I really wanted to watch some of the Broncos game here Sunday morning before racing a super-G, but it didn’t work out.
My plan was to get up at 4 a.m., which was 8 p.m. Saturday in Denver, to watch the second half. I tried to watch it on my computer, but there was no internet access in my hotel room, so I had to settle for my NFL app updates. I left my phone on, and had it update me whenever there was a highlight or a scoring update.
Unfortunately it didn’t update me as many times about the Broncos scoring as the Patriots, but I still was able to follow it somewhat. It was disappointing to have them lose, but the Patriots are a great team. The Broncos had a great season, and they had a great playoff win over the Steelers.
It’s also disappointing for me that the Packers lost. I’m a native of Minnesota, but I’m a cheesehead. A lot of my extended family lives in Wisconsin. When I was growing up, it was always a big deal when the Packers played the Vikings. I’m not usually a fair-weather fan, but the Vikings haven’t done that well for a long time, and since I moved from Minnesota to Vail I changed over to the Broncos and the Packers.
Plus I know Clay Matthews now, so it was fun to watch him. Obviously I know a couple people on the Broncos team now, so it’s been fun to watch both those teams.
I won that super-G for my 47th career win, which puts me third on the all-time women’s World Cup list behind Austria’s Annemarie Moser-Proell (62) and Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider (55).
It was a really good day. I hadn’t won a race since Beaver Creek Dec. 7. It was a fast course set, there were some tricky sections where a lot of people were going out. I tried to just risk everything and I managed to stay right on the limit. I’m just really happy with the way I skied.
On Saturday I finished second in a downhill. It was a really solid race, and there was a lot of wind. Whenever you have a lot of wind, it’s always tough to have a good result because you never know what you’re going to get. I felt I was a bit unlucky, but I was on the podium and I was really close to winning (.21 of a second), so I was happy.
Vonn, a three-time World Cup overall winner and Olympic downhill champion, reports regularly from the tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer.
