ARE, Sweden — With thick fog covering one of her least favorite slalom slopes, Lindsey Vonn for once had to give up all thoughts of skiing to win.
Vonn put down a safe second run to finish eighth in a World Cup slalom on Sunday, losing the overall points lead to Maria Riesch of Germany but limiting the damage from a disappointing weekend.
Riesch finished second behind Sandrine Aubert of France and now leads the American by 20 points in the overall World Cup standings.
After skiing out less than 20 seconds into Saturday’s giant slalom, Vonn made sure to at least salvage some points on Sunday.
“I was more trying to just finish. It was pretty dangerous with the condition on the course, it was really easy to go out,” Vonn said. “It was hard to see exactly where the snow was good and where it was bad. So I think I skied a bit too conservatively in the really foggy sections. But, oh well.”
It was a sharp contrast to last weekend in Lake Louise, Alberta, where Vonn dominated the speed events and won two straight downhills before finishing second in a super-G. But in the technical events, the defending overall World Cup champion is still trying to come to grips with her new equipment.
Vonn changed manufacturers during the offseason, and said she’s still struggling to find the right setup for different snow conditions.
“It’s just been hard this year with my new equipment, and the snow has been constantly changing,” she said. “It’s hard to know exactly what’s going to work well in these conditions, and I just haven’t quite figured it out completely yet.”
She hasn’t quite figured out the Olympia course either. Although she won the downhill and super-G here during last season’s World Cup finals in March, she had similarly poor results then in the technical events — skiing out in the GS and finishing 18th in the slalom.
“For some reason this snow and this hill doesn’t work well for me,” she said.
She’ll have a chance to reclaim the overall lead next weekend when the speed events return in Val d’Isere, France — where Vonn won world titles in downhill and super-G this year. Riesch, the American’s best friend and biggest rival, has 441 points to Vonn’s 421.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s now another Riesch to contend with.
Maria’s younger sister Susanne finished third for her first World Cup podium, following two fourth-places finishes earlier this season.
“This was our dream before the season started, that maybe we can do this once — and maybe a few more times,” said Maria Riesch, the world slalom champion. “It was a perfect Riesch day.”
Susanne Riesch used a blazing run on the lower part of the course to advance from seventh place, and showed she will also be a contender at the Vancouver Olympics.
“I will (continue to) ski as fast as I can, and hopefully we’ll have more competitions (involving) our family,” she said.
Vonn, who usually stays with the Riesch family for Christmas because of the tight World Cup schedule, wasn’t surprised to get a new rival.
“She’s been skiing really well for a long time, and never really shown it in the races,” Vonn said. “So it’s great to finally see her skiing up to her potential.”
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