Aspen: Vonn wins first DH training run

After the first training run down the newly fashioned Aspen downhill track, there is one word which seems to best describe what's going to be needed to win here: patience.
    Unofficially, the fastest time of the day belonged to Lindsey Vonn. There was just a little matter of that last gate.
    "I came in there hauling so much A-S-S," Vonn said. "I came in on a left handed delay. I went on a tight line but there was a huge depression and I got like squashed, and was going with one ski in the air heading toward the timing shack."
    She pulled it off, she said, then added, "but I did miss like the last gate. … But I think it was slower to go the way that I went."
    The results sheets show Vonn in first, 0.35 of a second ahead of Nicole Hosp and 0.37 ahead of Elena Fanchini.

ASPEN, Colo. — After the first training run down the newly fashioned Aspen downhill track, there is one word which seems to best describe what's going to be needed to win here: patience.
    Unofficially, the fastest time of the day belonged to Lindsey Vonn. There was just a little matter of that last gate.
    "I came in there hauling so much A-S-S," Vonn said. "I came in on a left handed delay. I went on a tight line but there was a huge depression and I got like squashed, and was going with one ski in the air heading toward the timing shack."
    She pulled it off, she said, then added, "but I did miss like the last gate. … But I think it was slower to go the way that I went."
    The results sheets show Vonn in first, 0.35 of a second ahead of Nicole Hosp and 0.37 ahead of Elena Fanchini. Regardless of who actually won the training run, it was how the course ran that was of more concern. No World Cup racers have tackled an Aspen course since 1995, and that was the infamous race that was thrown out with AJ Kitt in the lead. The women haven't been here since 1988 and the course is considerably different than most of those the women race.
    Vonn said, "It is a lot more technical [than a typical women's course]. Like a super G almost, you have to have really good tactics. And you have to be clean in initiation."
    "There are a lot of places [on the course] where you really just have to be patient," said Julia Mancuso, who finished the trainer in sixth. "You have to stick to your line and then dive down the hill."
    Coach Frank Kelble, stationed on the top third of the course entering the Snowbowl section, said "You have to be on the dye [marking the outside of the course]. If not you get pushed down the fall away. We will see who is patient."
    Coach Chip White, a little further down the hill, observed the same thing on Spring Pitch. To ski it fast he said it will be necessary to ski above the dye and be patient. "This is a good skier's course," he said. "It has jumps, gliding and terrain you have to remember. And we have good skiers."
    Like Vonn and Mancuso.
    "My skis are running really well. I started carrying a lot of speed," Vonn said. "Both of the top jumps are really fun. You actually carry quite a bit of air. The landings are perfect so it's awesome. [The course] is really technical, there are a couple of really key spots where you have to be on line. I think I started my turns a little too early on a couple of them. In general I think I skied pretty well, except for the finish."