Semmering: Riesch on roll

German skier Maria Riesch bobbled her way to a jubilant victory Monday in the women’s World  Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria. Holding her lead from the first run, Riesch notched her second straight slalom win of the season in a combined time of 1 minute, 55.97 seconds. She now possesses the leader’s position on the slalom circuit with 300 points. Finnish tech star Tanja Poutiainen was .21 seconds off in second and American World Cup overall leader Lindsey Vonn landed in third, .72 seconds off the pace.

“It’s great to win two slaloms in a row,” Riesch said. “I had a little mistake in the middle part, but I tried to attack the bottom. It was great.”

Charging into an easy career best, American Hailey Duke finished eighth, 2.23 seconds off the winning pace.

German skier Maria Riesch bobbled her way to a jubilant victory Monday in the women’s World  Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria. Holding her lead from the first run, Riesch notched her second straight slalom win of the season in a combined time of 1 minute, 55.97 seconds. She now possesses the leader’s position on the slalom circuit with 300 points. Finnish tech star Tanja Poutiainen was .21 seconds off in second and American World Cup overall leader Lindsey Vonn landed in third, .72 seconds off the pace.

“It’s great to win two slaloms in a row,” Riesch said. “I had a little mistake in the middle part, but I tried to attack the bottom. It was great.”

Charging into an easy career best, American Hailey Duke finished eighth, 2.23 seconds off the winning pace.

“It was a total surprise,” said 23-year-old Duke, who is also a national-level martial arts competitor. “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.”

It was only the second time in her life for Duke to make the cut for the second run – the first being in Aspen a few weeks ago, where she finished 21st. She said this race will serve as serious adrenaline juice for the rest of her season.

“There’s more confidence, more stuff in the bank, and I’m just going to keep charging,” she said. “I’ll just keep working on the things I have been, because it seems to be working.”

Vonn’s slalom season has maintained a remarkably consistent success rate so far, with one win, a second place, a fourth and this third.

“She did an amazing job,” said U.S. technical coach Trevor Wagner. 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. Maybe she saw how much time she needed to get on the podium and pushed it a little more.”

Vonn still leads the World Cup overall with 530 points, though her good friend Riesch is gaining on her with 507, and surpassed her in slalom. (Vonn has 290 points to Riesch’s 300).

“Slalom has been going really well for me this season,” Vonn said. “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. The second run was a great course and it definitely suited me better, so I tried to use that opportunity. I was able to make up some time. It wasn’t enough to get the top spot, but it’s Ok, I’m really happy with third.”

Julia Mancuso put down her best slalom race of the season, finishing 16th Monday, while American Sarah Schleper crashed and was disqualified in the first run.

“I’m really psyched for Hailey getting eighth and Jules getting 16th,” Vonn added. “It was a really good day for us as a team.”

U.S. Team coach Seth McCadam was responsible for setting the gates for the second-run course, which was characterized by a tricky, hairpin turn into the steeps that claimed a few crashes.

Sunday’s giant slalom winner Kathrin Zettel proved again that she knows how to work the tight gates, finishing fourth (1:56.90) and exciting the 10,000-plus Austrian home crowd for Monday night’s race. She was followed by Czech racer Sarka Zahrobska (1:57.04) in fifth.

Women’s World Cup racing continues Sunday with another slalom race in Zagreb, Croatia, one of the best-attended venues on the circuit with a rumored 40,000 spectators awaiting.

“Zagreb is great,” Vonn said. “I’m excited. I didn’t race there last year because of the schedule, so I’m excited for it and hopefully I can get the red bib back.”

The SCOOP

By Hank McKee

Equipment

Women’s Slalom (night), Semmering, Austria, Dec. 29, 2008

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Riesch, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

2 Poutiainen, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

3 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

4 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

5 Zahrobska, Head/Head/Tyrolia

6 Jelusic, Atomic/Salomon/Atomic

7 Hosp, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

8 Duke, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

9 Zuzulova, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

10 Pietilae Holmner, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Women’s slalom (night), Semmering, Austria, Dec. 29, 2008. … It is the 12th race of the women’s 36 race 2008-09 World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth of nine scheduled slaloms and the only women’s night slalom of the Cup season. … It is the second of a two-race set at Semmering and the 16th Cup race at the site. … It is the tenth Cup slalom at Semmering and the fifth consecutive late December night slalom held in alternating seasons (even years).

It is the eighth career World Cup victory for Maria Riesch and her third in slalom. … It is her second win of the season after the slalom win at LaMolina Dec. 14. … It is the first German win at Semmering. … It is the 39th slalom win by a German all-time. … The seventh since the Wall came down.

It is the 32nd career World Cup podium for Tanja Poutiainen. … Her 17th in slalom. … It is her fifth podium of the season and second in slalom this season. … It is her third career podium at Semmering. … but first since 2004 when she was second in the GS and third in the slalom.

It is the 35th career World Cup podium for Lindsey Vonn. … Her third in slalom all of which have come this season (1st Nov. 15 at Levi and 2nd Dec. 14 at LaMolina). … She has been in the top 10 over nine races this season in every discipline save combined. … Vonn hads been sixth after the first run and recorded the second fastest second run to move up.

It is the second career scoring result for Hailey Duke, both coming this season and both in slalom. … It is her career best result, the previous being a 21st place at Aspen Nov. 30. … Duke had been 16th after the first heat and recorded the third fastest second run time. … Julia Mancuso matched her 92nd best career placing. … It was her fourth best result of the season but her best in slalom. … Brigitte Acton matched her eighth best career score in 19th. … It is her third best result in slalom. … And her best of two results this season. … The other a 27th in slalom at Aspen. … Anna Goodman registered her seventh career scoring result, all of them coming in slalom and four of them this season. … She matched her best result of the season in 21st.

Vonn maintains the lead in the overall World Cup standings 530-507 over Maria Riesch. … Tanja Poutiainen is third at 498 and Kathrin Zettel fourth at 422. … Riesch slips past Vonn into the lead of the slalom standings 300-290. … Sarka Zahrobska (fifth in race) is third at 224 and Poutiainen fourth at 220.

Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 1,836-1,006 over Switzerland with Sweden third at 951. … The U.S. is sixth at 803 and Canada 10th at 303. … Austria also leads the combined men’s and women’s Nations Cup 4,092-2,876 over the Swiss. … Italy is third at 2,133 and the U.S. fourth at 1,856. … Canada is seventh at 947.

Details to come. See the full results here.