ASPEN — Lindsey Vonn looked more like a rookie slipping and sliding through her first World Cup start than a two-time tour champion Saturday, but she had a rock-solid excuse.
With a large “Vonntourage” eagerly awaiting her in a packed finish stadium, Vonn hit a rock with her right ski about halfway down the first run of giant slalom, destroying one of her edges and preventing her from skiing cleanly on a slope she likened to “pond ice.”
Trying to hold an edge was like driving on an icy road with a bald tire. Forget competing; white-knuckle survival became the goal.
“I slid out about four times, and I was just trying to make it down,” Vonn said. “I was laughing at myself.”
Vonn finished 39th, more than four seconds behind first-run pacesetter Kathrin Hoelzl of Germany, and did not qualify for the second run.
Even for World Cup racing, the venerable Ruthie’s Run racetrack was unusually bulletproof.
“I think too icy for many of the girls,” said Hoelzl, whose lead held up in the second run for her first World Cup victory. “Ice is OK, but too icy is not good. On the TV, we are looking not like perfect skiers.”
If the slope made many of the world’s best giant slalom skiers look clumsy, imagine trying to make it down with a useless edge.
“You could see, I spun out on the flats,” Vonn said, smiling and taking her misfortune in stride. “That doesn’t normally happen. I knew right then and there. I was like, ‘Oh, God, from here on out, just make it down.’ That’s all I was trying to do.”
Austria’s Kathrin Zettel, who was second in the season-opening GS last month in Soelden, Austria, was runner-up again and claimed the GS leader’s bib.
Federica Brignone of Italy claimed third-place prize money of $14,500, a good thing considering she spent $500 on Christmas gifts at the Silverthorne outlet shops before coming to Aspen.
Julia Mancuso was the top American in 13th place, a welcome step forward for the reigning Olympic champion who is coming off her worst season since 2004.
Mancuso has to regain confidence and improve her start position before she can be considered a contender again, and Saturday was big improvement over her last race. Mancuso skied out in the second run at Soelden.
“It helps a lot, just to know I can charge again, just go for it,” Mancuso said. “It’s made a big difference because I don’t want to be tentative when I’m leaving that start gate.”
There is a chance a men’s super-G and giant slalom scheduled for Val d’Isère, France, will be added to the Beaver Creek program because of insufficient snow at the French resort.
Officials of Vail Resorts and U.S. Skiing discussed the possibility Saturday. Beaver Creek currently is scheduled for super-combined, downhill and giant slalom next weekend.
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
