Vail’s Lindsey Vonn, a two-time World Cup overall champion, reports regularly from the tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
VAL D’ISERE, France — I was really excited about the way things went this past weekend, when I won a super combined and was third in a super-G.
It was a bummer that Saturday’s downhill was canceled because of weather, but the super combined Friday went really well. The super-G on Sunday wasn’t my best, but it was still a really good result.
It was a nice way to go into the holiday break, which will include my annual trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to spend Christmas with my best friend on the tour, Maria Riesch, and her family.
The combined downhill Friday went really well. I had a really good plan, I had two good training runs going into it, and I really executed well, finishing with an advantage of more than a second and a half over the field. It was a really clean run, and I skied really aggressively.
That gave me a nice cushion going into the combined slalom, which allowed me to ski conservatively and just make it to the bottom in first place.
The combined slalom was solid, not anything special. I skied conservatively on the top, and once I made it through a flush in the middle where a lot of people were having problems, I just let it go and really skied well on the bottom. I had quite a lot of time to work with, so the No. 1 goal was making it into the finish while staying in the lead.
I skied the super-G conservatively on the top and wasn’t really charging like I normally do. I couldn’t really find the rhythm. I felt like I skied much better on the bottom and was more aggressive. I am happy with third place, though, and I got the red bib back, meaning I’m leading in the super-G standings. (Note: Vonn also is leading the downhill standings and the overall standings.)
We don’t race again until next Monday. My husband and I are going to a wellness hotel near Innsbruck for a couple days for a little sauna wellness vacation, and then on Wednesday we will go to Maria’s for Christmas.
I lead the World Cup standings going into the Christmas break, and Maria is third, almost an exact repeat of last year’s performances at this time.
