If you told World Cup reigning women’s queen Lindsey Vonn that she’d have a 23-point lead in the overall standings entering 2009—having raced in only one downhill—the 24-year-old would have accepted that situation, without question.
Vonn’s downhill success last winter lifted the 5-10, 160-pounder from Minnesota to her first World Cup overall title. She won the DH globe by 307 points and grabbed the overall by 220 over Austria’s Nicole Hosp. Last season, Vonn had only 46 points in slalom, good for 32nd place.
Now Vonn is nearly bulletproof in the slalom gates. She has three slalom podiums in the four SL races to date including Monday’s third-place finish at the Austrian spa of Semmering outside of Vienna. Her tally? A total 290 slalom points, in second place just 10 points back in SL.
Germany’s Maria Riesch won her second straight slalom at Semmering and kept the SL discipline lead 300 to 290 over Vonn. The next-best skier is CzechRepublic gate ace Sarka Zahrobska in third place with 224.
The two rivals are also best friends. Along with her husband Thomas, Vonn spent Christmas with Riesch’s family in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. As of today, Riesch (507 points) stands in second place in the overall standings just 23 points behind U.S. leader Vonn (530).
More news Monday was Sun Valley native Hailey Duke had her career-best finish with an eighth-place in the Semmering slalom. Previously, at Aspen, Colo. Nov. 30, Duke had made only the first second run of her career and ended up in 21st place in the Winternational SL.
Duke, a 5-7, 150-pounder from Boise, said, "It was a total surprise. The whole experience was pretty cool. I love night slalom, so the whole atmosphere was a big party. Standing at the bottom watching people come down, I was psyched."
According to U.S. women’s alpine tech coach Trevor Wagner, the 23-year-old Duke has been putting in the essential training hours.
"For Hailey it's an incredible day," Wagner said Monday. "All the stuff that she's been working on is finally clicking. In the last 10 days or so it has clicked and the last two slaloms have been great."
Duke said, "I'll just keep working on the things I have been working on. There's more confidence, more stuff in the bank, and I'm just going to keep charging. I have to keep throwing myself down the hill because I'm not there yet. I just want to keep doing it and keep getting those second runs under the belt."
Meanwhile, Vonn appears to have arrived in slalom, which certainly helps her bid this season to become the first and only U.S. woman to win back-to-back World Cup titles. Her podium Monday was the 35th in her World Cup racing career.
Vonn said Monday, "Slalom has been going really well for me this season. It's such a big difference from last year and I feel really good about it. Today, for sure, I didn't have a great first run but I was able to come back. I fought hard."
According to Vonn, the second run course at Semmering was more her racing style and that's where she gained her speed. Coach Wagner agreed. He said Vonn's second runs are her strength this season.
"She poured it on in the second run. That seems to be where she is really strong this year. She skied a lot more aggressively right out of the start," Wagner said. "She is really an all around skier. She's capable of being on the podium in every event."
U.S. contender Julia Mancuso, 24, of Olympic Valley, Ca. rounded out the U.S. women in the top 30, finishing 16th for her best slalom result of the 2008-09 season. On Sunday reigning Olympic giant slalom queen Mancuso finished sixth in the Semmering GS, for her best World Cup result to date.
Vonn finished eighth in GS Sunday, making it three top-10s (8th, 4th, 9th) in four GS races staged. Mancuso is currently in 17th place in the overall rankings with 152 points.
The women compete next in Zagreb, Croatia, Jan. 4.
Bode fourth in Bormio downhill
One year after winning on the same course, reigning World Cup overall champion Bode Miller, 31, of Franconia, N.H. took to the Stelvio Sunday and finished fourth in a World Cup downhill at Bormio, Italy. Italy's Christof Innerhofer, who started first, won the race.
Miller, who won both speed World Championship events on the same course in 2005, skipped the bib draw Saturday. As a penalty, he ran after the 45th starter and was fourth.
That result, and his second place at Val Gardena, Italy Dec. 20, are Miller’s best DH results after 16th at Lake Louise Nov. 29 and DNF at Beaver Creek, Colo. Dec. 5. He moved up two places in the overall.
Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, 26, kept the World Cup men’s lead 444-393 over Benjamin Raich of Austria. Top American is Miller in 10th place with 290 points, moving him past 24-year-old Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah, 11th place with 279 points.
Following Miller for the U.S. in the Bormio downhill was Marco Sullivan, 28, of Squaw Valley, Ca. who finished 11th to mark his fourth finish in the top 15.
"I was 12th in Bormio last year, so I'm getting a little better, but the way I skied on top today, I was really excited with that," Sullivan said. "I just didn't have the legs for the bottom split. It was really bumpy and icy. But, I was happy with the way I skied on top. It gives me confidence."
Men's alpine head coach Sasha Rearick was thrilled with the way Sullivan skied the Bormio downhill.
"Sullivan skied like an absolute champion on the whole top of the course till the very end, which was great to see that kind of execution up top," Rearick said.
The men now move on to Zagreb, Croatia, where, along with the women's team, they will compete in night slalom on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
World Cup women’s leader Lindsey Vonn chalks up an-other top-10 technical finish Monday at Semmering, Aus-tria. She recorded her third slalom podium of the 2008-09 season with a third place. Photo by Getty Images/Agence Zoom
