LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland — Lindsey Vonn overcame a concussion and won three titles in three days this month. Yet she was powerless when faced with wet, foggy weather and a decision by skiing’s ruling body to cancel the women’s season finale.
“Win or lose, I just wanted the chance. I feel devastated,” the Vail resident said Saturday in a statement released by her U.S. team.
Vonn was hoping to win a fourth straight World Cup overall title in Saturday’s giant slalom. Instead, friend and rival Maria Riesch’s three-point lead held in the overall standings after the race was called off because of poor course conditions.
“The cancellation of this race doesn’t just hurt me,” Vonn said. “It hurts the fans and the sport of ski racing as a whole.”
Thick fog later descended, making it unlikely the two-run race could have been completed. However, the men’s slalom was held Saturday in fog and poor visibility after a delayed start.
The International Ski Federation said the decision to cancel — denying Vonn a last chance to retain her title — was not taken lightly.
“Working with these kind of snow conditions, we don’t have any tools that would make it a fair race,” spokeswoman Riikka Rakic said. “All the efforts have been undertaken, but it was not quite enough.”
The final points tally was 1,728-1,725 in Riesch’s favor. The German clinched her first title after two straight seasons as runner-up. Vonn acknowledged some regrets about how the season ended after five months and 33 races.
“There may never be a day where I don’t look back and say, ‘What if?’ ” she said. “But right now, all I’m thinking about is how much harder I need to work this summer to continue winning races.”
Vonn said Riesch deserved her success.
“Maria had an outstanding season and again proved to be my biggest competitor,” Vonn said. “She’s worked really hard for this. I’m happy for her.”
Vonn said she was “extremely proud” to have been part of this.
“A few weeks ago, I was over 200 points behind, and I was able to battle back into the overall lead with just two races remaining,” she said.
Vonn defied predictions with a bold comeback in recent weeks after withdrawing midway through the world championships on Feb. 14 because of the lingering effects of a concussion. She crashed during a training run in Austria on Feb. 2.
Riesch extended her overall lead while Vonn sat out races. Vonn competed in the worlds but skipped training runs and events to try to recover. After finishing seventh in the super-G at worlds on Feb. 8, she said she felt as if she were “skiing in a fog.”
On the men’s side, World Cup overall champion Ivica Kostelic added the slalom title as Guiliano Razzoli won the final race.
Kostelic placed 18th, but his closest rivals failed to take advantage. Jean-Baptiste Grange of France skied out in the first run, and Andre Myhrer of Sweden, who needed to win the race, was sixth in rapidly worsening visibility.
Razzoli’s two-run time of 1 minute, 25.72 seconds sealed his first victory since his gold medal performance in slalom at the Vancouver Olympics.
