Tarvisio: Vonn officially the best ever

We’ve now got the numbers to back it up. Lindsey Vonn is the No. 1 American female ski racer of all time.

With her 19th World Cup career win in Sunday’s super G in Tarvisio, Italy, Vonn surpassed Tamara McKinney’s record and the rest, as they say, is history.

Standing in the start gate pounding and shaking only her left pole as her right remained still inside its mitt of duct tape, Vonn kicked out and smoothly cut around each gate at the turny upper part of the course, kept her aerodynamic tuck over each of the four jumps and put down what appeared to be a flawlessly steady run overall, finishing in 1 minute 21.72 seconds for the big win, .51 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter and .67 seconds ahead of Slovenian Tina Maze.

She crossed the finish line, looked at the clock, then looked at the camera with a knowing grin. That grin became bigger each time she waved to the cameras from the leader’s perch as the race went on.
We’ve now got the numbers to back it up. Lindsey Vonn is the No. 1 American female ski racer of all time.

With her 19th World Cup career win in Sunday’s super G in Tarvisio, Italy, Vonn surpassed Tamara McKinney’s record and the rest, as they say, is history.

“It sounds really weird to me. I don’t see myself as a record setter and actually never thought it was possible to pass a legend like Tamara, but I’m extremely thrilled and hope that a lot of kids see what’s possible in ski racing and get inspired,” Vonn said. “More than any title or record, I want to be a good example to young athletes. The same way Tamara and Picabo [Street} were for me.”

Standing in the start gate pounding and shaking only her left pole as her right remained still inside its mitt of duct tape, Vonn kicked out and smoothly cut around each gate at the turny upper part of the course, kept her aerodynamic tuck over each of the four jumps and put down what appeared to be a flawlessly steady run overall, finishing in 1 minute 21.72 seconds for the big win, .51 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Fabienne Suter and .67 seconds ahead of Slovenian Tina Maze.

She crossed the finish line, looked at the clock, then looked at the camera with a knowing grin. That grin became bigger each time she waved to the cameras from the leader’s perch as the race went on.

“It’s not too difficult of a hill and that actually makes it a lot harder to win because there really isn’t one section where you can separate yourself from the other girls,” she said. “You had to have fast skis and you had to charge more to win.”

As for her immobilized hand, at this point, Vonn is almost used to it.

“It’s not something I even think about when I’m racing. I know it’s there and I have to push harder out of the start with my left hand, but other than that, I just ignore the pain and race,” she said. “I definitely lose a little at the start, but I have to just push that much harder through the rest of the course.”

It was Vonn’s sixth World Cup win of the season and the 43rd podium of her young career. As far as World Cup wins for any American, male or female, Vonn now stands in third behind Bode Miller with 31 wins and Phil Mahre with 27.

“This is sweet for sure, as a coach, you hope to get an athlete to work with like Lindsey,” said U.S. Ski Team speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser. “She is skiing great super G and has a really good lead in the overall going into the final push. Our goal for this weekend was for her to score some points and really get her totals up there going into the final races. She did that. Today’s win was just a bonus.”

With 1374 points, Vonn now has a very healthy lead in the overall Cup standings over friend and World Slalom Champion Maria Riesch (1075 points), who just couldn’t find enough speed in Sunday’s SG and ended up 17th. This poises Vonn to break yet another record, as no American woman has ever won back-to-back World Cup overall titles.

Vonn has also bumped up to third in the SG standings behind leader Nadia Fanchini and second-place Suter.

“I realized that if I wanted to be up there in super G, I had to find a balance of aggression,” she said. “I couldn’t be conservative, but I couldn’t be too aggressive either. I think I found that in Garmisch and I’ve been skiing with that confidence since.”

Anja Paerson, who won the super-combined title this weekend, is now trailing in the overall standings with 960 points. Though she led the race by more than a second in her run Sunday, she missed a gate near the bottom of the course and didn’t finish the race.

It is Suter’s third second-place World Cup SG finish this season and for Maze, it’s the first World Cup podium in super G since her second place in 2006 in St. Moritz.

Finishing 25th, Julia Mancuso was the only other American to finish in the points Sunday. Keely Kelleher ended up 33rd, Stacey Cook 36th, Megan McJames 43rd and Kaylin Richardson 44th.

“We have three speed races coming up now in Bansko and that’s what we’re looking at now,” Hoedlmoser said. “Lindsey’s win was great, but some of the young ones didn’t perform the way we know they can. As a coach, I’m also looking to get them up to the next level.”

Vonn is feeling more comfortable about maintaining her lead than she did at this point last season before she won the overall Cup title.

“My big goal for this weekend was to build my points total for the overall. That’s my goal for Bansko as well,” she said. “It would be really sweet not to have all the stress of counting points like I had last year at World Cup Finals.”

The SCOOP
By Hank McKee

Equipment
Women’s super G, Tarvisio, Italy, Feb. 22, 2009
Skier, skis/boots/bindings
1 Vonn, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
2 Suter, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic
3 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Rossignol
4 Zettel, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
5 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
6 Kamer, Voelkl/Tecnica/Marker
7 VanderBeek, Volkl/Lange/Marker
8 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head
9 Dettling, Stoeckli/Lange/Tyrolia
10 Goergl, Head/Head/Head
10 Marchand-Arvier, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

Women’s super G, Tarvisio, Italy, Feb. 22, 2009. … It is the 25th race of the women’s 36 race 2009 World Cup schedule. … It is the fifth of seven scheduled super G’s. … It is the sixth Cup race at Tarvisio and the second super G.

It is 19th career World Cup victory for Lindsey Vonn. … It is the 193rd U.S. win… putting her alone in first place among female U.S. racers all-time and third all-time all-gender behind Bode Miller (31) and Phil Mahre (27). She is one win behind Miller for most SG wins as well, now owning four to Miller’s five. … It is her sixth World Cup win and eighth win of the season including two gold medals from World Championships. … She has been first or second in each of the last seven races she has completed going back to a win at Garmisch in slalom Jan. 30. … It is her third super G win of the season, one at World Championships Feb. 3 and one in World Cup competition at Garmisch Feb. 1. … She has collected 14 of the 20 U.S. podium placings this season (includes Worlds).

It is the sixth career World Cup podium placing for Fabienne Suter, five of them coming in super G. … It is her fourth podium of the season – without a win. … She has been second in three super G’s this season. … Only Didier Cuche has scored more podiums this season for Switzerland.

It is the 14th career World Cup podium for Tina Maze. … Her fourth in super G. … It is her best SG result of the season and represents her third podium of the season including a silver in GS at Worlds. … She overtakes Mojca Suhadolc for the  most Slovene super G World Cup podiums with four.

Kelly VanderBeek is one placing better than she had been the previous day in DH. … It is her 15th career World Cup top seven placing. … It is her second best at Tarvisio having placed fifth in DH in 2007. … The result matches her best of the season from Lake Louise SG Dec. 7. … It is the sixth best result of the World Cup season for Emily Brydon and her second best SG result. … It is the 12th best of 17 World Cup scoring result this season for Julia Mancuso.

Vonn extends her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 1374-1075 over Maria Riesch (17th in race). … Anja Paerson (DNF race) is third at 960. … Kathrin Zettel (4th in race) is also fourth in the standings at 885. … Nadia Fanchini (5th in race) leads the super G standings 300-296 for Fabienne Suter. … Vonn is third at 261.

Tarvisio super G results: