SALON

Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 4:31 PM UTC

Maze wins super-G gold at ski worlds, Vonn crashes

By

Topics: From the Wires,

SCHLADMING, Austria (AP) — Tina Maze became the first Slovenian skier to win a world championship gold medal in a speed event on Tuesday, taking the opening women’s super-G in a race that was overshadowed by a crash involving Lindsey Vonn.

Vonn lost her balance while landing after a jump and was taken to a hospital by helicopter with an apparent right knee injury. The four-time overall World Cup champion received medical treatment on the slope for 12 minutes before being airlifted to the hospital.

There was no immediate update on her condition.

Maze won the race in all-attacking style in 1 minute, 35.39 seconds, beating Lara Gut of Switzerland by 0.38. Julia Mancuso of the United States was 0.52 behind in third.

“The gold medal means a lot to me,” Maze said. “I had a great run. Slovenia is a small country and has so many great athletes. That makes me really happy.”

The race had been delayed by 3½ hours because of thick fog hanging over the course, and was called off after 36 racers because new clouds of fog were moving in. The results stand as the top-30 racers had started their run.

“I was prepared for a long day,” said Maze, who earned her fourth world championship medal. “World championships are special, you have to stay focused. I knew we would race today despite all the delays.”

Gut had two mistakes in the turning middle part that slowed her down but attacked the bottom part for a strong finish to earn her third world championship medal — all in silver. She took second in downhill and super-combined at the 2009 event in Val d’Isere, France, when she became the youngest Swiss skier to medal at 18.

Mancuso also wasn’t fully satisfied with her run.

“It’s always really nice to win a medal, but of course I know I could have a better run,” the American said, adding it was “really hard” to race after the crash of Vonn, who started three racers ahead.

Vonn fell after a long jump, her ski came off immediately, and she slid off course and hit a gate before coming to a halt.

Vonn trailed Maze by 0.12 seconds shortly before the crash. The race continued after another 15-minute delay.

Days of snow and rain had affected the course and softened the surface especially in the lower part. The evening before the race, FIS women’s race director Atle Skaardal called it an “extreme situation.”

Several racers struggled with the conditions, with favorites like Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany and Anna Fenninger of Austria failing to finish.

“It’s not a very difficult course, but in some parts you couldn’t see anything,” Fabienne Suter of Switzerland said.

After eight starters, the race was interrupted for 15 minutes following a crash by a course worker, who needed to be taken off the course by helicopter. There was no immediate information available on his condition.

The men’s super-G is scheduled for Wednesday.

More By Eric Willemsen.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations