Vail's Vonn claims super combined season title with second-place finish in Tarvisio World Cup

TARVISIO, Italy -- Vail's Lindsey Vonn finished second in a super combined World Cup today, just ahead of rival Maria Riesch of Germany, and secured the season title in the discipline – the 10th World Cup globe of her storied career.

Red-hot Tina Maze, of Slovenia, won the slalom portion of the event (super combined pairs one run of downhill with one run of slalom) to win with a combined time of 2 minutes, 13.54 seconds. Vonn was second in in 2:13.72, and Riesch was third in 2:14.09.

Besides picking up 20 points on Riesch in the hunt for the overall crown, Vonn was ecstatic to win the discipline title and avenge a bitter one one-hundredth of a second loss to Riesch last weekend.

“I got 2nd place today in the Are WC Super-G by .01!” Vonn wrote on her Facebook page last weekend. “I am always happy when I finish on the podium, but I'm not going to lie, losing by one hundredth of second definitely stings a bit ... OK, it stings more than a bit! I would rather lose by a second than a hundredth, but that's ski racing.”

Vonn still trails Riesch by 1,400 points to 1,576 in the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail product's quest for her American record fourth straight overall World Cup title.

"There are some more titles on the line this weekend with the downhill and super G and going to try and win those," Vonn said today. "At this point in the season, Maria is quite a bit ahead of me in the overall title hunt and so I'm just skiing relaxed, having fun and skiing like I have nothing to lose. I'm still skiing like I have a chance to win the overall, but I have to be realistic about it too. I'm going to ski to win races and then we'll see where it ends up."

A downhill race is on tap Saturday in Tarvisio, and Vonn leads Riesch by 103 points in that title chase. Vonn is also looking for her 41st career World Cup win, which would tie Swedish great Anja Paerson for fourth on the all-time women's wins list.

Head coach Alex Hoedlmoser was encouraged by Vonn's slalom run.

"We know that she can kill the downhill, so that wasn't a surprise," he said. }The impressive part was the slalom. She's been with it all season in training, but for some reason has backed off on race day and today she went out and was fantastic in the slalom."

Vonn has now won 10 globes in her career. Six globes are awarded each season in all five disciplines (slalom, giant slalom, combined, downhill and super G) and the overall, which tallies accumulated points from all the disciplines and rewards the best overall skier each season. Ski racers view the overall as one of the most significant accomplishments in alpine racing because it requires season-long consistency, not just one-day dominance or good fortune.

Vonn won the overall globes in 2008, 2009 and 2010; the downhill titles in 2008, 2009, 2010; the super G titles in 2009 and 2010; and the super combined titles in 2010 and 2011.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Tarvisio, Italy – March 4, 2011
Super Combined

1. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 2:13.54
2. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 2:13.72
3. Maria Riesch, Germany, 2:14.09
-
6. Julia Mancuso, Squaw Valley, CA, 2:15.41
9. Leanne Smith, Conway, NH, 2:16.42
19. Laurenne Ross, Klamath Falls, OR, 2:17.20
20. Stacey Cook, Mammoth Mountain, CA, 2:17.22

	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