VAL D’ISERE, France — Lindsey Vonn capped a successful weekend Sunday with a third-place finish in a super-G that helped her reclaim the overall World Cup lead.
Following her victory in Friday’s super combined, Vonn made mistakes in the upper part of the course, but finished strong to gain a spot on the podium. Franzi Aufdenblatten posted her first World Cup victory, leading Nadia Styger to a 1-2 Swiss finish with Vonn 0.26 seconds off the pace.
“Every race is important, especially for the overall, and for myself for building confidence for Vancouver,” said Vonn, a Vail resident who has yet to win an Olympic medal.
Vonn has been on the podium in every discipline this season except in giant slalom and now has 581 points in the overall standings to lead Germany’s Maria Riesch by 50 points.
Alice McKennis of Glenwood Springs was 22nd and has scored World Cup points in three of the five career races and is a contender for a spot in the U.S. Olympic team in super-G and downhill.
• Italian skiers Max Blardone and Davide Simoncelli finished 1-2 in a World Cup giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy.
Blardone led both legs for his fifth World Cup victory. Ted Ligety was the top American, finishing seventh.
Steamboat’s Fletcher finishes fourth
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — A day after finishing third in a Continental Cup nordic combined event, Steamboat Springs’ Taylor Fletcher rallied from 21st and finished fourth.
The effort led another strong showing by the American team. Teammate Alexander Miller was 10th and Carl Van Loan 13th.
• Bjorn Kircheisen of Germany held off Norway’s Magnus Moan in the final sprint to win a World Cup nordic combined in Ramsau, Austria, for his 14th career victory.
Steamboat’s Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane finished fifth and 13th, respectively. Countryman Bill Demong was 14th.
• Two-time Olympic champion Andre Lange won a four-man bobsled World Cup race on his home track in Altenberg, Germany, and American Steven Holcomb bounced back from a crash the day before to place second.
• Switzerland’s Simon Ammann‘s giant first-round leap won a World Cup ski jump event in Engelberg, Switzerland, that was cut short by strong winds.
• In a first for a U.S. biathlete, Tim Burke took over the lead in the World Cup standings by placing sixth in a men’s 12.5-kilometer pursuit in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
Footnotes.
Jeff Quinn, Cincinnati’s interim coach, was named Buffalo’s new football coach following the departure of Turner Gill.
• Michigan cornerback Donovan Warren has declared for the NFL draft.
• The Oakland Athletics are closing in on a deal with free-agent outfielder Coco Crisp on a one-year contract with a club option for the 2011 season.
• Richie Ramsay of Scotland birdied the first playoff hole to defeat India’s Shiv Kapur and win the South African Open in Paarl.
