LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland (March 13) – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) won a record 17th Audi FIS Alpine World Cup globe and record sixth straight downhill title after fog forced officials to cancel the final men's and women's downhills on Wednesday. Vonn won three of seven World Cup downhills this season and missed two due to injury following her super G crash at World Champs. Wednesday cemented the U.S. Ski Team’s win of the women’s downhill standings by 457 points over the Swiss thanks to nine U.S. podiums from five different women.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) was awarded the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill title when the final women's downhill was canceled due to fog.
- It was a record sixth straight downhill title, a feat that hadn’t been accomplished by either gender.
- It was also her 17th World Cup title, breaking the women’s record of 16 she previously shared with Annemarie Moser-Proell. Only Ingemar Stenmark has more with 19.
- Wednesday also cemented the U.S. Ski Team’s win in the women’s nation downhill standings by 457 points; 1,330 to 873 over the Swiss.
- Vonn won three out of seven races this season, crashing out of the Val d’Isere downhill, finishing sixth in St. Anton and missing both the Meribel and Garmisch downhills after her season-ending super G crash at World Champs.
- Stacey Cook (Mammoth Lakes, CA) finished fourth behind Slovenia's Tina Maze and Germany’s Maria Hoefl-Riesch.
- Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) ended up ninth, Alice McKinnis (Glenwood Springs, CO) 10, Leanne Smith (North Conway, NH) 12 and Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) 16.
- The women’s downhill domination included five different Americans on nine downhill podiums this season: Vonn had two wins in Lake Louise and one in Cortina, McKennis had one win in St. Anton, Cook had two seconds in Lake Louise, Smith had a second in Val d’Isere and a third in Cortina and Ross had a second in Garmisch.
- Canceled races at World Cup Finals are not rescheduled.
- World Cup Finals continue Thursday with women's super G where Mancuso has a shot to win the super G title.
QUOTES
Lindsey Vonn
It is always an honor to win a title, even if I wish I had done it by competing alongside my teammates over the past month. I hope they will bring home many more titles this season. This only fuels me to work even harder to get back out on the mountain as soon as I can.
Stacey Cook
It’s pretty anti-climatic. Normally finals are so fun and such a good atmosphere, especially here with how many people show up to watch. It’s not the way you want to end, but I’m psyched to be ranked where I am and to keep getting better year-by-year. It’s kind of bittersweet because I know I let a few things slip this year. I had mistakes in seven of my eight downhill runs and so that’s something that is driving me going forward. But to be ranked fourth even with all those mistakes is pretty sweet and I’m psyched that the globe stays in our country.
Leanne Smith
It was a good year. It was a big step for me, and I’m really happy to be where I’m at in skiing right now. I feel really confident in getting ready for next year. Too bad today was cancelled but I’m going to work really hard this prep period, whether it be in the gym or out at a training camp in Chile. So I’m really happy about it. I’m happy about the future, next year’s a big year. Hopefully it just keeps going up from here.
It’s great that we have the title in the U.S. again and it’s really cool and a lot of fun to be a part of this historic team. People will look back at this and we all know that we were a part of it. It’s great. I’m happy for Lindsey and Stacey on fourth place in the season. It’s really cool. We got everybody on the podium in speed this year. So it’s exciting for us.
Laurenne Ross
It was a little bit of a tough season for me actually. Starting in Lake Louise I was skiing pretty well and I got a bit of tough luck with the weather. It was a pretty tough race there. Throughout the season I just was so inconsistent. So coming into Garmisch I just decided to let everything go, and yeah, I’m glad that that’s the way it ended for me.
I think it’s because we work really well as a team and the speed training that we’ve had in Copper in November has been really beneficial for us. That course is really fun and the snow is almost always perfect. So that’s helped us a lot.
Alex Hoedlmoser Head Coach, Women’s U.S. Ski Team
Without support, there’s no chance at being successful and we have a really really strong group behind us; those working in the office, lots of people there that are usually not on the road, but you need those people also. We get a lot of support. I have to thank especially Patrick Riml, our alpine director, who’s doing a fantastic job with supporting us with whatever we need. And also the corporation with Soelden and Copper Mountain, our primary training partners, who always provide the best possible training opportunities. It's a huge part of our success.
Chip White, Women’s U.S. Ski Team
I’m very fortunate. We are very fortunate to be a part of a great team right now. We have great athletes. We have a great coaching staff, great physical therapists and great servicemen and so it’s very much a team effort. I have to congratulate all of the people that are a part of this team that have brought all of these girls up to podium potential every time that they come out. So it’s been a very exciting year for us and for me.
FINAL WOMEN'S DOWNHILL STANDINGS
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