Lindsey Vonn climbs to second place in the second downhill in St. Moritz this Saturday, after her victory in the first the day before.
She does it again. Tightrope walker after showing herself imperial on Friday, Lindsey Vonn finished second on Saturday in the second descent of Saint-Moritz behind the German Emma Aicher, confirming her return to the top two months before the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina.
Saved by a spectacular recovery after a big mistake, the 41-year-old American legend completed the Grisons track in 1 min 30 sec 74/100s, or 24/100s behind Emma Aicher and 5/100s ahead of the Italian Sofia Goggia.
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The «Speed Queen» therefore does not follow up with a new success, she who won her 83rd World Cup victory on Friday more than seven years after the previous one. But this is his third consecutive podium after his second place in March in the Sun Valley super-G at the conclusion of the previous season. “I would have loved to have had a better performance but it’s good, you know. I’m happy to get these mistakes out of the way early in the season and I hope I don’t make them again.”Lindsey Vonn told Swiss channel RTS.
Dazzling the day before, the American had triumphed with a margin of 98/100 over the Austrian Magdalena Egger, the same gap as between Egger and… the thirteenth in this first descent, the Swiss Malorie Blanc.
Red bib for Vonn
“I’m a little tired from yesterday, there was a lot of emotion,” Vonn admitted Saturday. I managed the upper part well, then I found myself unbalanced, I fell on my hip and I didn’t ski the bottom as I wanted.. At only 22 years old, the very versatile Aicher, who grew up in Sweden then in Switzerland, has established herself among the rising stars of the world circuit, after her first two victories in March in downhill then in super-G, and a 3rd place in mid-November in the Levi slalom.
Much cleaner than its rivals at the tricky bottom of the track, it was not “not sure this is the perfect trajectory”plus the “managed to improve well” the sectors targeted since its 5th place on Friday. But at the start of this speed season, the red bib of leader of the downhill remains on the shoulders of Lindsey Vonn, she who already has eight globes in the discipline in addition to her five globes in super-G and her four big globes.
Meet in Val d’Isère
The Minnesota native, who returned to competition last year after five seasons of retirement, appears more than ever as a serious contender for Olympic gold in February in Cortina, one of her favorite tracks, 16 years after her downhill title at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. “To see her ski like this and win by a second in front of all of us (Friday, editor’s note), it’s something incredible which will push us all to raise our level of skiing. Performances of this kind, from such a champion, can only do good.greeted Sofia Goggia, her rival and friend, on Saturday.
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The speed specialists will continue on Sunday morning with the last event of the Saint-Moritz stage, a super-G, before heading to Val d’Isère next week for a descent and a super-G. On the Blues side, Romane Miradoli set the 15th time after her sixth place the day before, 1 sec 40 behind Aicher, while Laura Gauché, Camille Cerutti and Karen Clément respectively took 26th, 28th and 50th places.
In the general classification, the American Mikaela Shiffrin is still in the lead after winning the first three slaloms of the season.
