ALPINE:

Riesch repeats, Vonn pulls off remarkable recovery for 2nd

Dec. 4, 2010      Photos: Lake Louise downhill podium; Winterstart scenics; Britt Janyk (Michel Painchaud)

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Germany's Maria Riesch stole Lindsey Vonn's thunder for the second straight day, winning Saturday's Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup downhill to confirm her status as the early favourite for the overall crystal globe.

Vonn, who had won five straight Lake Louise downhills before finishing second to Riesch on Friday,  pulled off a remarkable recovery midway through her run Saturday to claim the provisional lead. But Riesch descended a few racers later and eclipsed her American rival by a tenth of a second.

The German, who is more proficient at Vonn in the technical events, finished Saturday with a time of 1 minute, 29.60 seconds. Vonn was second in 1:29.70, with Swiss racer Dominique Gisin claiming third.

Sunday, Riesch will try to match the feat of Germany legend Katja Seizinger, who swept all three races at Lake Louise 13 years ago.

"We all skied to the limit and it was down to the one making the fewer mistakes," said Riesch, who leads the overall standings, 189 points ahead of Vonn.

"To finish second in these conditions is more than I could hope for. When I reached the finish area I thought I'd be 10th at best," said Vonn. "To stay in the race was a matter of power, coordination and control and it is satisfactory in spite of the defeat."

Georgia Simmerling led the Canadians in 34th, with Britt Janyk 43rd and Stephanie Irwin 45th. Janyk remained baffled as to why she wasn't getting more speed out of her skis. The 30-year-old was fourth and 10th in downhills here last year. Janyk even went back to the same boots she went with last year for Saturday's race.

"It's just trying to find the answer," she said. "There can be so many little things that can play in there, especially in the downhill events. There seems to be something missing there and it's really important moving forward to keep working well with my coaches and my [ski] technician and all of us finding little solutions here and there.

"Hopefully it will come together."

Riesch is the first woman from her country to win back-to-back downhills at Louise since Katja Seizinger in 1997.

A year ago, it was Vonn winning back-to-back downhills. Riesch, who is nearly 6 feet tall, is giving early notice that she will challenge her friend and American rival this season for the overall World Cup title.

"I hope so, of course, that's a big aim for me," Riesch said. "That last three years I had no chance because she was so dominating in downhill and super-G.

"I was hoping I can keep up with her in downhill because last year I was on the right way, but not often enough. It's still good to have good results at the beginning of the season for your confidence. Every single point is in important."

Seizinger is the only woman to sweep three races at Louise. Riesch doesn't feel as confident in that discipline.

"The last three years, my super-G performance was not so great," said the 26-year-old from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. "I feel good now of course after two wins in downhills, but still I think super-G is weaker for me. I'll try my best and then we will see."

Riesch was silky smooth over a course that claimed a few skiers in crashes or missed gates.

Riesch tore ligaments in both knees in 2005 and by the time she returned to form, Vonn was winning a lot of the races.

Riesch spent more time training in speed events this year in Chile, in addition to a camp in New Zealand working on slalom and giant slalom.

"This was really important for speed training," Riesch said. "In the fall, you don't have as many possibilities for speed training. We had really good speed training in Chile and then the only day on long skis was in Vail 10 days ago, so it was definitely a good decision to go to Chile.

Saturday's postrace buzz was as much about Vonn's recovery after falling on the course as it was about Riesch's victory.

Vonn, the defending overall World Cup champion and reigning Olympic gold medallist in downhill, slipped and went down on her left hip entering a section of the course named Fall Away, but made an impressive recovery on the slope's face and actually made up time on the bottom section.

" 'Just get back up and keep going.' That's all I was thinking of," Vonn said. "I was sliding on my hip for a ways and somehow got my feet out in front of me and stopped the skis and stood back up. I just didn't want to get zero points.

"When I got to the finish, I was sure I was going to be in 10th place and somehow I managed to pick up that time and still stay on the podium."

Last year, Vonn bit her tongue and crossed the finish line with blood dribbling from her mouth after her knee connected with her chin during the race, but she won the first of her two downhills anyway.

“I’m happy with another second place today,” Vonn said. “It’s a little painful losing by one-tenth of a second again. I made a huge mistake, I caught an edge and went down on my hip on the top part of the steeps. I avoided what could have been a pretty bad crash, so I’m happy with that, and it was definitely a positive day despite losing by a tenth. I was looking for revenge today, but it didn’t quite happen for me, but my skiing is definitely there, and tomorrow is going to be another day to try and get back at Maria a bit.”

Gisin, who had never been on the podium in Lake Louise, said she was disappointed with her result in Friday’s downhill, in which she finished 15th, but was thrilled to make up for it Saturday.

“I’m really happy, a podium is just great here in Lake Louise — my best result,” Gisin said. “With the sun shining, it was awesome today. Yesterday it was pretty tough and I was all over the place, but today it worked out and everything is OK. I just tried to ski down solid and stable and I think it’s important for me to be more stable and less daring.”

Italy’s Daniela Merighetti also had a solid day, finishing in fourth place, followed by Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl in fifth, Julia Mancuso of the United States in sixth, Tina Maze of Slovenia in seventh and Gina Stechert of Germany in eighth.

Austria’s Anna Fenninger and Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter ended up in a tie for ninth position, each capturing a second top-10 result in as many days.

The course was shortened by almost 150 metres because the upper portion of the track was deemed too icy.

"It's getting slicker and slicker and slicker," Vonn said. "[Course workers] were walking up the hill today with crampons on and that helped a little bit on the lower section, but because of the injection it's incredibly hard to find an edge and makes it, I think, for the women too challenging, but you have to deal with the circumstances you're given."

Riesch called the course one of the toughest Lake Louise courses she's skied over the years because of icy sections. Vonn has spoken against the practice of injection in the past.

"Whenever someone is outspoken about something, you're usually going to get flak for it, but my main concern is the safety of the athletes and if I think something can be done better then I'm going to voice my opinion," Vonn said. "The injection may be great for the men, but it's too much for the women."

The race was held under sunny skies and minus-10 temperatures.

Sunday’s Super-G race is scheduled for 11 a.m. local time. S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press, Reuters and fisalpine.com contributed to this report

Lake Louise women's World Cup Dec. 4 downhill results