Stuhec makes it a double in second Lake Louise downhill

By Published On: December 3rd, 2016Comments Off on Stuhec makes it a double in second Lake Louise downhill

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec proved that Friday’s downhill victory was no fluke as she managed to repeat the feat in Saturday’s race, winning with a time of 1:24.95 after organizers decided to lower the start due to about 10 centimeters of overnight snowfall.

The weather was the deciding factor on Saturday as bright sunshine for the early runners quickly dwindled and a snowstorm developed as the race went on. Hungary’s Edit Miklos was first out of the gate and laid down a solid, mistake-free run to set the early pace. Stuhec, wearing her fresh new red leader’s bib was the fourth racer to take to the course and with the same solid skiing that brought her the win on Friday, easily slid into the lead, besting Miklos by 0.43 seconds. Switzerland’s Lara Gut, who no doubt was looking for revenge after Friday’s disappointing fourth-place finish, kicked out with bib nine and challenged Stuhec at each interval before crossing the finish merely 0.11 seconds shy of the win. The weather then began to worsen to the point that only two racers that started outside of the top-10 finished inside of it.

Prior to the race start, Stuhec’s coaches were frantically looking for bib number four, unaware that she would actually be wearing the leader bib for the first time in her career. Needless to say, the Slovene has now settled comfortably into her new race attire.

“I think it really was an advantage because the snowfall is getting worse and worse,” Stuhec said of her early start number. “You race with the number you have and try to do your best. I had to calm myself down after yesterday and prepare myself for the race today, which apparently I did pretty well!”

For Gut, it was her career-best result in Lake Louise, a hill that she has been quite outspoken about in the past with how the Canadian venue just doesn’t suit her aggressive style.

“It feels great,” she said in the finish. “Yesterday, I thought I would be on the podium and I was fourth, but it’s cool. It’s the first time I’m feeling great on the snow and on this slope, so I’m going to take that and keep on improving. I don’t think it was about the snow today, I was just lucky because of the weather. Yesterday, running early wasn’t an advantage because the wind came so I thought that I’m going to keep that plan today and have that chance on my side.”

It was Miklos’ first trip to a World Cup podium since she was third in the 2015 St. Moritz downhill and the Hungarian was excited to start her season off on the right foot.

“I’m very happy and I am lucky because of the weather,” she said. “I’m very, very happy. I think it was fair for everybody because the weather is not so good and it was a good decision on how to do a fair race.”

For the American contingent, Laurenne Ross led the way for the Speed Unicorns in seventh place. Stacey Cook landed in 11th place and Mikaela Shiffrin finished in 13th to give the Americans three in the top-15. Breezy Johnson had her second scoring result in as many days in 21st, Alice McKennis was 26th, Jacqueline Wiles was 30th, Leanne Smith was 34th, and Anna Marno escaped unscathed after a scary looking crash on the upper portion of the track.

“Well, it’s a bit of a crazy day today,” explained Ross. “There was a lot of sun at the very beginning of the race and I think for every person the sun became less and less, … but that’s ski racing. I got lucky; I started fifth and I actually came down in fifth but only two people behind me beat me so I don’t know. It was just kind of one of those weird days but I’m happy with the result.”

Shiffrin’s second trip down a World Cup downhill went better than she expected, managing to crack the top-15 finishers with such little experience in the discipline.

“Oh my god, I was so excited for today because after yesterday, I was like, ‘Alright, I executed everything on the course, but I wasn’t building speed,'” an excited Shiffrin said after her run. “That was my only goal for today, I’m so excited because that’s what it’s supposed to feel like, so that’s cool.”

The women close out their series in Lake Louise on Sunday with a super-G scheduled to start at 11:00am MT.

