U.S. women take 1st and 3rd in Moscow’s night slalom race! Squaw Valley’s Julia Mancuso won the event for her second World Cup victory of the season. The dual slalom was held on a special ramp 170 ft. high and over 535 ft. long constructed at the Luzhniki 1980 Olympic Complex.
Vail’s own Lindsey Vonn, who took 3rd in the dual slalom, also clinched her 5th consecutive World Cup downhill title and her 3rd consecutive super-combined title earlier this week in Sochi. With only one month remaining in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup calendar, Vonn finished 3rd in Saturdays downhill race in Rosa Khutor on what will become the 2014 Sochi Olympic course. In that same event Mancuso finished 6th, Mammoth’s Stacey Cook (originally from Tahoe) came in 9th, and Alice McKennis of Glenwood Springs, CO placed 10th. This was the first time ever that 4 U.S. women have placed in the top ten in a World Cup downhill. The last time 4 U.S. women finished top ten in the same race was during a giant slalom in Waterville Valley, N.H. on March 17th, 1985.
“Any one of the girls on our team could have one this race,” said Vonn. “Our speed group is incredibly strong and we have been the past few years. It says a lot about how hard we work and how much we love ski racing. It’s a great group to be around and we all support each other. To have a performance like we did is pretty special.”
Vonn held a 231-point lead over Hoefl-Riesch with just two events remaining and 100 points up for grabs at each. With her 5th consecutive World Cup downhill title Vonn matches the mark of the legendary Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, who won five straight from 1971-75. Only four athletes have won five downhill titles including Moser-Proell (who has seven total), Austrian Renate Goetschl and Austrian Franz Klammer.
Sochi’s Super combined was cancelled as a result of unsafe soft snow conditions for the speed event. The race will not be rescheduled for a later date this season. With the cancellation of this race Vonn leads the World Cup season by enough points to claim the super-combined title, having already finished 1st and 2nd in the two races that were completed this season. Vonn will be awarded the super-combined title at the World Cup Finals later this year making this her 14th career World Cup Title.