Winter: Italian dedicates super-G victory to teammate sidelined by tumour
BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, AUSTRIA— After winning a women’s World Cup super-G, Federica Brignone dedicated her victory to Italian teammate Elena Fanchini on Saturday.
The 32-year-old Fanchini had to end her season because of a tumour, forcing her out of her fourth Olympics in Pyeongchang next month.
“She is always with us, she is missing. For sure, we are all upset. This (win) was for her,” said Brignone, adding she hoped her triumph “can help Elena to recover better.”
In the penultimate super-G before the Olympics, Brignone timed 1 minute, 9.80 seconds on the KarntenFranz Klammer course and denied then-leader Lara Gut her first win of the season, beating the Swiss former overall champion by 0.18. Cornelia Huetter of Austria was 0.46 behind in third.
Roni Remme of Collingwood, Ont., was 35th, finishing in 1:14.76.
Lindsey Vonn finished 1.43 off the lead in ninth place, a day after the American standout was considering skipping the race to avoid the risk of getting injured on the partly weakened course. But snow conditions vastly improved after a cold night.
“As soon as I saw the course at inspection this morning, I knew I was going to run,” Vonn said. “If it’s bumpy it’s not a problem. As long as the surface is holding and solid, it’s fine.”
Vonn badly injured her right knee skiing in soft snow at the 2013 world championships.
GOUGH SEVENTH IN TUNE-UP: It wasn’t the result she was looking for, but Alex Gough will take a lot of positives out of a seventh-place finish at the luge World Cup in Oberhof, Germany.
The 13-year veteran of the Canadian squad rebounded from a challenging first run to finish in seventh place with a time of 1:22.891 on Saturday.
“I was having good runs in both heats, but made a mistake out of corner 11 both times. I was able to handle it better on the second run,” said the 30-year-old Calgary native. “I had good training, but wasn’t able to get it right today.”
The three-time Olympian was in 11th spot after her first descent. She has never been able to master the 12corner chute with none of her 25
career medals coming from Oberhof. The German women swept the podium. Dajana Eitberger was first at 1:22.213. Natalie Geisenberger slid to the silver with a time of 1:22.260, while Tatjana Huefner grabbed the bronze medal at 1:22.546.
SHERRET GRABS BRONZE: India Sherret of Cranbrook, B.C., won bronze on Saturday at a World Cup women’s ski cross in Idre Fjall, Sweden.
Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund took gold and France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel was second.
That brings Canada’s medal tally in ski cross up to seven for the 2017-18 season. Sherret’s previous best was an eighth-place finish.
Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, B.C., was fifth, Georgia Simmerling of North
Vancouver, B.C., was sixth and Britt Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was seventh.
Switzerland’s Alex Fiva and Marc Bischofberger won gold and silver on the men’s side. Calgary’s Brady Leman was 10th.
SWISS OWN WENGEN: Beat Feuz gave the home country yet another victory in the Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen, Switzerland. Racing first, Feuz set a time that only Aksel Lund Svindal could threaten.
Svindal wore the No. 3 bib and led at four of the five time splits, but the big Norwegian finished 0.18 seconds behind Feuz’s two minutes, 26.50 seconds.
Feuz also won at Wengen in 2012, and the Swiss team has now won five of the past nine editions.