Wind blows world’s best around Beaver Creek
BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – After a three-hour delay due to overnight snow and wind, the first women’s downhill training run of the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships finally got underway. American Stacey Cook finished with the fastest run of the afternoon ahead of Swiss skier Lara Gut and Norwegian Ragnhild Mowinckel, who tied for the second fastest run, 0.09 seconds back.
“I was joking with a coach earlier about how this year I’ve typically been fast on the training runs, and the plan today was actually to not be fast. So obviously that didn’t work out,” laughed Cook.
Several inches of fresh snow blanketed the course overnight, pushing the start back to allow time for machines to move snow off the track and re-groom the hill. By the time the training run started, blue skies emerged through the clouds, but a strong, swirling wind still presented a challenging run for the athletes.
Despite finishing with the fastest time on the day, Cook said not to read too deeply into the results from the first day on the Raptor track.
“I think I skied well, and I wouldn’t look at the times too much because it’s so windy up top,” said Cook. “Up there it’s kind of crazy. I don’t think they would have run a race in that kind of wind. So I’m not really looking at the scoreboard.”
Gut is fresh off of her first downhill win of the season in St. Moritz and is riding high on confidence coming into these championships. She won both World Cup speed races held on the modified Raptor last season and was happy to be back on the hill that suits her technically strong skiing.
“It was windy, so I didn’t know what to expect. I just tried to ski clean. This was my goal, to try to ski the way I can and taking it easy,” Gut said. “I mean, we have two more training runs before the downhill, and I don’t think it’s the most important thing to go 100 percent already (in the) first training.”
Mowinckel is fresh off of her career-best downhill result in St. Moritz where she finished 14th. The skier who is better known for her strong giant slalom and super G skills was surprised with her first training run time when she crossed the finish line.
“I don’t know if it was the wind or something, but I felt kind of slow just skiing it … This (course) is a really technical one because you are traversing a lot and there are big arcs,” said Mowinckel. “You’re going across the slope all the time and there’s a lot happening. You don’t have time to think before you’re actually in the finish. But I like it. For me, it suits me better because I’m more of a GS skier anyhow and super G, for sure, but this was super fun.”
The American speed team struggled last season at the test race held on the Raptor, but had a strong four days of training over the first of the year that provided them with confidence coming into the World Championships. Lindsey Vonn was not present for last season’s race and had never skied a downhill run on the course until today. She was clearly feeling the slope out but finished with the fourth fastest run, in a tie with Fabienne Suter at 0.62 seconds behind.
“This was the first downhill run I’ve had on this hill. You know, we trained a couple days of super G and one day of GS, but I never had a chance to run the downhill,” said Vonn. “It was, I think, a little bit different than I expected just as far as the terrain and how they set it. But it was perfect. I really loved it, and I just have to kind of get a better feeling for it over the next couple days.”
Several racers had trouble with the line and missed gates, but they have two more scheduled training runs before the downhill race on Friday. If anything, the first run on the track was used to give the women a feel for the snow and pace of the course ahead of the first race of the World Championships, tomorrow’s super G for the ladies.
