A jubilant Lindsey Vonn, 27, of Vail, Colo. celebrated the end of the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season Sunday at Schladming, Austria where she hoisted her fourth overall crystal globe in five seasons.
Vonn, who was three points short of the overall title in 2011, also won the downhill, super G and combined titles for a historic 16 career globes and celebrated the all-time highest women's point total with 1,980.
Her American high 12 World Cup wins on the season pushed her career total to 53, putting her in the elite company with all-time record holder Annemarie Moser-Proell with 62 and Vreni Schneider's 55.
During last week's World Cup finals at Schladming, Vonn broke the World Cup women's season point total of 1,970 set by Croatian Janica Kostelic in 2006. Yet Vonn fell 21 points short of the overall men's record of 2,000 set by Hermann Maier of Austria in 2000.
The season marked the second time she has won four titles, the first coming in 2010. In her career, Vonn has amassed 305 World Cup starts, collecting 97 podiums and 53 wins. She also finished second place in giant slalom, the best of her career, as German Viktoria Rebensburg won Sunday's final GS race and the season title.
Vonn will now head to the U.S. Ski Team's European Training base in Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, Austria to test skis for 2013. Following ski testing, she moves to Winter Park, Colo. for the 2012 Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.
She said, "I am really happy with the season. It has gone incredibly well. If you had told me at the beginning of the season that I would be second in the giant slalom standings and would win the overall title before the finals I would have said that is awesome, but not possible. It is definitely more than I expected.
"This year I have had a lot of fun. I have tried to enjoy every day that I am out on the hill and it's wonderful to have my family and friends around to share this. I have a big group here and they are all supporting me and it has definitely given me a lot of strength."
Finals week in Austria
Vonn started the World Cup finals in a rush Wednesday.
Winner of five straight World Cup downhill season titles, Vonn charged the sun-softened Schladming downhill to win the 53rd Audi FIS Alpine World Cup of her career. She improved her season point total to 1,908.
It was Vonn's 12th victory this season, surpassing her career high of 11 set in 2010. And it was her 17th podium of the World Cup season, one short of the single-season record of 18 held by Hanni Wenzel of Lichtenstein and Swede Pernilla Wiberg.
Afterward, Vonn said, "I love hearing the national anthem. It always means something special to me. I feel like I have heard the national anthem a lot this year and it has been great. I am having so much fun out there and I am hanging out with the girls on the team and I am just more relaxed this year and I have really enjoyed everything."
The American women's downhill team finished a great season with Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley, Ca. sixth, Alice McKennis of Glenwood Sprintgs, Colo. a career-best seventh and Laurenne Ross of Bend, Ore. 15th.
Defending the downhill title they first secured last March, the 2011-12 U.S. team including Stacey Cook of Mammoth Mountain, Ca. and Leanne Smith of North Conway, N.H. won the nation's downhill standings by 636 points over Austria. The final point tally was U.S. 1,417 and Austria 781.
Remarkably, six American women qualified for the top 25 World Cup Finals, more than any nation. Austria had three. Mancuso was fifth in the standings, Cook 10th, McKennis 20th, Ross 22nd and Smith 25th. All six athletes posted top 10 finishes this season with McKennis, Ross and Smith landing career bests in downhill.
On Thursday, Vonn added to her historic season by capturing her 16th career Audi FIS Alpine World Cup title with a sixth-place finish in the Schladming super giant slalom. She improved her point total to 1,948. Vonn scrubbed a 1.22-second lead after her speed carried her too low into a turn near the bottom of the course.
Vonn said, "I thought I had a really good run going. Conditions were tough. It was soft again today with really warm temperatures. I think I had more speed than the coaches anticipated on the bottom and I went too straight into a turn and couldn't hold the line. Sometimes it happens. You aren't sure how much speed you are going to come to turns with."
Teammate Mancuso was second on the day behind German Viktoria Rebensburg to lock up the No. 2 spot in the season-long super G standings and jump to fourth in the overall. Leanne Smith was fifth for a career best super G as three Americans finished in the top six. It was the first SG victory of Rebensburg's career.
Said Mancuso, "I didn't make any mistakes, I just skied a clean run. It wasn't quite fast enough for the win and maybe there are some spots where I could have pushed harder but I am happy with where I started and where I finished."
On Saturday, Vonn set the women's single-season Audi FIS World Cup points record Saturday with an eighth-place finish in the season slalom finale. The finish elevated her to 1,980 points, 10 more than the former record set by Croatian Janica Kostelic in 2006. Austrian Mikaela Kirchgasser won the race as teammate Marlies Schild claimed the slalom title.
