Scheyer dominates downhill in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee

By Published On: January 15th, 2017Comments Off on Scheyer dominates downhill in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee

After three days of being pummeled with snow, Altenmarkt-Zauchensee saw blue skies and sunshine, allowing them to finally hold a training run and downhill race on Sunday. The morning’s training run had shown that the race could be anyone’s as athletes from the back of the pack charged into the top 10.

Austria’s Christine Scheyer did just that at competition time. She charged from bib 25 to take the lead with a time of 1:21.15, 0.39 seconds ahead of Liechtenstein’s Tina Weirather. Skiing down just after Scheyer with bib 26, American Jacqueline Wiles rounded out the podium in third.

Not only was this Scheyer’s first win, but her first time on the World Cup podium, leaving the Austrian stunned. Even after her second-place finish in the training run, she didn’t know how fast she’d be, saying in the press conference that she is feeling strong and thought she could be in the top 10.

“No, not that fast,” she said when asked if she knew she had winning speed. “I was fast in training, but this is amazing.”

Weirather, who earned her third podium result of the season, knew she could be fast on the track.

“It was amazing because at the start, I knew that Lara was leading and I was like, ‘Well, this could be a revival of the Junior World Champs, where I won seven hundredths in front of her’, so I was like trying to believe that I can win this because my training run was really bad and I was still [eighth], so I knew I could do really well,” Weirather said.

ALTENMARKT/ZAUCHENSEE,AUSTRIA,15.JAN.17 - ALPINE SKIING - FIS World Cup, downhill, ladies, award ceremony. Image shows Lindsey Vonn and Jacqueline Wiles (USA) Photo: GEPA pictures/ Christian WalgramLike Scheyer, the third-place athlete was new to the podium. Wiles surprised herself, saying this podium came at a perfect time.

“You dream of it, but for it to actually happen, you know, it’s unreal,” the American shared. “After a tough start to the season, of so many expectations falling flat, I really needed this, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Wiles is sponsored by the Lindsey Vonn Foundation and what a day it was for them as Vonn made her return to the World Cup. Last year, she won the downhill at the Austrian venue, making it a good place for her to return. After a 322-day hiatus due to injury, Vonn ended the day in 13th place, 1.54 seconds off of the winner.

“It was really fun,” Vonn said. “It was definitely a little bit nerve-wracking because of the crashes first run, and I just skied solid in the training run, but there was a big time difference. You know, the track got considerably faster from my training run to the race, so it was hard to kind of find the timing. I felt like I wasn’t quite on my game, but otherwise, I attacked, I was confident in the start, just missed the timing in a couple turns and just have to watch some video, but I know my skiing, I know what I’m capable of, I know what mistakes I made, so all in all, it was a very positive first race.”

The crashes she referred to required two helicopters. Italy’s Nadia Fanchini and Hungary’s Edit Miklos were both evacuated from the hill during the training run. X-rays have shown that Fanchini suffered a fracture of the humerus in her right arm and fractures of the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebrae, which will require surgery. The Hungarian suffered ligament ruptures and a patella injury in her right knee.

Just ahead of Vonn on the results sheet was fellow Speed Unicorn Laurenne Ross, finishing the day in 12th place. Breezy Johnson and Stacey Cook also ended the day in the top 30, earning 16th and 29th, respectively. Alice McKennis and Leanne Smith finished in 34th and 38th.

The U.S. Ski Team’s Julia Mancuso opted to not start the training run or race, tweeting, “Good luck to all the girls today! @AltZau I decided with all the new snow and tough conditions to get back to training.” Fans will have to wait and see when the American will make her comeback.

Slovenian speed queen Ilka Stuhec still holds the lead in the downhill standings with 345 points followed by Switzerland’s Lara Gut with 180 points. Stuhec had a fifth-place result on Sunday with Gut three-hundredths of a second ahead in fourth place.

Mikaela Shiffrin, who did not race in the downhill, continues to lead the season overall standings with 1008 points. Gut made some progress in closing the gap between her and the American. She sits second in the standings with 693 points.

Women’s World Cup action continues in Garmisch, Germany, from Jan. 19-22 while the men race at Kitzbuehel, Austria, from Jan. 17-22.