“In super G I feel really comfortable and confident, but downhill I think I need a little bit more training,” said Vonn. “But today was a fine start, and hopefully tomorrow is a good day.”
Results
1 | 13 | 537582 | COOK Stacey | 1984 | USA | 1:48.16 | ||||
2 | 21 | 516138 | GUT Lara | 1991 | SUI | 1:48.25 | +0.09 | |||
2 | 5 | 425929 | MOWINCKEL Ragnhild | 1992 | NOR | 1:48.25 | +0.09 | |||
4 | 10 | 537544 | VONN Lindsey | 1984 | USA | 1:48.78 | +0.62 | |||
4 | 8 | 515766 | SUTER Fabienne | 1985 | SUI | 1:48.78 | +0.62 | |||
6 | 9 | 355050 | WEIRATHER Tina | 1989 | LIE | 1:48.96 | +0.80 | |||
7 | 12 | 538573 | ROSS Laurenne | 1988 | USA | 1:49.10 | +0.94 | |||
8 | 20 | 565243 | MAZE Tina | 1983 | SLO | 1:49.34 | +1.18 | |||
9 | 6 | 55690 | HOSP Nicole | 1983 | AUT | 1:49.41 | +1.25 | |||
10 | 2 | 55970 | SCHMIDHOFER Nicole | 1989 | AUT | 1:49.52 | +1.36 | |||
11 | 22 | 55947 | FENNINGER Anna | 1989 | AUT | 1:49.72 | +1.56 | |||
12 | 4 | 565360 | STUHEC Ilka | 1990 | SLO | 1:49.74 | +1.58 | |||
13 | 7 | 537545 | MANCUSO Julia | 1984 | USA | 1:50.33 | +2.17 | |||
14 | 26 | 538685 | MCKENNIS Alice | 1989 | USA | 1:50.39 | +2.23 | |||
15 | 25 | 196968 | BAILET Margot | 1990 | FRA | 1:50.41 | +2.25 | |||
16 | 17 | 205218 | REBENSBURG Viktoria | 1989 | GER | 1:50.64 | +2.48 | |||
17 | 3 | 296729 | FANCHINI Nadia | 1986 | ITA | 1:50.70 | +2.54 | |||
18 | 11 | 106849 | YURKIW Larisa | 1988 | CAN | 1:50.86 | +2.70 | |||
19 | 15 | 505886 | KLING Kajsa | 1988 | SWE | 1:50.92 | +2.76 | |||
20 | 14 | 296472 | FANCHINI Elena | 1985 | ITA | 1:50.95 | +2.79 | |||
21 | 37 | 516219 | NUFER Priska | 1992 | SUI | 1:51.29 | +3.13 | |||
22 | 28 | 515806 | JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja | 1986 | SUI | 1:51.42 | +3.26 | |||
23 | 29 | 196460 | JAY MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie | 1985 | FRA | 1:51.46 | +3.30 | |||
24 | 1 | 245066 | MIKLOS Edit | 1988 | HUN | 1:51.68 | +3.52 | |||
25 | 38 | 297702 | MARSAGLIA Francesca | 1990 | ITA | 1:51.86 | +3.70 | |||
26 | 36 | 197295 | PIOT Jennifer | 1992 | FRA | 1:52.28 | +4.12 | |||
26 | 16 | 55576 | GOERGL Elisabeth | 1981 | AUT | 1:52.28 | +4.12 | |||
28 | 27 | 296427 | SCHNARF Johanna | 1984 | ITA | 1:52.31 | +4.15 | |||
29 | 33 | 426043 | TVIBERG Maria Therese | 1994 | NOR | 1:52.38 | +4.22 | |||
30 | 32 | 196928 | WORLEY Tessa | 1989 | FRA | 1:52.51 | +4.35 | |||
31 | 42 | 105269 | GAGNON Marie-Michele | 1989 | CAN | 1:52.71 | +4.55 | |||
32 | 34 | 565333 | BRODNIK Vanja | 1989 | SLO | 1:52.78 | +4.62 | |||
33 | 35 | 155563 | KRIZOVA Klara | 1989 | CZE | 1:52.79 | +4.63 | |||
34 | 39 | 206367 | HRONEK Veronique | 1991 | GER | 1:53.36 | +5.20 | |||
35 | 30 | 515782 | ABDERHALDEN Marianne | 1986 | SUI | 1:53.53 | +5.37 | |||
36 | 23 | 495318 | RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina | 1981 | SPA | 1:54.09 | +5.93 | |||
37 | 40 | 375018 | COLETTI Alexandra | 1983 | MON | 1:54.36 | +6.20 | |||
38 | 43 | 107613 | GRENIER Valerie | 1996 | CAN | 1:54.71 | +6.55 | |||
39 | 18 | 296008 | MERIGHETTI Daniela | 1981 | ITA | 1:54.99 | +6.83 | |||
40 | 41 | 297910 | CURTONI Elena | 1991 | ITA | 1:55.01 | +6.85 | |||
41 | 45 | 45331 | SMALL Greta | 1995 | AUS | 1:55.28 | +7.12 | |||
42 | 47 | 35089 | SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena | 1984 | ARG | 1:56.12 | +7.96 | |||
43 | 48 | 115115 | BARAHONA Noelle | 1990 | CHI | 1:56.48 | +8.32 | |||
44 | 51 | 385096 | POPOVIC Leona | 1997 | CRO | 1:57.90 | +9.74 | |||
45 | 46 | 565401 | BUCIK Ana | 1993 | SLO | 1:59.54 | +11.38 | |||
46 | 49 | 385092 | KOMSIC Andrea | 1996 | CRO | 2:00.20 | +12.04 | |||
Did not start 1st run | ||||||||||
50 | 465098 | CAILL Ania Monica | 1995 | ROU | ||||||
44 | 55759 | KIRCHGASSER Michaela | 1985 | AUT | ||||||
31 | 55838 | ZETTEL Kathrin | 1986 | AUT | ||||||
19 | 539536 | WILES Jacqueline | 1992 | USA | ||||||
Did not finish 1st run | ||||||||||
24 | 56128 | HUETTER Cornelia | 1992 | AUT |