ALPINE:

Rebensburg wins GS, Vonn closes gap on Riesch

March 11, 2011

SPINDLERUV MLYN, Czech Republic — Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany won the next-to-last women's World Cup giant slalom of the season, while Lindsey Vonn of the United States narrowed the overall World Cup lead of Germany's Maria Riesch.

It was the third career victory for Rebensburg, who took the lead after the opening run and was also fastest in the second on the Black course to finish with a combined time of 2 minutes, 15.22 seconds.

The win moved her to the top of the discipline standings.

"I'm really happy. It was a good race for me, it couldn't be better," Rebensburg said.

With one more giant slalom to come, Rebensburg leads with 435 points. Tessa Worley of France, who was leading before Friday's race with 358 points, skied off in the first round and is second.

Denise Karbon of Italy was second, 1.26 seconds behind and three-time overall defending champion Vonn was 1.45 back in third for her first GS podium.

Vonn produced her best giant slalom result at the right time to reduce the overall World Cup lead of her major rival and friend Riesch from 96 to 38 points. There are still five more races.

"I've been trying my whole career to get to top three in a giant slalom. It means a lot to me. It feels amazing," Vonn said. "It couldn't be at a better time."

The previous best GS result for Vonn was the fourth place at Aspen, Colo., in 2008.

"I just tried to ski the best I can in both runs," she said. "It was the first time I finally had two clean runs from the top to the bottom."

After placing eighth in the first run, Vonn was cruising down the course in the second, clocking the second-best time of 1:09.04 for a combined 2:16.67.

It was a different story for Riesch, who lost her balance and almost missed a gate halfway through the second run before she returned to finish the race in a disappointing 29th place.

"I made a huge mistake, " Riesch said. "I actually went out and I just skied on to get at least some points. You never know what's going on in the end."

She got two points while Vonn collected 60 for her third place.

"Today, it's a very bad day for me," Riesch said. "I try to concentrate on tomorrow and do it better."

Vonn, who started behind Riesch in the second run said she didn't know about her rival's problem.

"I actually thought she was winning because the crowd was really excited and I couldn't understand what they were saying so I had to assume she was winning," Vonn said. "I had the same approach in the second run as I did in the first run. I just tried to be aggressive, to ski with clean arcs, and it worked well."

The skiers with low-numbered bibs seemed to benefit in the first run that took place in light rain and warm conditions with the temperature above freezing.

Vonn made a mistake on the lower part of the course.

"I think that cost me some time but overall that was a good first run," Vonn said. "It looks like its getting slower and slower. It's harder and harder for people to come in with fast times.

Vonn said a crash she had in slalom training Wednesday that left her with a bruise just under her left eye didn't limit her skiing.

"It just looks bad but it doesn't affect my skiing in any way," Vonn said. "Every time I train a GS or slalom, it's always something."

The American hit her head in a crash in early February while practicing for the giant slalom in Austria, and was forced to skip the second half of last month's World Championships to recover from a concussion.

"I will try to approach tomorrow's race in the same way I did today," Vonn said.

Préfontaine, of Saint-Sauveur, Que., finished 18th with a two-run combined time of 2:18.14 seconds.  She finished 26th in the overall standings in giant slalom, just missing out on qualification for the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, starting next Wednesday. Only the top 25 in each category qualify for the finals.

"My goal was to be in the top 15 to qualify for the World Cup Finals, but it didn't happen," said Préfontaine. "It's a little disappointing but I'm still happy that I made the top 30. I improved a lot this season and I have a lot more confidence. It's just too bad that it took me this long in the season to actually start racing like this.

"I'm happy how I've improved and the coaches are too. Next year I will qualify."

Préfontaine had her best career result in Arber-Zwiesel, Germany, in February when she finished ninth in the giant slalom.

"It was an OK race and the girls did some good things," said head coach Hugues Ansermoz. "The only problem is that Marie-Pier was 0.06 seconds away from qualifying for the World Cup Finals today. She is three points behind and had she been 0.06 seconds faster, she would have made it into the overall top 25.

"It's a shame that Marie-Pier's season is ending right now because her last two giant slalom races were really good."

Lac-Etchemin, Que., based athlete Gagnon finished in 19th place with a time of 2:18.15.

Gagnon, 22, qualified for the World Cup Finals in giant slalom, finishing in 16th place with a total of 87 points. She had her career-best result this season in giant slalom when she finished fifth in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

"After finishing fifth this year, I expected more," said Gagnon. "Since I did all of the events this season, my giant slalom skiing wasn't as good as it has been. I needed to go back to the basics. My run was average, nothing spectacular, but there are still some great things that came out of it.

"In the finals, I will be in the top 15, so I'm really excited for that. I'll get to go to my first bib draw."

A slalom is scheduled at the northern Czech resort for Saturday before the women's circuit moves to Lenzerheide, Switzerland, for the March 16-20 World Cup Finals.

Watch Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., finish second in Friday's men’s downhill on Rogers Sportsnet West at 4 p.m. ET, 2 p.m. ET in Ontario and 10:30 p.m. ET on Rogers Sportsnet Pacific.

On Saturday, CBC's main network is screening the women's slalom at 1 p.m. ET and Saturday's second men's downhill at 5 p.m.

Sunday's men's super-G is also on Rogers Sportsnet West on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET (Rogers Sportsnet Pacific is showing the race at 4:30 p.m. ET; Sportsnet Ontario at 4 p.m. ET.).

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Spindleruv Mlyn women’s World Cup giant slalom results