Top 10

  1. Christine Scheyer (AUT) –  Head / Head / Head
  2. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  3. Jacqueline Wiles (USA) – Rossignol / Rossignol / Rossignol
  4. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  5. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
  6. Johanna Schnarf (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  7. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer
  8. Priska Nufer (SUI) – Dynastar / Lange / Look
  9. Nicol Delago (ITA) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  10. Jasmine Flury (SUI) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  25  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:21.15  0.00  100.00
 2  17  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:21.54  +0.39  6.01  80.00
 3  26  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:21.69  +0.54  8.32  60.00
 4  9  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:21.70  +0.55  8.47  50.00
 5  5  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:21.73  +0.58  8.93  45.00
 6  16  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:22.30  +1.15  17.71  40.00
 7  8  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:22.34  +1.19  18.33  36.00
 8  48  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:22.38  +1.23  18.95  32.00
 9  38  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:22.40  +1.25  19.25  29.00
 10  31  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI  1:22.47  +1.32  20.33  26.00
 11  10  296472 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:22.50  +1.35  20.79  24.00
 12  14  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:22.58  +1.43  22.03  22.00
 13  7  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:22.69  +1.54  23.72  20.00
 14  28  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:22.75  +1.60  24.65  18.00
 15  11  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:22.81  +1.66  25.57  16.00
 16  23  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:22.95  +1.80  27.73  15.00
 17  27  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA  1:23.09  +1.94  29.88  14.00
 18  20  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT  1:23.12  +1.97  30.35  13.00
 18  2  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:23.12  +1.97  30.35  13.00
 20  6  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:23.16  +2.01  30.96  11.00
 21  24  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:23.18  +2.03  31.27  10.00
 22  3  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI  1:23.20  +2.05  31.58  9.00
 23  47  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:23.23  +2.08  32.04  8.00
 23  30  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:23.23  +2.08  32.04  8.00
 23  4  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:23.23  +2.08  32.04  8.00
 26  13  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:23.26  +2.11  32.50  5.00
 27  29  56088 TIPPLER Tamara 1991 AUT  1:23.37  +2.22  34.20  4.00
 28  18  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:23.42  +2.27  34.97  3.00
 29  37  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:23.51  +2.36  36.35  2.00
 29  12  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:23.51  +2.36  36.35  2.00
 31  53  56241 SCHNEEBERGER Rosina 1994 AUT  1:23.59  +2.44  37.58
 32  35  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:23.70  +2.55  39.28
 33  39  56224 MAIER Sabrina 1994 AUT  1:23.73  +2.58  39.74
 34  21  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:23.75  +2.60  40.05
 35  22  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:23.77  +2.62  40.36
 36  49  155763 LEDECKA Ester 1995 CZE  1:23.79  +2.64  40.67
 37  45  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:23.81  +2.66  40.97
 38  41  538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:23.93  +2.78  42.82
 39  36  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:23.95  +2.80  43.13
 40  46  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  1:24.00  +2.85  43.90
 41  32  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:24.19  +3.04  46.83
 42  43  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:24.30  +3.15  48.52
 43  44  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:24.41  +3.26  50.22
 44  34  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:24.49  +3.34  51.45
 45  40  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:24.63  +3.48  53.60
 46  42  565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO  1:24.66  +3.51  54.07
 47  52  299276 BASSINO Marta 1996 ITA  1:24.97  +3.82  58.84
 48  51  565333 BRODNIK Vanja 1989 SLO  1:25.15  +4.00  61.61
 49  33  196812 PELLISSIER Marion 1988 FRA  1:25.42  +4.27  65.77
 50  54  155503 KLICNAROVA Pavla 1988 CZE  1:25.72  +4.57  70.39
 51  55  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  1:26.19  +5.04  77.63
 52  56  35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG  1:27.14  +5.99  92.27
Did not start 1st run
 15  245066 MIKLOS Edit 1988 HUN
 1  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA
Did not finish 1st run
 50  485749 PROKOPYEVA Aleksandra 1994 RUS
 19  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER

 

 

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About the Author: Gabbi Hall

A California native, Gabbi moved to Vermont to ski on the NCAA circuit for St. Michael’s College, where she served as team captain and studied journalism. Before joining Ski Racing, she worked as a broadcast TV producer and social media manager in higher education. She can be reached via email at gabbi@skiracing.com