Weirather wins while Vonn falls in super-G
LAKE LOUISE, ALTA.— Tina Weirather finally stepped to the top of the podium in Lake Louise, Alta., with a victory in Sunday’s World-Cup super-G.
The 28-year-old from Liechtenstein had been second five times and third twice in previous downhill and super-G races at the Alberta resort.
After finishing second to Lara Gut in last year’s super-G, Weirather edged the Swiss woman by just over a tenth of a second in sunny, clear conditions.
“Well, it really means a lot to me because I was here and on the podium so many times,” Weirather said. “I think seven times and now the first win. I was so close a couple of times.”
Nicole Schmidhofer of Austria placed third Sunday. Valerie Grenier of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was the top Canadian in 26th.
American ski star Lindsey Vonn was hungry to add to her career 18 victories in Lake Louise, but fell Sunday and did not finish a race for the second time in three days.
“My inside ski, my boot hit the snow and just knocked my ski out,” said Vonn, who also fell on Friday. “It’s been a pretty unlucky weekend in that regard, but I was charging and had more confidence than I did yesterday.
“I just feel a little bit deflated overall. I think if I would have finished Friday it would have been a whole other ball game. But that’s ski racing.
“The lucky thing is I’m relatively healthy and my main focus this season has always been the Olympics.”
HIRSCHER WINS GS: Marcel Hirscher of Austria stormed back from a first-run deficit to win a World Cup giant slalom race in Beaver Creek, Colo., as rival Ted Ligety struggled.
Hirscher finished in a combined time of two minutes, 37.30 seconds. Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway was second, 0.88 seconds back, and firstrun leader Stefan Luitz of Germany took third.
It was Hirscher’s 23rd World Cup giant slalom win, which ties him for third most among men.
Toronto’s Trevor Philp was 11th in 2:39.27.
Alex Gough was fourth in the women’s race before leading her Canadian mates to the same finish in the second team relay of the luge World Cup season on Sunday in Altenberg, Germany.
“Of course, you always want to be jumping onto the podium, but I look at those fourth-place finishes and it tells me I’m right there,” said the 30-year-old Gough. “The performance and equipment is good and if I can put it together I will be there.”
Gough, the most successful Canadian luge athlete ever, clocked a tworun time of one minute 44.807 seconds on the 1,220-metre Altenberg track.
Gough finished behind three German women. Natalie Geisenberger won the race with a time of 1:44.241. Tatjana Huefner slid to the silver medal at 1:44.398, while Dajana Eitberger edged out Gough for bronze with a time of 1:44.733.