Austria’s Marlies Schild won the women’s alpine World Cup slalom race yesterday, which ended in frustration for American Lindsey Vonn, who failed to qualify for the second leg.
This was a 29th World Cup slalom win for the reigning world champion, who beat Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen by 1.87 seconds. Austrian Kathrin Zettel was third, 2.19 seconds behind.
Vonn, who leads the overall standings after a four-race winning run, was knocked out of contention after veering off course in the first leg.
Photo: Reuters
Schild, who opened the season with success in her favored discipline in Aspen, Colorado, led the times after the first leg and posted the second quickest time in the second.
“For the second time at Courcheval, I gave my all, and for the second time I’ve won,” said the Olympic silver medalist, who was repeating her win here 12 months ago.
Schild moved to within five World Cup slalom wins of Swiss record-holder Vreni Schneider’s tally of 34.
Out of luck were second leg fallers Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Swede Maria Pietilae-Holmner, who had joined Schild on the podium at Aspen and who were sitting pretty after finishing second and third respectively in the first leg.
Vonn was far from downcast at her failure to complete the race.
“I’m really happy with my run. I looked at the times and I was only eight-tenths out on the second split,” the US star said. “It was definitely really positive, stuff like that happens. For not training in a week, it’s not so bad.”
“It was a bit funny, my coaches radioed up that they were putting water on the course because it was breaking up at the bottom. I just felt like I hit a wet patch of snow and my skies kind of slid, and it was too late to recover it,” she said.
“I’m trying to get my slalom back on form and so far it’s going well,” she added.
Vonn revealed she was to fly to Salzburg, Austria, in a private jet with Hoefl-Riesch later yesterday, before racing at Flachau tomorrow.
“Then I will spend Christmas in Innsbruck with friends and family. Maria and I share a private plane ... it’s expensive, [but] if you can save energy and be prepared for the next race, it’s worth the money,” Vonn said.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set