Vonn gets 80th victory, while Johnson surprises
Could there be another American skiing threat at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics?
Lindsey Vonn edged Italy’s Sofia Goggia by two hundredths of a second in a foretaste of the Olympic downhill on Saturday in GarmischPartenkirchen, Germany, raising her career total to 80 World Cup victories.
“It’s a big number,” Vonn said of her 80 wins, just six short of the alltime record set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark in the 1980s. “Also the timing of this win, coming into the Olympics, I really feel strong mentally and physically.”
Vonn’s win was expected. The surprise, though, came from American skier Breezy Johnson, who finished fourth. After two 10th places, this was her best career result by far, and only 0.21 of a second separated her from the top three.
“Fourth is a nice number,” the speed specialist from Jackson, Wyo., said. “I tried to ski as good as I could and, yeah, I was a little surprised.”
To the U.S. ski team, Johnson’s breakthrough achievement didn’t come as a surprise.
“She has been skiing well on a course that actually suits her,” women’s team coach Alex Hoedlmoser said. “She had a really good training run this morning so we actually expected something. She proved she was able to deliver that.”
Could Johnson be a medal contender in the Feb. 21 downhill at her first Olympics?
According to Hoedlmoser, her capabilities are “pretty much unlimited.”
“She is improving technically day by day and every training session,” he said. “She is an incredible glider, we know that. She is going to be good.”
IOC to look again at Russians: The International Olympic Committee says it will review the cases of 15 Russian athletes ahead of the Pyeongchang Games in the light of a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said, “Our decision will come before the games start (on Friday),” and that “we reserve our right to review and appeal the CAS decision.”
The CAS ruling Thursday overturned the doping bans on 28 Russian athletes, citing insufficient evidence. Russia said it wants to send 15 of the 28 to Pyeongchang, including gold medalwinning skeleton slider Alexander Tretiakov and cross-country ski gold medalist Alexander Legkov.
Watabe a contender: At Hakuba, Japan, Akito Watabe of Japan won his fourth straight Nordic combined World Cup event to enhance his position as a gold medal contender at the Olympics. Watabe jumped 130.5 meters and finished the 10-kilometer race in 24 minutes, 14.6 seconds.
Watabe, 29, who won a silver medal at the Sochi Games in 2014, will represent Japan in his fourth straight Winter Olympics.