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.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later