A day after finishing a disappointing 38th in the downhill in Crans Montana, Switzerland's Dominique Gisin, winner of two downhills last January, fought back to celebrate her first ever super G victory defeating USA's Lindsey Vonn by 15/100 of a second. Two-time Olympic silver medalist Julia Mancuso of America finished third, her best World Cup result since February of 2008, confirming her return to form with her first podium finish in two years.
It looked as though the two Americans Vonn and Mancuso were going to be reunited, side-by-side on the two top steps of the podium as they did in the Olympic downhill a couple weeks ago, when 24-year-old Gisin whipped down the course shooting into the lead in a time of 1:24.14 seconds, beating Vonn by 0.15 seconds and Mancuso by 0.38.
Two months after the victory of her teammate Fraenzi Aufdenblatten at Val d'Isère, Gisin was only the second Swiss woman to win a World Cup race this season. The Swiss skier, whose career has been hampered by injuries, laid down her fastest race in more than a year while Vonn, who narrowly claimed the win in Saturday's downhill, was denied her 10th victory in super G and her 33rd career World Cup win.
"This is huge, I can't believe it. I'm afraid this is only a dream and I'll soon wake up," said the emotional 24-year-old Gisin after the race. "I was so disappointed yesterday and cried for a long time after the race. To win a super-G, which is not my best event, in front of my home crowd is just unbelievable," she added.
Sunday's super G was again a windswept race, with weather conditions playing a major part. "I was certainly lucky with the wind today but I also fought hard from top to bottom," Gisin said.
"It's very special for me to do so well on a legendary slope where many Swiss medals have been won at the 1987 World Championships," Gisin also said. "This win was crucial for the entire team after a disappointing Olympics at Whistler, Canada, where I was lucky not to get seriously hurt after suffering a bad crash in the downhill race," Gisin added.
"The most important in our sport is to be consistent and to stay healthy. Lindsey Vonn's consistency this season has been incredible. She won almost every speed event this winter regardless of changing weather and course conditions and injuries."
Despite having to settle for second in the super G, Vonn was able to increase her overall World Cup lead over rival Maria Riesch by 245 points. With four races left at the World Cup finals in Riesch's native resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the American was more than happy with her performance as she leaves Crans-Montana with three globes in her pocket.
"I was lucky to win that downhill race yesterday but today I was on the wrong side of the hundredths," Vonn told the press afterwards. "That's part of our sport. It was very windy on the final part of the course today, and I am happy to have reached the podium once again."
"I just like skiing as fast as possible and give my best as soon as the clock starts ticking. It's fun fighting for new records and to win as often as possible. It helps me stay focused and motivate myself during the summer months," the 25-year-old American said.
"It has been an amazing season for me but I'm also happy for Dominique Gisin, who is such a nice person. She has been through some tough times," Vonn said.
Next week the World Cup season will end on a high note at Garmisch-Partenkirchen where a total of nine competitions will take place, beginning Wednesday with downhill training.
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