Vonn Sweeps Lake Louise

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta (Dec. 6, 2015) – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) took her 70th World Cup victory and third Lake Louise sweep on Sunday with a 1.32 second win over Austria’s Tamara Tippler.

The third World Cup win of the weekend for Lindsey Vonn didn’t matter quite as much to the speed queen as rounding off her career victory tally to a solid 70.

“My stepmom wrote me yesterday saying, ‘Sixty-nine is great, but I like round numbers so could you please just make it to 70?’ Last year I had 60 here, so it’s kind of nice,” said Vonn. “Seventy is a pretty big number.”

Vonn hushed any doubters who wondered if she could put an end to Swiss skier Lara Gut’s super G streak at Lake Louise, which had spanned the past two seasons, but there were more than a few bets on the line before she even pushed out of the starting gate.

“It was a big deal. I feel like there were some people that doubted whether I could win today, especially because Lara had won the last couple races here in super G. Also my technician made some bets with people, so I felt a little bit like I had to come through. It was my physio Lindsay’s last day with me traveling on the road, so I kind of wanted to end with a bang,” said Vonn.

With her smoothest of three runs all weekend, Vonn unseated race leader and practical unknown Tippler. Starting third, Tippler had capitalized on an early run down a pretty clean track and held a somewhat miraculous lead over the field, considering that her previous best super G finish was 21st in the 2014 Val d’Isere race and her career best had come yesterday with 16th in the downhill. Only Vonn was able to overtake the 39th-ranked super G skier on the day.

For all the spectacle of Vonn’s trifecta, Tippler’s teammate Conny Huetter also leaves Lake Louise with three podium results herself after finishing third in the super G. Before coming to Canada this year, Huetter had only stood on a World Cup podium once in her career.

Gut was looking for her third consecutive super G victory at the venue, but her run – 1.77 seconds off Vonn’s winning pace – proved only good enough for seventh place. She secured three top-10 results over the weekend but not a single top-five finish, and Vonn leapfrogged over both her and Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) to take the lead in the overall.

In the finish area, Gut shook her head and said through a chuckle, “Europe. I have to go back to Europe,” indicating that she is looking forward to stronger results on more familiar snow surfaces.

Although Shiffrin yielded her overall lead to Vonn, she emerged from the day with a solid performance in the debut World Cup speed race of her career. From bib 32, she made technical turns down the top of the course and crossed the finish line in a respectable 15th place.

“Mission accomplished. In the back of my head I was thinking, I’ll get points, but maybe a top 15. So by holding in 15th, that’s a really good day,” said Shiffrin. “There were some spots that I was probably a little bit too wide and maybe turning almost too much. But down the pitch, onto the flats, I felt like I carried some good speed. What I hear is that I was pretty good on the flats, and that’s probably a spot where everyone expected me to be slow. So I’m starting ahead of where I actually thought I would. I felt solid on the skis and it was really fun to be honest.”

Shiffrin will look to clean up some elements before taking on the combined in Val d’Isere, France, later this month, and she caught a bit of the speed bug after her first shot at the Lake Louise course.

“When it came down to it, I was totally comfortable (in the air). And (the jumps) weren’t very big, actually, it was like 20 meters, 25 maybe. I felt super comfortable, and both of them were left-footed turns into the jumps, so just flattening out the skis the timing was fine,” she noted. “I’m probably still a little harsh on my landings, so I’ll work on that, but otherwise the course was amazing. First time on that hill ever, and I don’t ever want to leave. I can see why Lindsey loves this place.”

Two other U.S. Ski Team athletes finished in the points – Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) was 12th, and Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) 17th. Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) was 41st, Anna Marno (Steamboat Springs, CO) 42nd, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) 44th and Abby Ghent (Edwards, CO) 49th.

The women move on to race giant slalom and slalom in Are, Sweden, on Dec. 12-13.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Lindsey Vonn won her third Lake Louise race in a row, bringing her Lake Louise sweep total to three.
• It was Vonn’s 70th World Cup win.
• Vonn has now won 25 super G races, moving her past Hermann Maier to become the all-time winningest super G skier in World Cup history.
• Vonn has now won four Lake Louise super G races and 14 Lake Louise downhills.
• Vonn won by 1.32 seconds, the largest super G margin since 1997 when Katja Seizinger beat Hilde Gerg by 1.59 seconds.
• Both Laurenne Ross and Stacey Cook scored in the points, taking 12th and 17th respectively.
• It was Mikaela Shiffrin’s first World Cup super G. She finished 15th.
• Watch the Lake Louise super G on Universal HD on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
• Next up, the women head to Are, Sweden to race giant slalom and slalom in Are, Sweden on Dec. 12-13.

QUOTES
Lindsey Vonn
It was a big deal. I feel like there were some people that doubted whether I could win today, and especially because Lara (Gut) had won the last couple races here in super G. And also my technician made some bets with people, so I felt a little bit like I had to come through. It was my physio Lindsay’s last day with me traveling on the road, so I kind of wanted to end with a bang. I had a pretty good run. I’m pretty happy with it.” 

I feel like (my run) was pretty good. I definitely got a little but late on the bottom coming around Claire’s Corner, got pushed a little bit, but I kept the speed going. So I would say it was a pretty decent run, but looking back you can always say you could do better.

This definitely gives me a big confidence boost going over to Europe. Whenever you win, period, let alone by over a second, it definitely gives you that little bit extra boost of confidence. I’m feeling great, and I know my super G is good, my downhill is pretty good, so I feel like I’m in a good place for the next couple races.

On hearing about Ted going out in Beaver Creek:
I was bummed. I was so impressed by Ted’s skiing yesterday, and it was kind of like a little bit of extra motivation for me to step it up and be another American on the podium. But I felt like since Ted didn’t get on the podium like he normally does, I had to pull through and thankfully I was able to do that today.

On Mikaela:
I watched her run and I thought she did really well. I mean, obviously, training is a little bit different than racing and I think sometimes the speed caught her off-guard. But in general she’s such a technically sound skier and she has such a great feel for the snow. It’s impressive – her first World Cup, to get 15th. I’m sure she’s going to be a strong competitor here in the next couple races.

Mikaela Shiffrin
It felt really good. There were some spots that I was probably a little bit too wide and here and there maybe turning almost too much. But down the pitch, onto the flats, I felt like I carried some good speed. What I hear is that I was pretty good on the flats, and that’s probably a spot where everyone expected me to be slow. So I’m starting ahead of where I actually thought I would. I felt solid on the skis and it was really fun to be honest.

When it came down to it, I was totally comfortable (in the air). And (the jumps) weren’t very big, actually, it was like 20 meters, 25 maybe. I felt super comfortable, and both of them were left-footed turns into the jumps, so just flattening out the skis the timing was fine. I’m probably still a little harsh on my landings, so I’ll work on that, but otherwise the course was amazing. First time on that hill ever, and I don’t ever want to leave. I can see why Lindsey loves this place.

I got like thousands of course reports throughout the day, and Lindsey’s was really good. She was talking about some of the turns down here, you get a little bit pushed and it’s a quicker switch so you have to be supple but quick-switch on the flats which is a bit tricky. She does a good job with the surface reports as well, so that was awesome.

Mission accomplished. In the back of my head I was thinking, I’ll get points, but maybe a top 15. So by holding in 15th, that’s a really good day.

RESULTS
Women’s super G results

On-site reporting provided by Ski Racing.