GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — With Lindsey Vonn skiing only the downhill and Maria Riesch slowed by a fever, Austria’s Anna Fenninger won the super-combined Friday at the world championships.
Fenninger, who is yet to win a World Cup race, was fourth after the downhill and had a near-flawless slalom run to finish in an aggregate time of 2 minutes, 43.23 seconds. She beat Slovenia’s Tina Maze by 0.09 seconds, and Sweden’s Anja Paerson was third.
“I don’t realize what happened, I can’t believe it,” Fenninger said. “It was such a difficult race; the course was pretty poor. I got snow on my goggles all the time and all I could do was just fight.”
Two-time world champion Vonn, dealing with the lingering effects of a concussion, was 1.60 back in the downhill. She decided to sit out the slalom run to prepare for the downhill race Sunday.
“Unfortunately, I lost focus about three-quarters, halfway down the course,” Vonn said. “It wasn’t as bad as it was in (Tuesday’s) super-G, by any means. But I definitely felt it still, and I’m not 100 percent yet.”
The Vail skier said she hopes to defend her title in the downhill, then take an early flight home.
“I’m 90 percent sure that I will be going home after the downhill,” Vonn said.
Vonn’s teammate Julia Mancuso was among the fastest in the downhill but lost speed during the middle section. She also lost time in the slalom and finished 1.33 back in seventh.
“It was a little softer than I expected, and I wasn’t quite prepared for that,” Mancuso said. “I definitely needed to charge harder in the slalom and was a little conservative. I think I was a little nervous at the start because the course set was really turny. I’m looking forward to the downhill.”
Today’s downhill training run was canceled to prevent course damage because of the warm weather and soft snow.