Sunday, Mancuso fought her way to a fifth-place giant slalom finish in the Audi FIS Alpine Wrold Cup season finale, capping her best season since 2008 with fourth in the overall standings. Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg won the race and captured the giant slalom title for the second straight year.
Mancuso, 28, who had two victories and four other podiums, finished second in super G, fifth in the downhill standings and ninth in giant slalom. Her outstanding season included two victories and four other podium finishes. Vonn finished 24th in Sunday's GS and second in GS standings.
Said Mancuso, "I am excited to end strong. I got quite a few points so I know I can improve on that. I am psyched that I could actually stay solid when it seemed nothing was going right for me in giant slalom. It also feels pretty special to have won a few races, been right there in super G and had a strong downhill year. I know that I can be back on the overall podium and that gives me a lot of motivation for next season."
Ending the 2011-12 season are the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships March 28-April 1 at Winter Park, Colo. Women's slalom is March 28 followed by men's slalom March 29. The men's and women's SG races are Friday, March 30. Women's giant slalom is Saturday, March 31 and men's giant slalom on Sunday, April 1. The men's and women's national downhill races were staged at Aspen, Colo. Feb. 15.
NBC television will broadcast highlights of the national championships Saturday, April 7 at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.
Here are final World Cup standings and top Americans plus overall discipline results:
Women's overall: 1—Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 1,980 points. 2—Tina Maze (Slov.) 1,402. 3—Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germ.) 1,227. 4—Julia Mancuso (U.S.) 1,020. 5—Anna Fenninger (Aust.) 994.
38—Leanne Smith 205. 41—Stacey Cook 180. 43—Mikaela Shiffrin 168. 49—Laurenne Ross 149. 57—Resi Stiegler 128. 61—Alice McKennis 105. 106—Julia Ford 9. 107—Sarah Schleper 8. 114—Chelsea Marshall 5.
Men's overall: 1—Marcel Hirscher (Aust.) 1,355. 2—Beat Feux (Switz.) 1,330. 3—Aksel Lund Svindal (Nor.) 1,131. 4—Ivica Kostelic (Croat.) 1,064. 5—Hannes Reichelt (Aust.) 1,024.
9—Ted Ligety 853. 15—Bode Miller 612. 55—Nolan Kasper 162. 74—Tommy Ford 86. 78—Tim Jitloff 75. 83—Andrew Weibrecht 67. 88—Travis Ganong 59. 90—Erik Fisher 54. 93—Will Brandenburg 49 and Marco Sullivan 49. 103—Jimmy Cochran 36. 131—Ryan Cochran-Siegle 7 and Colby Granstrom 7. 147—Wiley Maple 2. 150—Thomas Biesemeyer 1.
Women's downhill: 1—Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 690. 2—Tina Weirather (Liech.) 400. 3—Elisabeth Goergl (Aust.) 384. 5—Julia Mancuso 277. 10—Stacey Cook 172. 20—Alice McKennis 105. 22—Laurenne Ross 91. 25—Leanne Smith 68. 43—Julia Ford 9. 47—Chelsea Marshall 5.
Men's downhill: 1—Klaus Kroell (Aust.) 605. 2—Beat Feux (Switz.) 598. 3—Didier Cuche (Switz.) 521. 5—Bode Miller 383. 30—Travis Ganong 56. 34—Erik Fisher 46. 37—Marco Sullivan 35. 47—Ted Ligety 9.
Women's super giant slalom: 1—Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 453. 2—Julia Mancuso (U.S.) 381. 3—Anna Fenninger (Aust.) 369. 16—Leanne Smith 124. 29—Laurenne Ross 45. 41—Stacey Cook 8.
Men's super giant slalom: 1—Aksel Lund Svindal (Nor.) 413. 2—Didier Cuche (Switz.) 400. 3—Beat Feux (Switz.) 368. 16—Bode Miller 119. 24—Andrew Weibrecht 67. 34—Ted Ligety 38. 45—Marco Sullivan 14. 46—Tommy Ford 13. 53—Ryan Cochran-Siegle 7. 60—Travis Ganong 3. 61—Wiley Maple 2. 62—Thomas Biesemeyer 1.
Women's giant slalom: 1—Viktoria Rebensburg (Germ.) 650. 2—Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 455. 3—Tessa Worley (Fra.) 446. 9—Julia Mancuso 233. 38—Resi Stiegler 29. 48—Sarah Schleper 8. 49—Mikaela Shiffrin 5.
Men's giant slalom: 1—Marcel Hirscher (Aust.) 705. 2—Ted Ligety (U.S.) 513. 3—Massimiliano Blardone (Italy) 408. 27—Tim Jitloff 75. 28—Tommy Ford 73. 31—Bode Miller 46.
