ALPINE:

Vonn edges Riesch, Janyk 9th, in Cortina super-G

Jan. 23, 2011

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy ― Lindsey Vonn skied through pain in her left knee to win another super-G race Sunday, claiming her sixth victory of the season by a small margin over German rival Maria Riesch.

It was the second win in three days for Vonn, who also finished first in a super-G Friday on the Olympia delle Tofane course.

Vonn clocked 1 minute, 22.64 seconds on another perfectly clear day in the Dolomite range, beating overall World Cup leader Riesch by a mere 0.05 seconds. Swiss teenager Lara Gut finished third, 0.88 back.

Vonn's American teammate Julia Mancuso was fourth, while Swedish standout Anja Paerson placed fifth.

Vonn hurt her knee while pulling off a strenuous recovery during Saturday's downhill, in which she finished third. She skipped the downhill awards ceremony and received therapy throughout Saturday afternoon and evening and took a few painkillers to get through Sunday's race.

Vonn's speed coach Chip White set the course and many skiers flew wide over a jump three-quarters of the way down and couldn't make the next gate. Those who went out included Anna Fenninger, the Austrian who finished third Friday; Olympic super-G champion Andrea Fischbacher; former overall champion Nicole Hosp; Tina Maze of Slovenia; Fabienne Suter of Switzerland; and local favourite Elena Fanchini of Italy.

It was the 39th career win for Vonn and her fifth in Cortina, tying her with retired Italian standout Isolde Kostner. Austrian great Renate Goetschl holds the record with 10 wins in Cortina.

Riesch was the first of the favorites to ski and jumped a bit too far, almost missing the final gate heading into the finish area. The slight error likely cost her the win.

Riesch still holds a 155-point lead over Vonn in the overall standings, while Vonn leads Riesch 380-229 in the super-G ranks.

Vonn started immediately after Riesch and made virtually no errors as a few thousand spectators watched her descent on the jumbo screen in the finish area to the disco tune of "Barbra Streisand."

Wearing her new self-designed Hawaiian racing suit featuring green tropical flowers, Mancuso skied after Vonn and made a slight error toward the end of her run that cost her a podium spot. Still, Mancuso was content with her weekend, which also included a fourth-place finish Friday and a runner-up result Saturday ― her best World Cup finish in three years.

Mancuso can also look forward to next weekend's races across northern Italy in Sestriere, the site of her giant slalom victory at the 2006 Torino Olympics. The super-combined and super-G races there represent the penultimate stop before next month's World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Janyk, wearing bib No. 27, matched her best result of the season when she finished ninth in the super-G in Zauchensee, Austria, two weeks ago. She crossed the finish line Sunday in a time of 1:24.42.

"It was a good day and I'm happy about my result," said the 30-year-old. "I have great confidence in my super-G skills and today confirmed once again that I am a good super-G skier. It was a great race, a great course and great conditions."

After finishing 22nd in Friday's super-G and 24th in the downhill event, Janyk never gave up hope of getting a better result.

"The coaches and staff really believe in me and they are behind me 100 percent, so it's good to know that I have that," said Janyk. "In the last two days there were a few places where I was missing speed and I watched a lot of video and analyzed where I could be faster. I knew it was something I could fix so I didn't let it get me down. It's easy to let the other results go and move forward with the next races."

"It was a very tactical course today with a lot of difficult sections," said head coach Hugues Anzermoz. "Britt really skied those sections well and she knew where to be at the right time. It was a course that suited her technical abilities and she made the most of it.

"Right out of the gate we saw a Britt that was ready to attack and be aggressive. Even with her rough week, she managed to put that behind and have a better day."

Marie-Pierre Préfontaine, from Saint-Sauveur, Que., who is generally better known as a giant slalom skier, finished 36th with a time of 1:27.10.

Georgia Simmerling, from West Vancouver, B.C., was among the 17 athletes that were not able to finish the race. S-Magazine

— The Canadian Press and Alpine Canada contributed to this report

Cortina women's World Cup super-G results