A day after victory, Vonn struggles to 9th
A day after winning a downhill, Lindsey Vonn discovered how far she has to go to regain her dominance in super-G as she returns from two major injuries.
For now, defending overall World Cup champion Lara Gut remains the skier to beat in super-G.
Switzerland’s Gut extended her perfect run in super-G this season with a comfortable win Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Vonn struggled to a ninth-place finish.
For her third straight super-G victory, Gut finished 0.67 of a second ahead of Stephanie Venier of Austria and 0.86 in front of Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein.
Vonn, who won a downhill Saturday in just the second race of her comeback from a knee injury and a broken arm, finished 1.65 seconds behind.
“It was hard, very bumpy and very icy. Also with the light, it’s very dark, so it’s hard to get a good feeling on this snow and this slope,” Vonn said. “I didn’t see Lara’s run but I’m sure she skied very well. It really took some aggressive skiing today to win. I didn’t quite have that today.”
Gut didn’t appear satisfied with her performance at first, shaking her head in the finish area, but her smile grew wider when it became clear that she had secured her 22nd career victory.
Gut became the fourth woman to win the first three super-G races of the season after Carole Merle (1988-89), Katja Seizinger (1997-98) and Vonn (2015-16).
With 100 points awarded for wins, Gut put a big dent in Mikaela Shiffrin’s lead in the overall standings. Shiffrin, more of a technical specialist who was not racing over the weekend, holds a 135-point lead over Gut. Men’s slalom: At Kitzbuehel, Austria, Marcel Hirscher used a stunning second run to win the slalom of the classic Hahnenkamm races. Dave Ryding became the first British skier in 35 years to place second in a World Cup race.