Lenzerheide: Schild, Buechel pace DH training

Marco Buechel and Marlies Schild led downhill training runs under warm skies Tuesday as a climactic World Cup Finals was set to unfold.
    Schild, battling with American Julia Mancuso and Austrian teammates Renate Goetschl and Nicole Hosp for the overall championship, scorched the Silvano Beltrametti course in 1 minute, 23.20 seconds to pace the women. Downhill training times often don’t provide an accurate forecast for race day, but Schild’s result is notable as she tries to shed the label of technical specialist.

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Marco Buechel and Marlies Schild led downhill training runs under warm skies Tuesday as a climactic World Cup Finals was set to unfold.
    Schild, battling with American Julia Mancuso and Austrian teammates Renate Goetschl and Nicole Hosp for the overall championship, scorched the Silvano Beltrametti course in 1 minute, 23.20 seconds to pace the women. Downhill training times often don’t provide an accurate forecast for race day, but Schild’s result is notable as she tries to shed the label of technical specialist.
    Goetschl was second Tuesday, .38 back, and Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher was third, .58 back. Stacey Cook was the top American, in 15th, while Mancuso was a disqualification.
    Racing kicks off Wednesday with the men’s and women’s downhill.
    “It was a dream goal of mine this year to be leading the overall, especially so late in the season,” said Mancuso, the 2006 Olympic giant slalom champion who is third, 51 points behind Schild.
    Mancuso is trying to become the first American woman to win the overall title since Tamara McKinney in 1983.
    “No matter what happens I’m psyched about my year,” Mancuso said after the final downhill training session. “Fourth in the world — at worst — is a pretty big achievement for me.”
    Two women suffered bad crashes on Tuesday. Junior world champion Tina Weirather, the daughter of skiing legend Hanni Wenzel, a double Olympic champion in 1980, blew out both knees about 200 meters from the finish of the course — considered a relatively easy section. ACL tears will sideline her for the rest of the season and well into the offseason.
    Switzerland’s Monika Dumermuth was also transported to Chur for X-rays after a crash and suffered an apparent meniscus tear. American Kirsten Clark, who landed in the safety nets after crashing Monday, was on the start list but was questionable for the race with some major bruises.
    "It was a much better training day [Tuesday], but we had two crashes and two injuries that have cast a big shadow over things," FIS women's race director Atle Skaardal said at the team captains meeting. "We're hoping they'll have a fast recovery and be back soon."  
    Slovenia’s Andrej Jerman, who injured his right shoulder at Kvitfjell in a crash prior to the World Cup races, stopped in pain after just a few seconds on the training run andn may skip Wednesday’s downhill.
    Schild, the new slalom and super combined World Cup champion, said, “The course is very bumpy and technically demanding, but I feel good about it. I’m happy to have been so fast today. I had my problems yesterday so I wanted to get going today. I’m looking forward for a solid run tomorrow.”
    Mancuso unofficially clocked the fourth-best time, but she missed one of the last gates on her way to the finish line and was disqualified.
    Goetschl, the fastest in Monday’s timed run, remains the skier to beat in the first women’s race of these Finals. The Austrian veteran, who already clinched the specialty crown at Tarvisio, needs to score major points in her best events to remain a threat in the fierce battle for the overall crystal globe.
    “It surely is a tough course and I can understand that the younger skiers are having a hard time here,” she said. “You have to fight all the time to keep your skis under control and it’s not so easy.”
    Goetschl, who has won seven races this season, also said she may stop racing next season if the International Ski Federation drops super G races from the World Cup calendar.
    “It’s one of the most difficult specialties so I don’t see a reason to take it out,” said the Austrian, who has won 17 super G races in her career. Hermann Maier, a super G specialist on the men’s tour, said, “It would make no sense to skip that event, it’s one of the most spectacular.”
    On the men’s side, Liechtenstein’s Buechel was fastest in 1:19.96, with Didier Cuche of Switzerland, fresh off clinching the downhill crystal globe last weekend, second, .03 back. Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was third, .17 back, as he tries to hang with Benni Raich in the overall battle.
    Bode Miller was 13th, 1.61 back, Steven Nyman was 23rd, Ted Ligety 24th and Marco Sullivan 29th.
    “It’s a really tough run, my legs were burning at the end,” Cuche said. “The course is short yet very demanding. You have to fight all the time to achieve clean turns. It will be an interesting competition for us. I will give my best to do well again here in front of my fans and keep on fighting for the overall cup. It’s a fun situation for me — far beyond my wildest dreams.”
    The men will be competing in the morning at 9:30 CET (4:30 ET) and the women at 11:45 CET (6:45 ET).
    "The weather will still be very warm the next days," Skaardal said. "We have earlier start times — not as early as we had hoped for, but it's a compromise between the sponsors and TV and everyone involved, and we're very happy to have found a solution."

Women’s World Cup downhill training results
1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 1 minute, 23.20 seconds.
2. Renate Goetschl, Austria, 1:23.58.
3. Andrea Fischbacher, Austria, 1:23.78.
4. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1:23.87.
5. Nicole Hosp, Austria, 1:24.76.
6. Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 1:24.94.
7. Ingrid Jacquemod, France, 1:24.99.
8. Catherine Borghi, Switzerland, 1:25.07.
9. Marie Marchand-Arvier, France, 1:25.12.
10. Fraenzi Aufdenblatten, Switzerland, 1:25.21.

Men’s World Cup downhill training results
1. Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein, 1 minute, 19.96 seconds.
2. Didier Cuche, Switzerland, 1:19.99.
3. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 1:20.13.
4. Erik Guay, Canada, 1:20.57.
5. Daniel Albrecht, Switzerland, 1:20.78.
6. Fritz Strobl, Austria, 1:20.79.
7. Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin, France, 1:20.98.
8. Christoph Gruber, Austria, 1:21.07.
9. Hermann Maier, Austria, 1:21.22.
10. Mario Scheiber, Austria, 1:21.30.