Women's slalom: 1—Marlies Schild (Aust.) 760. 2—Michaela Kirchgasser (Aust.) 452. 3—Tina Maze (Slov.) 413. 17—Mikaela Shiffrin 163. 20—Lindsey Vonn 142. 23—Resi Stiegler 99. 50—Julia Mancuso 9.
Men's slalom: 1—Andre Myhrer (Swe.) 644. 2—Ivica Kostelic (Croat.) 610. 3—Marcel Hirscher (Aust.) 560. 15—Ted Ligety 193. 19—Nolan Kasper 162. 33—Will Brandenburg 49. 35—Jimmy Cochran 36. 49—Colby Granstrom 7. 53—Bode Miller 4.
Women's combined: 1—Lindsey Vonn (U.S.) 180. 2—Tina Maze (Slov.) 125. 3—Nicole Hosp (Aust.) 120. 22—Julia Mancuso 20. 28—Leanne Smith and Laurenne Ross 13 each.
Men's combined: 1—Ivica Kostelic (Croat.) 336. 2—Beat Feux (Switz.) 300. 3—Romed Baumann (Aust.) 159. 13—Ted Ligety 85. 16—Bode Miller 60.
World Cup Finals wrap-up
In tight competition, Klaus Kroell of Austria won the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill title in front of his hometown with a seventh-place finish Wednesday. Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal won his first downhill race of the season.
Kroell took the season-long title by just seven points over Switzerland's Beat Feuz, who was second on the day. With the finish in sunny Schladming, Fuez added to his World Cup overall lead and will carry a 135 point lead over Austria's Marcel Hirscher into the final three races.
On Thursday, Ted Ligety of Park City, Utah hurdled to 10th from the 26th start position to post his best Audi FIS Alpine World Cup super G result of the season in spring-like Schladming.
Italy's Christof Innerhofer won the day's race, but Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway claimed the discipline title with a 16th place finish. The overall World Cup title chase took an interesting twist when Austrian Marcel Hirscher finished third to pull within 75 points of Swiss leader Beat Feuz, who crashed out midway through the course.
Ligety, 27, had a tall task Saturday in trying to come from behind and earn his fourth World Cup giant slalom season title.
He needed a victory in the final Audi FIS Alpine World Cup tour giant slalom to have a shot at another title, but Ligety nearly skied out in the first run to eliminate his chances. He was bounced off course and hiked back in to finish the run. Ligety won the second run to finish 25th, but Austrian Marcel Hirscher claimed the win to close the door on the giant slalom title and move ahead of Swiss Beat Feuz in the overall chase by 25 points going into Sunday's slalom finale.
Ligety said, "My only option today was to win so I was going hard. I was the fastest and when you live by the sword you die by the sword. I made a big mistake and when you are going hard it comes at you quick and those things happen. You can't expect to win the globe when you go out two times this season, especially not when somebody like (Marcel) Hirscher is skiing as well as he has and consistently as he has.
"It's somewhat frustrating, but not that frustrating. I still scored the most points I ever have in a season for giant slalom. I think you would be hard pressed to find somebody with the same consistency I have had over the years so I am happy with that. I resigned myself into knowing that I wasn't going to win the cup already being 92 points back and Hirscher being relentless. It's no big surprise there."
Finally, Olympic and world champion Ligety battled a slushy Schladming slalom to finish 11th in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup slalom standings as Swede Andre Myhrer won Sunday's race to capture the discipline title. Ligety, who had four top 10s in slalom this winter, finished 15th in the standings for his best slalom season since 2008.
Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who won the men's overall and giant slalom titles, went out in the first run and Croatian Ivica Kostelic hiked to pave the way for Myhrer's come-from-behind victory.
Ligety said, "It's nice to end up in the top-15 for the season for the season. That was one of the goals before the year so to barely get in there is definitely nice. It wasn't the day I wanted to have today but I did what I could with the snow conditions and my skill level.
"It's a huge step forward from the last three years. Next year I want the GS title back—that is a big priority. I was really fast this year but I had some big mistakes and (Marcel) Hirscher didn't. Hopefully I can get a little deeper back in the top 15 in slalom. I won the second run and obviously a lot of that is due to running first drawing but not bad."
Julia Mancuso rips the Aspen Winternational hill in 2010. Mancuso, 28, enjoyed one of her best seasons with two victories and four other podiums. She finished second in super G, fifth in the downhill standings and ninth in giant slalom. In overall standings, she was fourth. Photo by Getty Images/Doug Pensinger
