

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Riesch rips to 2nd gold, topping slalom field