Sunday, February 21, 2010
WHISTLER, British Columbia (AP) — Lindsey Vonn never got the message.
Right before Vonn left the starting gate in Saturday’s Olympic super-G, her husband-coach-adviser, Thomas, tried to radio her with a suggestion to change tactics.
That’s because several minutes earlier, when five of the first 11 skiers crashed on a shade-filled course the Vonns already suspected was designed specifically to trouble Lindsey, they agreed it would make sense to ease up a bit.
But when the racer right before Vonn made the morning’s first truly clean run as the sun began to peek out from behind the mountain, Thomas realized his wife needed to charge all the way down. It was too late. She slowed and finished third behind Austria’s Andrea Fischbacher and Slovenia’s Tina Maze, adding the super-G bronze to her downhill gold at these Winter Games.
Vonn was convinced she could have — should have, really — won a second gold.
“Once I passed the tricky sections, I think I let off the gas pedal a little bit. I just didn’t continue with that aggression all the way to the finish,” the two-time World Cup overall champion said. “That’s where I lost the race.”
Fischbacher turned in what pretty much everyone was calling the run of her life, in 1 minute, 20.14 seconds. Maze (it’s pronounced MAH-zeh) was 0.49 slower and earned Slovenia’s first silver in any sport at a Winter Olympics, while Vonn was 0.74 behind the champion for a record seventh U.S. Alpine medal here.
She had no problem navigating a sharp right turn about midway through, but then gave away nearly half a second on the bottom section.
“I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as I could have,” Vonn explained, adding that her bruised right shin was sore but didn’t hamper her. “I just got content, and that’s why I’m not on the top step today.”
Teammates and competitors agreed. Among those who called Vonn’s run “conservative” were Julia Mancuso, the American who already has two silvers at Whistler but was ninth Saturday, and Maria Riesch, the German who is Vonn’s close friend and was eighth in the super-G after winning the super-combined Friday.
Thomas Vonn suggested something was afoot.
The course was set by a coach from Fischbacher’s team — the International Ski Federation holds a random draw that gives countries with more top skiers a better chance of being picked — and Vonn’s husband said he heard the Austrians’ aim was to design something particularly tough on the American.
“People are always going to search for a way to knock you down,” Thomas Vonn said. “They’re going to look for that little piece of kryptonite.”
Austrian coach Juergen Kriechbaum, who set the super-G course, called the accusation “stupid.”
“Maybe he’s not happy,” Kriechbaum said, “but that’s not my problem. The more difficult the course, the more it should favor the best skiers.”
Vonn’s 31 career World Cup victories are the most by a U.S. woman, she won the downhill and super-G world titles a year ago, and she was more than a half-second fastest in the Olympic downhill.
“She’s always first in World Cup, and she’s always leading,” Maze said, “and it’s kind of annoying to be at the start, knowing she’ll probably be first.”