Vonn Makes American History
TARVISIO, Italy (Feb. 22) It's official, Ski Club Vail product Lindsey
Vonn is the winningest female ski racer in American history. The
24-year-old double World Champion secured her 19th World Cup victory
Sunday with a super G win in Tarvisio, surpassing U.S. great Tamara
McKinney's previous high mark of 18 established in the 1980s.
It was Vonn's sixth World Cup win of the season and 43rd podium of her
young career. She now stands an impressive third for all-time U.S. World
Cup wins (male or female) behind Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) with 31 and
Phil Mahre with 27.
"It sounds really weird to me," said Vonn, who captured gold in both
downhill and super G at the recent FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.
"I don't see myself as a record setter and actually never thought it was
possible to pass a legend like Tamara.
"I'm extremely thrilled and hope that a lot of kids see what's possible
in ski racing and become inspired. More than any title or record, I want
to be a good example to young athletes. The same way Tamara and Picabo
[Street} were for me."
"This is sweet for sure. As a coach, you hope to get an athlete to work
with like Lindsey and we have more of them on this Team," said U.S. Ski
Team Speed Head Coach Alex Hoedlmoser.
Vonn also holds a commanding 299-point lead over best friend Maria
Riesch of Germany in the overall standings with nine races remaining. No
American woman has ever won back-to-back World Cup overall titles.
"My big goal for this weekend was to build my points total for the
overall," said Vonn, who also leads the World Cup downhill standings.
Trailing after the first timing interval, Vonn took over through the
middle and bottom sections of the course holding her powerful tuck
through difficult light nearly the entire length of the slope and
gaining speed all the way to the finish. Her time of 1:21.72 posted a
full .51 seconds over second place finisher Fabienne Suter of
Switzerland.
"I definitely lose a little at the start, but I have to just push that
much harder through the rest of the course," said Vonn, referring to the
repaired tendon in her right thumb. "It's not something I even think
about when I'm racing. I know it's there and I have to push harder out
of the start with my left hand, but other than that, I just ignore the
pain and race."
The last three super G races have ended with a Vonn victory including a
one-day delayed race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Feb. 1 and
the World Championships just two days later in Val d'Isere, France. With
two super G's left on the calendar, Vonn sits 39 points behind Nadia
Fanchini of Italy for the season-long discipline title.
"I realized that if I wanted to be up there in super G, I had to find a
balance of aggression. I couldn't be conservative, but I couldn't be too
aggressive either. I think I found that in Garmisch and I've been skiing
with that confidence since."
The women's White Circus rolls on to a new stop in Bansko, Bulgaria next
week for two downhills and a super G, the last speed races before the
March 9-15 World Cup Finals in Are, Sweden.
"We have three speed races coming up and that's what we're looking at
now. Lindsey's win was great, but some of the young ones didn't perform
the way we know they can. As a coach, I'm also looking to get them up to
the next level," Hoedlmoser said.
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