Vail’s Lindsey Vonn, a three-time World Cup overall champion and Olympic downhill gold medalist, reports regularly in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
KAPRUN, AUSTRIA — This past weekend might have been pivotal in the World Cup overall duel between me and Maria Riesch of Germany.
I finished sixth, first and second in super combined, downhill and super-G respectively. Maria finished first, third and first. She picked up 40 more World Cup points than I did, and leads by 196 with seven races remaining.
I was optimistic going into last weekend’s races. I’m still happy with my skiing in downhill and super-G, but my slalom let me down again in the combined and I lost ground to Maria there. Losing to Maria by .01 of a second in the super-G stung, too.
I’m going to fight until the very last race, but I think it’s Maria’s title to lose at this point. She’s skiing incredibly well in all five events. I’m doing the best I can, and I feel like I’m skiing really well, but it’s tough to make up ground on her.
She’s getting podiums in all events. I’ve won more races (seven wins vs. six), but Maria has the most podiums (14 vs. 12) across the board. Unfortunately right now, my slalom isn’t up to par.
It’s been frustrating, because my slalom training has been going really well. It’s the event that keeps letting me down the past two years. My giant slalom is getting better — I’ve been consistently in the top 10 — but not as fast as Maria.
My hat’s off to her. She won the super-G on Sunday, and she hadn’t won a super-G since 2008. She’s making points in the speed events, which normally is where I gain ground. She’s so fast that I can never get a gap on her in downhill and super-G. Even if I win, she’s second, and that’s only a difference of 20 World Cup points. In slalom and GS, if she’s on the podium and I’m 10th in GS or DNFing in slalom, she’s getting a lot more points than me. It’s hard to stay with her when my tech events just aren’t there.
There’s no pressure on me. Maria has the advantage and the only thing I can do is try to give her a run for her money, trying to win as many races as I can. I’m skiing as if I have nothing to lose, because I don’t. I’m still positive, but realistic. If Maria wins the title, I’m going to be really happy for her, but I’m going to sleep well at night because I’ll know I’ve given it everything that I have.
