ASPEN — Tessa Worley was all but handed a World Cup giant slalom victory in the 2008 Aspen Winternational. The 21-year-old from France experienced another dose of good fortune on a sun-drenched Saturday on Aspen Mountain.
Eighth after her first run, Worley was nearly flawless in the afternoon on famed Ruthie’s Run, vaulting into first place with a combined time of 2 minutes, 6.81 seconds. She hung on from there, withstanding a late push from morning leader Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany, who finished just one-hundredth of a second behind. Rebensburg’s teammate, Kathrin Hoelzl, wound up third, a mere two-hundredths of a second off of Worley’s pace.
Rebensburg and Hoelzl, last year’s GS winner here, went 1-2 in Oct. 23’s season-opening GS in Solden, Austria.
“It was great to win, and win again here,” Worley said. “I was worried. It was really close, and it looked like (Rebensburg) was going to get me.”
Less than one second separated first from 10th place on yet another disappointing day for the U.S. One of only two Americans to qualify for a second run, Julia Mancuso of Squaw Valley, Calif., was second after the first run but settled for eighth place. Vail’s Sarah Schleper finished 18th.
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“(The second run) definitely wasn’t great. I had a little problem on top and felt like I lost my ski,” Mancuso said. “It was hard to get back in mentally.”
Vail resident Lindsey Vonn, the three-time defending World Cup overall champion, appeared to lose her rhythm and skied off course 31 seconds into her first run. The 26-year-old was visibly frustrated as she stormed past a group of reporters and exited the finish area.
Vonn, who won downhill gold at the Vancouver Olympics, has had three largely forgettable performances here since her two fourth-place finishes in 2008.
She hit a rock on her first run and wound up 36th in last November’s GS, then missed a gate in the following day’s slalom.
An American has not finished on the podium in Aspen since November 2004, a span of 12 races.
Worley trailed Rebensburg by 0.59 seconds after the first run. While shade and a difficult course setting caused problems for scores of racers in the afternoon — three of the first five competitors out of the starting gates fell — Worley set the pace with aggressive, sound skiing.
“I wasn’t thinking about the conditions,” Worley said. “I was thinking about my skiing and winning.”
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