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Top 10

  1. Ilka Stuhec (SLO) – Stoeckli / Lange / Marker
  2. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  3. Edit Miklos (HUN) – Head / Head / Head
  4. Corinne Suter (SUI) – Head / Head / Head
  5. Kajsa Kling (SWE) – Head / Head / Head
  6. Mirjam Puchner (AUT) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  7. Laurenne Ross (USA) – Voelkl / Marker / Lange
  8. Nadia Fanchini (ITA) – Dynastar / Lange / Look
  9. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Atomic / Atomic / Atomic
  10. Johanna Schnarf (ITA) – Fischer / Fischer / Fischer

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points
 1  4  565360 STUHEC Ilka 1990 SLO  1:24.95  0.00
 2  9  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:25.06  +0.11  1.62
 3  1  245066 MIKLOS Edit 1988 HUN  1:25.38  +0.43  6.33
 4  3  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:25.49  +0.54  7.95
 5  7  505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE  1:25.68  +0.73  10.74
 6  2  56125 PUCHNER Mirjam 1992 AUT  1:25.90  +0.95  13.98
 7  5  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  1:25.97  +1.02  15.01
 8  13  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:26.22  +1.27  18.69
 9  19  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:26.27  +1.32  19.42
 10  10  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:26.30  +1.35  19.86
 11  12  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:26.33  +1.38  20.31
 12  21  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:26.40  +1.45  21.34
 13  31  6535237 SHIFFRIN Mikaela 1995 USA  1:26.41  +1.46  21.48
 14  16  296472 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:26.55  +1.60  23.54
 15  11  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER  1:26.60  +1.65  24.28
 16  38  107613 GRENIER Valerie 1996 CAN  1:26.63  +1.68  24.72
 17  29  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:26.67  +1.72  25.31
 18  24  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:26.73  +1.78  26.19
 19  6  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:26.78  +1.83  26.93
 20  22  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:27.00  +2.05  30.16
 21  30  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:27.02  +2.07  30.46
 22  42  426043 TVIBERG Maria Therese 1994 NOR  1:27.04  +2.09  30.75
 23  34  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:27.08  +2.13  31.34
 24  27  155763 LEDECKA Ester 1995 CZE  1:27.11  +2.16  31.78
 25  37  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  1:27.20  +2.25  33.11
 26  28  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:27.23  +2.28  33.55
 27  36  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  1:27.28  +2.33  34.28
 27  33  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:27.28  +2.33  34.28
 29  45  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  1:27.39  +2.44  35.90
 30  25  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  1:27.54  +2.59  38.11
 31  39  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:27.59  +2.64  38.85
 32  15  56128 HUETTER Cornelia 1992 AUT  1:27.61  +2.66  39.14
 33  32  56258 AGER Christina 1995 AUT  1:27.68  +2.73  40.17
 34  44  538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:27.75  +2.80  41.20
 35  20  55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT  1:27.81  +2.86  42.08
 36  18  297910 CURTONI Elena 1991 ITA  1:27.93  +2.98  43.85
 37  50  197615 BESSY Anouk 1995 FRA  1:27.95  +3.00  44.14
 38  41  56224 MAIER Sabrina 1994 AUT  1:28.21  +3.26  47.97
 39  43  299402 GASSLITTER Verena 1996 ITA  1:28.26  +3.31  48.71
 40  40  56328 ORTLIEB Nina 1996 AUT  1:28.48  +3.53  51.94
 41  48  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:28.61  +3.66  53.86
 42  14  196968 BAILET Margot 1990 FRA  1:28.66  +3.71  54.59
 43  35  196812 PELLISSIER Marion 1988 FRA  1:28.84  +3.89  57.24
 44  46  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:28.92  +3.97  58.42
 45  52  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:29.06  +4.11  60.48
 46  23  515997 FEIERABEND Denise 1989 SUI  1:29.24  +4.29  63.13
 47  58  107387 CRAWFORD Candace 1994 CAN  1:29.66  +4.71  69.31
 48  55  107697 FLECKENSTEIN Stefanie 1997 CAN  1:30.95  +6.00  88.29
 49  57  415213 WILLINGER Georgia 1997 NZL  1:32.70  +7.75  114.04
Did not start 1st run
 56  107532 TOMMY Mikaela 1995 CAN
 49  155563 KRIZOVA Klara 1989 CZE
Did not finish 1st run
 54  539457 MARNO Anna 1992 USA
 53  197665 LARROUY Noemie 1995 FRA
 51  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA
 47  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON
 26  297702 MARSAGLIA Francesca 1990 ITA
 17  515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI
 8  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.