Vail's Vonn powers to season best 7th in Slovenian slalom

Vail's Lindsey Vonn turned in her best slalom result of the World Cup season today in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, finishing seventh behind winner Michaela Kirchgasser of Austria.

Vonn's nearest chaser in the hunt for her fourth overall World Cup title, home snow favorite Tina Maze of Slovenia, finished fourth to shave just a few points off Vonn's overall lead. Maze now trails Vonn by a big 282 point margin.

Austria's Marlies Schild failed to finish the first run, seeing her five-race winning streak in slalom snapped.

Eagle-Vail's Mikaela Shiffrin, a Ski and Snowboard Club Vail product like Vonn, just missed qualifying for a second run, finishing 32nd in the first run. The top 30 skiers in the first run move on to the final run.

Vonn, a dominant speed-event (downhill, super-G) racer with six World Cup wins this season, just has to consistently score points in the technical events (slalom, giant slalom) to win what would be an American record fourth overall title. She currently holds the women's record and is tied with Phil Mahre (three straight overall titles) on the men's side.

Vonn was fourth in a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Saturday. She was satisfied with today's performance in the slalom but clearly wanted more.

"I had an OK first run; it was a solid performance," Vonn said. "I definitely lost a bit of time at the bottom -- similar to yesterday [Saturday]. But I'm happy with my performance. I attacked from the start, which is what I wanted to do."

Now the women's World Cup circuit shifts to Vonn's bread and butter, with speed events next weekend in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Scheduled events include a downhill, super-G and super combined.

	24hr snow	mid dpth	snow cond.
A-Basin	n/a	n/a
Aspen	n/a	n/a	closed
BC	n/a	n/a	closed
Breckenridge	n/a	n/a	closed
Buttermilk	n/a	n/a	closed
Copper	n/a	n/a	closed
Crest. Butte	n/a	n/a	closed
Eldora	n/a	n/a	closed
Heavenly	n/a	n/a	closed
Highlands	n/a	n/a
Howelsen	n/a	n/a	closed
Keystone	n/a	n/a	closed
Kirkwood	n/a	n/a	closed
Loveland	n/a	n/a
Monarch	n/a	n/a	closed
Northstar	n/a	n/a	closed
Powderhorn	n/a	n/a	closed
Purgatory	n/a	n/a	closed
Silverton	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Cooper	n/a	n/a	closed
Ski Granby	n/a	n/a	closed
Snowmass	n/a	n/a	closed
Steamboat	n/a	n/a	closed
Sunlight	n/a	n/a	closed
Telluride	n/a	n/a	closed
Vail	n/a	n/a	closed
WinterPark	n/a	n/a	closed
Wolf Creek	n/a	n/a	closed
More Weather Reports