Schmidhofer Wins Lake Louise Downhill, Makes it Three

By Published On: December 7th, 2019Comments Off on Schmidhofer Wins Lake Louise Downhill, Makes it Three

As Mikaela Shiffrin sped down the course during Saturday’s downhill in Lake Louise, Austria’s Nicole Schmidhofer sat in the hot seat patiently waiting as Shiffrin’s time continued to separate ahead of hers. For the first five splits, Shiffrin had been hanging onto the lead, despite a rough course in the middle sections bumping her around a bit. The win came down to the final pitch, and as Shiffrin crossed the finish, suddenly 0.13 seconds behind Schmidhofer, the tension released.

“Hot seat is the real name, it was really hot there and I was really nervous,” said Schmidhofer, laughing during a post-race interview after she had secured the win. “I could feel Mikaela rocking my nerves as she was skiing down and I was really happy I was so fast in the last bit of the course because she made a really great race at the top.”

Saturday’s downhill in Lake Louise provided all of the excitement fans hope to see in the first speed series of the season. After Friday’s snow subsided, the athletes had the opportunity to ski a clean track from the regulation start and put on a show at the true speeds possible in Lake Louise. The last big turn of the course coming into the finish seemed to be the make or break point of the day. Often times, onlookers did not know where an athlete would end up until she crossed the finish line.

Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) tries her podium award out for size. Photo: GEPA pictures/ Mario Kneisl

In Schmidhofer’s case, she had to spend most of the race watching from the leader seat, and hoping the time she laid down early on in the race would hold. Eventually, most of the women who held on to their speed throughout the top half of the course would lose enough in the bottom sections leaving the 2018/19 downhill crystal globe winner with the win.

“It was hard work, and it took me nine years, but now I’m good friends with Lake Louise,” said Schmidhofer. “I like it here because everything is a little bit calmed down, not so stressful as it is in Europe. I’m looking to get the red bib back now and I think I’m back in the game now.”

Shiffrin followed up on Friday’s plan to come out and ski more aggressively with prowess. Having backed off a bit in Friday’s race, she knew that she had to step on the gas if she wanted to make a play for the podium alongside so many other women who were eager to ski a full downhill track.

“My plan today was to be a lot more aggressive everywhere and to let it go, and I did that and I’m really excited about it,” said Shiffrin. “Executing that plan through the entire course was my goal and I accomplished it. Yesterday I was just too round, too wide, and too easy, today I was like you need to pin it and I think it showed in the time. It’s nice to be able to do that on downhill skis. I’ve got it dialed on slalom and GS skis, but to be able to do that in downhill is nice.”

LAKE LOUISE, CANADA – DECEMBER 7: Team Italian celebrates during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Women’s Downhill on December 7, 2019 in Lake Louise Canada. (Photo by Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom)

Ester Ledecka, Friday’s downhill winner, had been sitting in third until Italy’s Francesca Marsaglia came down in bib 22 and barely edged her out by two-hundredths of a second. On the Italian team, it’s typical to see Olympic gold medalist Sophia Goggia, or up-and-comer Nicol Delago slide into the top 10. Marsaglia had been hoping for another top 10 at best, a podium finish was a pleasant and welcome surprise after years of hard work. The 29-year-old has been competing on the World Cup circuit since 2008. She has never made the podium, let alone the top five, until Saturday.

“I was a little bit stressed before the start, then 10 seconds before I just thought, ‘okay, enjoy it and put your best skiing on the slope, race, and let it go,” said Marsaglia. “My goal was to get in shape for the races in Europe, and today I’m happy because the confidence was there and it showed. I can feel it in my skiing now I need to show it in the race.”

Another impressive performance on the Lake Louise track came from U.S. Ski Team veteran Alice McKennis. McKennis won a downhill training earlier in the week but had been approaching the first downhill races of the season with zero expectations. After multiple knee surgeries sidelined her for over a year, she is just happy to be back. For a time, McKennis was not sure if she would ever be able to ski again, let alone walk. To finish in the top 10 in her second race of the season means more than she could ever explain.

Alice Mckennis (USA) skied into tenth in her second race back on the World Cup circuit. Photo: GEPA pictures/ Wolfgang Grebien

“I’m pretty stoked on my run,” said McKennis. “It was definitely a little loose and a little ragged but I’m really proud of the way I approached the run. I didn’t hesitate at all, I went for it, and that’s a huge step for me to feel that race-day confidence and to trust myself and believe in myself again. I mean, you dream and you hope and you work so hard and you’re just keeping your fingers crossed that it’s even a possibility that you can do it again. To come and be in a World Cup again and have the ability to push myself and ski well, it’s really really special.”

Her teammate, Alice Merryweather, also had a solid finish skiing into 11th, her best result in Lake Louise thus far in her career. Merryweather had been skiing at top-five pace until the last turn, where she came in a little bit hotter than she had yet to experience in training and lost a bit of speed trying to keep her line. In total, three Americans landed the top fifteen. Jacqueline Wiles also scored her first points of the season, finishing 29th.

Marie Michele-Gagnon followed up her first downhill points in six years by scoring more downhill points on Saturday with a 26th place finish.

On Sunday the women will wrap the speed series in Lake Louise with a super-G race that kicks off at 11:00 am MST.

Downhill Day Two Top 10

  1. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT): 1:49.92 – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  2. Mikaela Shiffrin (USA): +0.13 – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Francesca Marsaglia (ITA): +0.43 – Salomon/Salomon
  4. Ester Ledecka (CZE): +0.45 – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  5. Corinne Suter (SUI): +0.56 –  Head/Head/Head
  6. Kira Weidle (GER): +0.61 – Rossignol/Rossignol
  7. Romane Miradoli (FRA): +0.70 – Dynastar/Lange
  8. Tamara Tippler (AUT): +0.78 – Salomon/Salomon
  9. Viktoria Rebensburg (GER): +0.83 – Stoeckli/Lange
  10. Alice McKennis (USA): +0.95 – Head/Head/Head

For full results, click here.

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About the Author: Mackenzie Moran

Born and raised in Metro-Detroit, Michigan, Mackenzie grew up ski racing all over the Mitten.​ She moved out west in search of mountains and attended the University of Oregon, where she achieved degrees in Journalism and Environmental Science. She raced USCSA and was captain of the UO Alpine Ski Team.