VAL D’ISERE, France — At least Lindsey Vonn didn’t reinjure her thumb.
Skiing only four days after she had surgery on a severed tendon in her right thumb, the Ski Club Vail product was second after the opening run Saturday of the world championship slalom won by Germany’s Maria Riesch.
Wearing a specially designed splint and duct tape all around her glove that made it look like she was ready for the ring, Vonn knocked gates out of her way like a prizefighter.
She was unable, however, to plant her right pole properly and fell in her second trip down, crashed through a gate and slid downhill for about 70 yards. Then she got right back up and skied down to congratulate Riesch, her good friend.
“I was out there doing my best even with my thumb,” Vonn said. “I’m really happy for Maria, but I would have loved to have been on the podium with her.”
Vonn landed on her right side but somehow avoided more damage to her thumb.
“I was trying to keep my hand close to me, but I also was sliding backwards really fast, so I don’t really know what happened,” she said.
Riesch’s victory gave Germany two straight golds after Kathrin Hoelzl took the giant slalom Thursday. The top three skiers from the first leg — Manuela Moelgg, Vonn and Sandrine Aubert — all failed to finish the second run.
“I know the top three went out, but I still had a good run,” Riesch said. “You’ve got to make it down.”
Moving up from sixth after the first leg, Riesch was timed in 1 minute, 51.80 seconds over two runs down the steep Face de Bellevarde course.
Defending champion Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic finished second, 0.77 seconds behind, and Tanja Poutiainen of Finland was third, 1.09 back, for her second consecutive bronze medal.
Returning from a 13-month injury layoff, Resi Stiegler of Jackson, Wyo., finished a respectable 19th.
In today’s men’s slalom, Bode Miller will be bidding to make history.
In his career, the American has won world titles in four of the five disciplines, with just slalom missing from his set. No one has won all five, and only Swiss great Pirmin Zurbriggen can match his set of four.
“It’s going to be tough, but I’m excited for it. I feel good physically,” Miller said. “It’s a demanding hill and you see the light can get tough when those shadows come in.”
Taking his fifth gold is the hardest step for the 31-year-old, who won the giant slalom and combined at the 2003 worlds, then the downhill and super-G two years later.
Miller hasn’t won a slalom since a World Cup race at Sestriere, Italy, in December 2004, and today’s field is deep and talented.
An Austrian lineup could conceivably fill the first five places, and the Italians are strong, as are the French.
The Associated Press
