Vonn takes win number 49 in St Moritz Downhill
If she was nervous after the downhill yesterday, this performance by
Lindsey Vonn to record her 49th career World Cup win will
have made the rest of the women nervous. Lindsey Vonn was a massive
1.42 seconds ahead of the rest of the field as she grabbed the race
by the scruff of the neck and laid out her intentions.
Not even good friend Maria Hoefl-Riesch was able to live with
the pace of the American and Hoefl-Riesch was happy enough with
second place just ahead of Tina Weirather in third.
This eighth win of the season and second on the bounce was won on
the lower half of the course. Vonn trailed Tina Weirather through
the first split yet after that the gap between Vonn and the rest of
the field just grew and grew. The fantastic weather was being
matched by the almost faultless run of Vonn.
“I thought I skied well yesterday. Today I stepped it up a little
bit more,” Vonn said, “When I crossed the finish line, I didn’t know
I would be that far ahead.”
“Mostly I just tried to stay relaxed, I knew where I had to execute
the line,” explained Vonn on her run. And this is what she
did.
The respect of the rest of the racers is there and Maria
Hoefl-Riesch explained that “She skied perfect today again, I try to
keep up with her, but at the moment it’s really tough because she’s
so good. Maybe there will come a day when I can beat her again.”
On her own performance Hoefl-Riesch said: “It’s a great result for
me. I’m really happy, especially after yesterday,” Hoefl-Riesch
said. “It was a little more bumpy today, I’m glad the visibility was
OK. It was still a really nice track.” The result lifts her into
third place in the season long standings.
With the record books showing that the next win will be her 50th,
Vonn is just trying to stay relaxed and focus on the day to day
things. “I’m
trying not to think about it because I think that 50 is a pretty
substantial point in my career. I’m trying to just stay focused on
the race tomorrow; it’s going to be a tough super combined,” she
explained.
Results
1. Lindsey Vonn (USA)
2. Maria Hoefl-Riesch (GER)
3.
Tina Weirather (LIE)
