ARE, Sweden — Lindsey Vonn understands how it goes. Sometimes victory vanishes by the barest of margins.
She was beaten in a World Cup super-G Sunday by 0.01 seconds, losing to good friend and rival Maria Riesch of Germany.
“I thought I skied a good race,” Vonn said. “I was happy with my run and unfortunately I lost by one hundredth of a second, which is a snap of your finger. That’s life.”
Vonn was racing this weekend for the first time since withdrawing during the world championships because of a concussion stemming from a training crash. She won Saturday’s downhill for her 40th World Cup win.
On Sunday, she watched from the bottom of the Olympia course in the Swedish resort as Riesch flew over the final jump. Vonn gave a wry smile as Riesch clinched victory, pumping her fist and letting out a yell.
“I’m also really happy that I can be back on the top of the podium in super-G as well. My last win in super-G was three years ago,” Riesch said. “I was having a hard time in-between in super-G. Finally, I’m back and ready to win the speed events. That’s good.”
Vonn was followed by U.S. teammate Julia Mancuso, who was 0.79 off the lead. The Americans also had a strong showing from Leanne Smith in 12th place.
Riesch won in 1 minute, 13.24 seconds for her sixth victory of the season. It was her first of the season in super-G, meaning she has won in four disciplines this season.
“It’s definitely frustrating, especially at this time of the year, with the overall World Cup so tight,” Vonn said. “One hundredth (costs you) twenty points. It would have been great if we could have just tied.”
“I mean, one hundredth is nothing,” she added. “You can find it from any place, whether it’s pushing out from the start or reaching out for the finish line a bit more.”
Mancuso said the light made for difficult skiing.
“But it was like that for everyone, so it wasn’t a surprise,” she said. “My race was OK. I definitely made a couple of mistakes but this time it was on the right side of the hundredths, so I was lucky for that.”
Riesch won Friday’s super-combined and finished third in Saturday’s downhill. She was third in super-G at worlds and now leads Vonn in the overall standings by 196 points as she closes in on her first overall title. She said she didn’t expect to make up points in Are.
“I was hoping that I wasn’t losing too much,” she said. “Now I am more ahead than before Are, so this is really good for me.”
Riesch will look to extend her lead in Italy next weekend when again there will be a super-combi — this time with a downhill leg, rather than a super-G — a downhill and a super-G over three days in Tarvisio.
“Still nine races to go, and lots of things can happen,” Riesch said.
Vonn is realistic enough to know the overall title is now Riesch’s to lose.
“I’m not counting myself out, but it’s looking pretty good for Maria for the overall,” said Vonn, who lost ground by finishing sixth in Friday’s super-combi. “She knows that and I know that.”
Vonn leads the downhill and super-G standings, with Riesch second in both. Riesch leads in super-combi ahead of Vonn.
“We’re friends first, and we know we have a job to do out on the hill and whoever wins, wins,” Vonn said. “We congratulate each other and we’re happy for each other. That’s a good and healthy relationship.”
Vonn expects more tough competition in Tarvisio.
“I have to look at video and see what I can do for the next race because Tarvisio is a flat hill and it’s going to be another one of those tight margin races,” she said.
Vonn said she was proud of the American women’s performances in speed events this season.
“I think we’ve had a really solid year from the speed standpoint,” Vonn said. “Most of the girls are in there every single day. A lot of races we had all the girls in the top 30. I think it shows a lot of depth in our team.”
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