Fracne's Tessa Worley skis the first run of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Worley won the event by a hundredth of a second over Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
. world ski news : Worley wins in super close Aspen GS - 27 November 2010 - 23:07
ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. ASPEN, Colo. – Margins absolutely can’t get any tighter than those which determined the top three women in the FIS Audi women’s giant slalom World Cup race on Saturday.
Fracne's Tessa Worley skis the first run of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. Worley won the event by a hundredth of a second over Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
France’s Tessa Worley, who proved in 2008 that she can master what racers say is one of the toughest courses on the World Cup GS tour, put her skills on display once again with a second win in Aspen.
It was a nail biter in the truest form. The 21-year-old French racer, who was eighth going into the second run, won with a combined time of 2 minutes, 6.81 seconds, edging Olympic GS champion and first run leader Viktoria Rebensburg by a mere 0.01 seconds and third-place finisher Kathrin Hoelzl by just 0.02 seconds.
Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg skis past a gate on her way to the best time in the first run of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Even 10 minutes after crossing the finish line Worley was still trying to catch her breath. When Hoelzl, who is the reigning world GS champion and who won her first World Cup in Aspen last year, congratulated Worley in the finish area, they shook hands and discussed the course.
“It was very tiring,” Worley said. “I was wondering when I was going to arrive at the finish.”
France's Tessa Worley celebrates on the podium after winning the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Worley later said she lost her breath not only because of the elevation (the Aspen course started at 2,865 meters and finished at 2,490) but because the second run course set was full of turns and very fast changes.
“It was really, really tough,” she said. “This slope is really hard. I think that’s why I like it. The second run was really tough, but I think I had the hundredths on my side.”
U.S. ski racer Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., rides the edges of her skis to the second best time in the first run of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)
U.S. ski racer Leanne Smith of North Conway, N.H., crashes during the first run of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)
The win marks Worley’s third on the World Cup (she also won last year in Are). As a clear-cut GS specialist, Worley has only ever had three other top 10s on the World Cup, beginning with a fifth in Soelden in 2007 and an eighth at the season opener this year as well as an eighth in La Molina in 2008.
The last racer down the shadow-veiled course, skis chattering madly over bumps and ruts, Rebensburg, who opened her season with a big win – her first on the World Cup – in Soelden, looked at the clock and came to grips with the fact that the hundredths were not on her side.
“Of course in the first moments I thought, ‘Ah! … one hundredth.’ But I’m really happy now,” she said. “I’m emotional, but it’s sports … you have to live with that. The second run was pretty tough. It was so dark and bumpy, but it turned out pretty good.”
That minuscule portion of time that can win or lose a race didn’t turn out as good for Elisabeth Goergl, who was fourth Saturday but only 0.06 seconds off the winning time.
With the sun beaming in a bright blue sky and the snow (according to the racers) good and grippy – Saturday’s race began the same way it ended. The first run wrapped up with a very tight pack of leaders, the top 14 all finishing within a second of one another.
The second run, however, kicked off to a harrowing start, with the first two racers on course – Susanne Riesch and then Veronika Zuzulova – both sliding onto their hips and missing gates. The twisting, energy-sucking second run course also got the better of a handful of other racers, including Manuela Moelgg – who was only 0.36 seconds behind in fifth place after the first run but slid out in the second – and Marlies Schild, who was racing GS for the first time since 2008 following a whole year off to recover from a severe leg injury at the beginning of 2009. Schild was 26th after the first run and was putting down a strong second run but lost a ski at the top of the course and slid out.
“Everything was OK, I don’t know why the ski [came off],” she said. “It was just bad luck. I didn’t go 100 percent, I just tried to get a good feeling for my first GS in two and a half years.”
Several racers who were in the tight pack of leaders going into the second run were slowed in the second. One of these was Julia Mancuso, who was in second place after the first run – a mere 0.03 seconds behind Rebensburg – but said she was tentative in the second run.
“I had a little problem on top and I felt like I lost my ski, so it was hard to get back in mentally. I’ve been twice training and losing my ski so something weird clicked in my head and I maybe backed off a bit.” said Mancuso, who nonetheless finished eighth, her first top 10 in a World Cup GS in almost two years. “I would have liked the second run to go better. It was all in the dark and you can’t really see where those little bumps are. It was more turny and some of the gates were on a breakover. It was hard to get your rhythm.”
Lindsey Vonn was one of 12 racers to fail to finish the first run. Vonn was about a third of the way down the course when she missed a gate.
