LEVI, Finland (Reuters) - Germany's Maria Riesch edged out arch-rival Lindsey Vonn to win the season's opening women's World Cup slalom in Levi on Saturday. World champion Riesch posted a combined time of one minute 48.71 seconds in her favorite discipline, 0.08 ahead of the American Vonn. Local favorite Tanja Poutiainen, winner of the opening giant slalom in Soelden last month, was third, 1.16 adrift, while Riesch's sister Susanne was fourth. "Whatever people might think, this is kind of a... Read Full Story
Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women's World Cup slalom Saturday, edging Lindsey Vonn of the United States by 0.08 seconds. Riesch, the defending world slalom champion, finished with a two-run time of 1 minute, 48.71 seconds on the Black Course at the World Cup circuit's northernmost venue above the Arctic Circle. Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was 1.16 behind in third place and kept the overall World Cup lead. Poutiainen won the opening giant slalom race of the season last month in... Read Full Story
Former slalom champion Marlies Schild will return to the World Cup circuit on Saturday, 13 months after breaking her left leg. The 28-year-old Schild will start in the first slalom race of the season in Levi, Finland, Austria women's head coach Herbert Mandl said Wednesday. However, world super-combi champion Kathrin Zettel had been ruled out because of illness, Mandl said. Schild broke her left lower leg in a crash prior to last year's season-opening races in Soelden. She was back on skis... Read Full Story
Lindsey Vonn hasn't missed a beat in her risky switch of ski manufacturers entering an Olympic year. Ted Ligety, meanwhile, has picked up right where he left off before injuring his right knee at the end of last season. Vonn finished a respectable ninth in her worst event — giant slalom — to open the World Cup season Saturday and Ligety placed second in the men's GS on Sunday behind Swiss veteran Didier Cuche. Vonn, the two-time defending overall World Cup champion, switched from Rossignol... Read Full Story
SOELDEN, Austria (Reuters) - Finn Tanja Poutiainen beat local favorite Kathrin Zettel by the slimmest of margins to spoil the show for Austria in the opening giant slalom of the season on Saturday. Poutiainen won in a combined time of two minutes 24.96 seconds, leaving last year's winner Zettel just 0.01 adrift. Italy's Denise Karbon, fastest in the first run, faltered in the afternoon leg to finish third, 0.32 behind. To add to the Austrian team's woes, the first women's race of the season... Read Full Story
SOELDEN, Austria (Reuters) - Didier Cuche ensured the Alpine skiing season opener remained in Swiss hands when he won the Soelden giant slalom on Sunday. Beaten into second place by compatriot Daniel Albrecht in the Austrian resort last winter, Cuche, who went on to win the discipline's World Cup, clocked a combined time of two minutes and 21.45 seconds to snatch his 10th World Cup victory. Last year's winner Albrecht was seriously injured in a training crash in Kitzbuehel on January 22 and... Read Full Story
The alpine skiing World Cup circuit opens this weekend at the Austrian resort of Soelden with American star Lindsey Vonn leading a host of skiers with one eye firmly set on Olympic glory. The 2010 Winter Games fall in February 12-28, bissecting the season which sees the women race 34 competitions and the men 35 in 25 resorts in Europe and North America. "From the first race in Soelden to the end of the selection period in January it'll be impossible to ignore qualifying for the Games... Read Full Story
US skier Lindsey Vonn said her dream of winning a maiden Olympic medal in Vancouver next February will not dilute her hopes of defending her coveted World Cup titles. The Colorado-based, Minnesota-born Vonn is one of only a few real stars among the women's elite, dominating the World Cup series the past two years while winning two gold medals at the world championships earlier this year. An all-rounder who excels in the speed events of the downhill and super-G disciplines, Vonn had still to... Read Full Story
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland has won the opening race of the ski season, taking the giant slalom title on the Rettenbach glacier by just one one-hundreth of a second. Poutiainen clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 24.96 seconds on Saturday. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was second and Denise Karbon of Italy was third. Lindsey Vonn of the United States was ninth. Former overall winner Nicole Hosp of Austria crahsed and was airlifted to an Innsbruck hospital with a right knee injury. She... Read Full Story
Denise Karbon and fellow Italian Manuela Moelgg are first and second after the opening run of a World Cup giant slalom race to start the ski season. Two-time defending overall champion Lindsey Vonn of the United States was eighth, 1.78 seconds off Karbon's pace. The second run will be held later Saturday. Karbon clocked 1 minute, 11.52 seconds on the Rettenbach glacier. Moelgg was 0.24 seconds behind, and defending World Cup giant slalom winner Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was third, 0.62... Read Full Story
