ALPINE:

Riesch tops Mancuso, mistake costs Vonn in Cortina downhill

Jan. 22, 2011

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn made another massive mistake and handed victory to overall World Cup rival Maria Riesch in the traditional downhill in Cortina on Saturday.

Riesch had an error-free run and clocked 1 minute, 39.30 seconds on the sun-drenched Olympia delle Tofane course for her fourth win this season.

"Every win in downhill is special because Lindsey is so strong in this discipline. This race could become very important for the overall," said Riesch, who increased her overall lead ahead of Vonn to 165 points.

Julia Mancuso finished second, 0.91 seconds behind, and American teammate Vonn settled for third, 1.00 back.

Vonn was faster than Riesch through the first checkpoint but lost control on a right turn midway down. Her left ski slipped out wide, and the Minnesota native nearly did the splits and would have hit the fences at full speed if not for a strenuous recovery.

"I thought for sure I was going to crash," Vonn said. "But I just tried to keep fighting and for me just to come to the finish line today was a victory, and I'm really happy that I didn't crash and I'm still healthy."

Vonn also nearly wiped out in Wednesday's opening training session, and several of her recent races have been marked by spectacular recoveries. The three-time defending overall champion had an error-free run to win Friday's super-G, and she'll be looking to clean up her skiing for another super-G Sunday that will conclude the weekend.

"Funny things happen when you're skiing well and risking a lot — that's ski racing," said Vonn, who still holds a 63-point lead over Riesch in the downhill standings. "I have to just stay positive and I really hope that tomorrow I have a clean run."

Mancuso, meanwhile, is improving race by race, having finished fourth Friday. She took silver behind Vonn in last year's Olympic downhill, but hadn't finished as high as second in a World Cup race since a super-G here three years ago.

"With the level of competition now you have to have a perfect run. I made a few small mistakes and Maria skied perfect, so I'm still happy with second place," Mancuso said. "I think I'm just a couple of mistakes away from winning."

Swedish standout Anja Paerson had a slight bobble during her run and skied off course.

Attempting to return from injury, Nadia Fanchini of Italy started as a forerunner and fell with apparent knee damage.

For Canada, Britt Janyk finished 24th, Georgia Simmerling 37th and Victoria Stevens 46th.

"I definitely was hoping for a better result," said Janyk. "I made a couple of mistakes in the key parts of the course and that cost me a lot of time. I wasn't as fast as I would have hoped, but there are still some good things to take from my race today and that is what I will try to focus on.

"Two weeks ago I had two top-15s, so I know I can get good results," added Janyk. "I just need to keep my head up and keep doing my best. Just because I didn't have good results in the last two days, it doesn't mean I can't have a great result tomorrow. I just need to build on the good things and focus on the positive."

"It was a great day for racing, the weather was superb and the snow was perfect but it wasn't an easy day for us," said head coach Hugues Anzermoz. "Britt wasn't the Britt that we know and the one we saw a couple of weeks ago. She didn't make any big mistakes but it was little things that added up."

Saturday was Stevens' first race on the Cortina d'Ampezzo downhill course.

"As for the younger girls, we were hoping for better results but we have to look at the positive things we saw," said Anzermoz of Stevens' 46th-place finish. "This is one of the toughest downhills on the circuit, so for Vic to finish, it is really good. She improved in every run she had. She is gaining tremendous experience here and we need to build on that."

The race was run in perfect snow conditions, with the temperature measuring minus-14 Celsius (7 Fahrenheit). The several thousand fans in attendance, which included a brass band, were treated to the spectacular sight of skiers slicing straight through two jagged rock outcroppings near the top of the course, where athletes hit the fastest speeds of 125 kph (80 mph).

With the finish area halfway up the mountain, many fans took a break from their own skiing to stop and watch the race.

S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Cortina women's World Cup downhill results