Crans-Montana: Vonn wins DH, tightens hold on tour

Apparently Lindsey Vonn is not satisfied with the World Cup downhill crown. At Crans-Montana, Switzerland Saturday, with that DH title already safely stowed, Vonn crushed a tricky course that hadn't been used in a decade and made it apparent she wants to go after the World Cup overall title from a position of strength.
    Vonn completed the course in 1:23.57 and no one came close to approaching the time. Renate Goetschl, one of three who had ever raced the hill before, was second by over six tenths and training time winner Nadia Fanchini was third, knocking Vonn's teammate Julia Mancuso off the podium.
    More importantly in Vonn's quest to become just the second U.S. woman to win the overall World Cup title in 41 years, her chief competitor, Maria Riesch, third in the standings, was fifth and Nicole Hosp, second in the standings was well down the finish order, finishing 27th.

APPARENTLY LINDSEY VONN isn't satisfied with the World Cup downhill crown. At Crans-Montana, Switzerland Saturday, with that DH title already safely stowed, Vonn crushed a tricky course that hadn't been used in a decade and made it apparent she wants to go after the World Cup overall title from a position of strength.
    Vonn completed the course in 1:23.57 and no one came close to approaching the time. Renate Goetschl, one of three who had ever raced the hill before, was second by over six tenths and training time winner Nadia Fanchini was third, knocking Vonn's teammate Julia Mancuso off the podium.
    More importantly in Vonn's quest to become just the second U.S. woman to win the overall World Cup title in 41 years, her chief competitor, Maria Riesch, third in the standings, was fifth and Nicole Hosp, second in the standings was well down the finish order, finishing 27th.
    "Well, it's not over, I still have a lot of fighting to do," said Vonn. "If I can ski well in Bormio (at World Cup Finals) in downhill and super G then hopefully I won't have to do as well in slalom and GS. But it's not over. She hasn't sung yet."
    Vonn said the problems she had in training, missing a gate, made focusing on that area of the course easy, and she was very happy she had managed to win her fifth downhill of the season.
    "It was a little bumpy and the light was flat at the top. I just tried to stay on my line and was careful not to catch an edge. It was a good run, a solid run. I'm really, really excited."
    The win establishes the U.S. win mark for downhill wins at 10, dropping Picabo Street and Daron Rahlves off the list. Vonn is still one DH win away from Picabo Street's U.S. single season DH win record, one of the few marks she hasn't eclipsed this season.
    Mancuso's result was more unexpected given a late season drop-off. She had been hopelessly mired at the tail end of the finishers in training and had skulked out of the finish area. Race day, however, she was a different person.
    "I had a really bad day yesterday," she said. "But this was race day so I knew I had to go after it."
    With a flawless run she might have been the only skier to give Vonn a run for the win, but said, "I made a big mistake in the middle and that cost me a lot of time."
    Renate Goetschl survived a bit of a scare with some acrobatics at the tunnel jump. The veteran downhiller said, “The light went flat in there so you couldn't see where to get on the ski.”
    This is the first season (since 1997) that Goetschl has not won a downhill and while everyone was interested in the fact that Vonn had become the most successful downhiller in U.S. history, passing Picabo Street and Daron Rahlves with her 10th victory, Vonn was quick to point out, “forget me, look at Renate, she has 24 of them.”
    Nadia Fanchini proved that her training exploits were for real. Wearing bib thirty, the Italian simply let it all go, overcoming a long hold and a track which was getting softer by the minute.
    “I certainly wasn’t expecting to do as well,” Fanchini said in rapid-fire Italian, “but I wanted to show the coaches I could get down fast and not crash.”
     Canadian Britt Janyk, the sixth place finisher moved to third in the downhill standings, and although she lost ground to Goetschl, she said she will go after second in the standings at the finals.
    Janyk has been the model of consistency this season making the top 10 in eight of the nine downhills this season, which she said had been the goal. "It's good competition,": Janyk said. She (Goetschl) is fighting for second and I am fighting to take that from her. It's great to be in among the top competition battling for a top spot. We'll just have to focus on having a good race at Bormio and see what happens." She trails the Austrian by 58pts.

THE SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women's Downhill, Crans-Montana, Switzerland, March 8, 2008
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Goetschl, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
3 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
4 Mancuso, Rossignol/Lange/Rossignol
5 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia
6 Janyk, Volkl/Lange/Marker
7 Paerson, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
8 Schild, Volkl/Lange/Marker
9 Marchand-Arvier, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
10 Jacquemod, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon
 
Women's downhill, Crans-Montana, Switzerland. … It is the 31st of 36 races on the women's 2008 World Cup schedule. … There have been with two cancellations from the original 38 race schedule. … It is the ninth of 10 scheduled downhills. … It is the 28th World Cup at Crans-Montana. … The first since 1998.
    It is the 13th career World Cup win for Lindsey Vonn (Kildow). … Her 10th in DH, a U.S. record, usurping both Picabo Street and Daron Rahlves. … It is the 186th U.S. win and the 13th of the season. … It is Vonn's sixth of the season, fifth in DH. … She passes Rahlves on the all-time U.S. win list and is now fourth behind only Bode Miller, Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney.
    It is the 109th career World Cup podium for Renate Goetschl. … Her 58th in DH. … It is her sixth podium of the season, but just the third in DH. … It is just the fifth DH podium of the season for the Austrian women.
    It is the third career World Cup podium for Nadia Fanchini. … All of them in DH. … All of them third place finishes. … Two of them this season as she was also third at Sestriere Feb. 9. … It is the 21st podium of the season for Italy. … 13th for Italian women.
    It is the 25th time Julia Mancuso has been fourth or better in a World Cup. … The seventh time this season in three different disciplines. … It is the seventh top six of the season for Britt Janyk
. … Of her 15 Cup scores this season 12 have been top 10 finishes. … It is the seventh best of 14 scoring results this season for Kelly VanderBeek. … but her sixth best result in DH this season. … It is the 13th best of 17 scoring results this season for Emily Brydon. … She has also been 17th twice this season.
    Winning margin is .61 of a second. … Top eight were within the same second. … Top 27 within two seconds. … Vonn maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1203-1053 over Hosp (27th in race). … Maria Riesch (fifth in race) is third at 1026. … Marlies Schild (28th in race) is fourth at 954pts. … Vonn has already wrapped up the DH title, but extends her lead to 755-448 over Goetschl. … Britt Janyk is third in the standings at 390. … North Americans hold half of the top 10 placings in the DH standings adding Kelly VanderBeek in fifth, Julia Mancuso in seventh and Emily Brydon in 10th.

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Official timekeeper

Did not finish 1st run : MERIGHETTI Daniela (ITA)
Disqualified 1st run : MAZE Tina (SLO)