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Written by Steve L
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Friday, 18 December 2009 |
Friday's super combined marked win number three this season (and 25th for her career) for World Champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) as she aced both the downhill and slalom portions for the Audi FIS World Cup win in France.
"I definitely had some fast skis today, but I also think I skied really well. I think I made most of my time in the turns today, which I was really happy about," Vonn said. "I still made one mistake in the middle, but in general I was pretty dynamic and generating a lot of speed from the turns. That's what ultimately I wanted to do - have a solid run, and it was a good one."
"She skied well. Her plan was to really lay the hammer down in the downhill portion and ski smart in the slalom and it turned out to work as planned," Women's Alpine Head Coach Jim Tracy added. "She skied smart and it paid off."
According to Vonn, her plan to execute in the downhill helped give her an advantage in the run of slalom.
"Slalom is not my best discipline and downhill right now is working really well for me, so my goal was just to have a solid downhill run and hopefully get an advantage, that way I wouldn't have to risk as much in the slalom," Vonn said. "I was pretty cautious on the top part of the slalom and on the bottom I let things go, and I am really happy with the result."
The slalom track was not the type of surface that the women are used to racing on, according to Tracy.
"The slalom hill, on the bottom, probably two thirds of it was on the downhill track and it wasn't injected," Tracy said. "It was just hard snow, and it's not like you can really lay it down hard on that snow when you're used to racing on injected slalom hills."
"You have to ski the same no matter what, always attack, and do the same game plan you would if it was any conditions," Vonn added.
But injection or not, Vonn was still able to capitalize on her lead for the victory.
"I didn't expect to win today. Super combined is always difficult to win. I'm really confident in downhill right now, but slalom is always difficult no matter where you're racing," Vonn said. "I tried to ski well today so that I had a time advantage for the slalom so I didn't have to risk everything, and I think it worked well."
Four other U.S. women nudged their way into the top 30 with Leanne Smith (North Conway, NH) finishing 19th, Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN) 22nd and Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) 27th.
"They all skied really well. The downhill girls executed really well," Tracy said. "Things changed a little bit because it snowed last night and in some places the course was not as fast as it was yesterday, so we had to make a few line adjustments. For the most part everyone adapted to that and executed a good plan."
The women race again in France on Saturday in a downhill. Fans can watch the races live on UniversalSports.com with same-day coverage on Universal Sports TV.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS WORLD CUP
Val d'Isere, France - Dec. 18, 2009
Women's Super Combined
1. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 2:37.55
2. Maria Riesch, Germany, 2:38.71
3. Elisabeth Goergl, Austria, 2:38.94
4. Anja Paerson, Sweden, 2:39. 64
4. Michaela Kirchgasser, Austria, 2:39.64
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19. Leanne Smith, North Conway, NH, 2:43.20
22. Kaylin Richardson, Edina, MN, 2:43.88
27. Stacey Cook, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 2:44.99
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