Vonn denied podium again
For the second day in a row, challenging conditions on Aspen Mountain produced a first-time World Cup winner, as Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic took first place in the women’s slalom race and denied American Lindsey Vonn a place on the podium.
On Saturday, Tessa Worley of France won her first World Cup race by taking the giant slalom during a steady snowfall.
On Sunday, winds of up to 55 miles per hour swept the icy course during both slalom runs, but Zahrobska made winning look easy. She came through the swirling snow to post the fastest time in the first run and then clinched the race as the last skier to come down the hill in the second run.
“The race was very tough,” said the 23-year-old Zahrobska, who has been on the World Cup tour since 2002. “The course was really icy and conditions were really hard. Visibility wasn’t so good and it was windy and snowy and it was a very hard race and I’m very happy I finished first.”
The Czech Republic ski team is small. There were eight racers and coaches in Aspen this weekend compared to 32 for the Austrians and 29 for the French. And Zahrobska now has a place in Czech Republic history, becoming the first woman skier from the country’s 15-year-old to win a World Cup race.
Zahrobska’s father is her coach and ski technician.
“I think he is very happy today because he works very hard and it is a hard job, and he is happy that finally I win a World Cup race,” Sarka Zahrobska said. “It is really a small team and it is hard for us and it costs a lot of money and it is very nice to win here and see that our work was good.”
Zahrobska’s winning time knocked Vonn out of third place and into fourth place. Vonn was also fourth in Saturday’s GS race. And she took fourth in last year’s downhill in Aspen.
“Fourth place is still good; I just seem to have a problem with fourth place here in Aspen,” Vonn said. “I kept trying to do something for my home crowd.”
Vonn said during her warm-up run Sunday morning she felt her recently injured knee talking to her.
“We were running on top of the GS course and it was really slick and I just jammed it really hard and it really didn’t feel good,” she said. “I was able to take some more medication and it dulled the pain for the race.”
Vonn’s disappointment at not reaching the podium was clear.
“I really would have liked to have gotten a top three today but I can’t expect to get a top three if I’m not charging,” she said. “I just didn’t quite trust myself the first run.”
No American woman has had a top three World Cup result in Aspen since 2004 when Kristina Koznick took third in a slalom. The podium has been dominated by European racers like Nicole Hosp of Austria, who took second in Sunday’s slalom. It was her third time medaling in Aspen.
“It was very tough to ski because the weather conditions were so hard, it was so windy and it was also (such an) icy slope and it was a really tough race today,” Hosp said.
Hosp didn’t finish the GS race on Saturday and limped off the course.
“My ankle and my knee hurt a little bit,” Hosp said. “It is not a big problem.”
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland had another great weekend in Aspen, where she has now reached the podium seven times since 2004. She claimed third place on Sunday in the slalom and was second in Saturday’s GS. That puts her on top of the overall World Cup rankings after three races; she is also the current GS leader.
Last year, she was second in a slalom race. In 2006, she took second in a GS. And in 2004, she reached the podium three times in three different races.
Poutiainen, 28, thrives on Aspen’s course and usually snowy conditions.
“Yesterday morning, when I saw the snow coming down I was so happy that it was snowing,” she said Sunday. “And this morning again I was just happy to have tough conditions. It doesn’t feel so good when you ski, but it is the same for everybody and you have to fight and you have to be a good technical skier and I think this is my advantage.”
The wind on Sunday was so intense at times it was bending the slalom poles toward the skiers.
“On the second run, the gates were leaning toward you,” Poutiainen said. “That was pretty tough.”
Vonn also fought the wind.
“I tried to go for it as hard as I could the second run and I got a huge headwind in the middle section. The gates were pointing directly at me and I had a really hard time, but I kept fighting.”
Two other U.S. racers made it to the second slalom run on Sunday.
Hailey Duke finished 21st but was psyched to have reached her first second run in a World Cup race. Her teammate Sterling Grant finished 29th.
Returning U.S. Ski Team member Sarah Schleper decided not to race in Sunday’s slalom after coming in 13th in Saturday’s GS. Team officials said her back was bothering her.
Julia Mancuso missed a gate at the bottom of the course on her first run and was disqualified.
The wind was intense enough on Sunday to pull one of the small towers holding up banners over the finish line off its mooring. Course workers hauled in the banners but the incident caused a 15-minute delay in the race.
“It’s a winter sport,” said Aspen Skiing Co. ski instructor, planner and course worker Victor Gerdin as he came off the course during the delay. “It’s a winter sport.”
In another freakish incident, a dog ran across the course near the finish line just as Norway’s Anne-Marie Muller was approaching it towards the beginning of the second run. Two course workers had to wrestle the dog and get it out of the way. Muller, for her part, looked like she was reacting to the surprise course crasher but did not fall or miss a gate; she did not request a rerun.
bgs@aspendailynews.com
