As much as the travel brochures wax poetic about the magic of Lake Louise, no one weaves the mystique as well as American Lindsay Vonn.
The 31-year-old dominated the world cup women’s weekend again with three straight wins, Dec 4-6.
Untouchable on the turns, unbeatable in the gliding sections, Vonn won handily in the downhill and super-G, growing stronger with each passing race. In the super-G, she won by 1.32 seconds – an eternity in speed events – over Austrian Tamara Tippler. Cornelia Huetter, also of Austria, was third.
“It was a big deal,” Vonn said. “I feel like there were some people that doubted whether I could win Sunday, and especially because Lara (Gut) had won the last couple of 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.”
Even when she makes mistakes that would sink mere mortal skiers on the tour, Vonn displayed her remarkable ability to recover – something she’s mastered, especially at Lake Louise.
“I definitely got a little bit late on the bottom of 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 could always say you could do better.”
The win was the 70th of her career and 18th at Lake Louise, so it’s fair to say the course has been kind to her. Valerie Grenier was the top Canadian
“I’ve raced here hundreds of times and I feel no matter what is thrown at me on this hill, I’m able to rebound from it and still carry enough speed for the win,” Vonn said.
On Saturday, Vonn was more than a second ahead of the field as she laid down a hard charging run. Fabienne Suter was second and Huetter was third.
Larissa Yurkiw was the top Canadian, finishing a respectable seventh.
On Friday, Vonn made a major mistake on Fall Away – a section of the course that has given her trouble in years past – but recovered to win by .58 tenths over Huetter, and 1.07 ahead of Ramona Siebenhofer.
“I almost went down pretty hard there. I caught an edge and did some sort of split manoeuvre ; generally not recommended. Oddly enough, I’ve made similar mistakes on that part of the course before, so I knew I could make it up if I stayed in a low tuck and didn’t make any more mistakes. I have to say my service man Heinz Hammerle did an amazing job,” Vonn said.
In years past between the Fall Away and Fishnets course sections, Vonn has caught edges, kneed herself in the face and slid down course on her hip and still managed to win, but managed to make up time on the bottom sections. Friday was no different.
“I knew when I came around on that right footer, going off the last jump I caught a lot of air, so I knew I had the speed. The bottom of the course is where you win or lose. That’s where being a veteran comes in handy,” Vonn said.
Yurkiw just missed the top 10, finishing 12th on Friday, making a major mistake on Fall Away. She wasn’t happy with her run, but said it helped her adjust for Saturday’s seventh place finish.
“It was a bit mediocre for me today. I did a lot of things well, but I did a pretty crucial section in a conservative way. I tried to nail the line so badly; it turned out to be over-controlling. That’s not the key for downhilling at extreme speed,” Yurkiw said. “It was something I could fix.”