“I just went a little too straight. I got too excited and was not using the greatest tactics,” she said. “Sometimes my mind gets the better of me. I want it so bad that I make the wrong choices on the course.”
The Austrians had the most consistency with six racers getting points, including Andrea Fischbacher, who was sixth in spite of nearly hitting a course worker in the first run and Nicole Hosp, who is surging forward in her comeback season and took eighth. In addition to Rebensburg and Hoelzl’s tremendous performances, Maria Riesch finished ninth and Lena Duerr 17th for the Germans.
“Kati and Viktoria are the best GS girls in the world right now and I’m really proud to be part of this team – a really good slalom group and the world-leading GS group,” Riesch said. “I’m just proud to be a part of it and try to keep up a little bit.”
The only serious crash of the day was Germany’s Carolin Fernsebner, who went down hard halfway through the first run and was taken away on a gurney with an apparent knee injury. Race doctors later confirmed that she tore the meniscus and ACL in her right knee.
The FIS Audi women’s World Cup continues in Aspen Sunday with a slalom beginning at 10 a.m. local time.
by Shauna Farnell
FISalpine.com
Saturday 27 November 2010
France's Tessa Worley, center, winner of the Women's World Cup giant slalom ski race in Aspen, Colo., on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, is flanked on the podium by second place finisher Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, left, and Germany's Kathrin Hoelzl, right, who finished third. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
Place Aspen (USA) Discipline Giant Slalom
Date 27.11.2010 Category FIS World Cup
Race codex 6501 Gender L
Valid for FIS Points YES TD Name Pirola Stefano (CHI)
Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Run 1 Run 2 Total Time FIS Points
1 14 196928 WORLEY Tessa 1989 FRA 1:02.70 1:04.11 2:06.81 0.00
2 6 205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER 1:02.11 1:04.71 2:06.82 0.07
3 3 205993 HOELZL Kathrin 1984 GER 1:03.14 1:03.69 2:06.83 0.14
4 12 55576 GOERGL Elisabeth 1981 AUT 1:02.35 1:04.52 2:06.87 0.41
5 9 297601 BRIGNONE Federica 1990 ITA 1:03.06 1:04.18 2:07.24 2.95
6 16 55750 FISCHBACHER Andrea 1985 AUT 1:02.73 1:04.55 2:07.28 3.22
7 36 55690 HOSP Nicole 1983 AUT 1:03.39 1:04.00 2:07.39 3.98
8 18 537545 MANCUSO Julia 1984 USA 1:02.14 1:05.37 2:07.51 4.80
9 2 206001 RIESCH Maria 1984 GER 1:02.72 1:04.91 2:07.63 5.63
10 5 185140 POUTIAINEN Tanja 1980 FIN 1:02.18 1:05.62 2:07.80 6.79
11 22 196793 MARMOTTAN Anemone 1988 FRA 1:02.51 1:05.36 2:07.87 7.27
12 47 55806 ALTACHER Margret 1986 AUT 1:04.44 1:03.45 2:07.89 7.41
13 20 516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI 1:02.71 1:05.31 2:08.02 8.30
14 1 565243 MAZE Tina 1983 SLO 1:02.67 1:05.41 2:08.08 8.71
15 8 196725 BARIOZ Taina 1988 FRA 1:03.79 1:04.52 2:08.31 10.29
16 7 505760 PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria 1986 SWE 1:03.02 1:05.33 2:08.35 10.57
17 25 206355 DUERR Lena 1991 GER 1:03.52 1:05.03 2:08.55 11.94
18 21 536481 SCHLEPER Sarah 1979 USA 1:03.72 1:05.08 2:08.80 13.65
19 43 506399 HECTOR Sara 1992 SWE 1:04.15 1:04.70 2:08.85 14.00
20 42 505886 KLING Kajsa 1988 SWE 1:03.89 1:05.09 2:08.98 14.89
21 15 505483 PAERSON Anja 1981 SWE 1:04.29 1:04.85 2:09.14 15.99
22 24 55818 KOEHLE Stefanie 1986 AUT 1:03.61 1:05.58 2:09.19 16.33
23 10 55759 KIRCHGASSER Michaela 1985 AUT 1:02.77 1:06.84 2:09.61 19.21
24 29 296509 CURTONI Irene 1985 ITA 1:04.22 1:06.20 2:10.42 24.77
Disqualified 1st run
57 185271 LEINONEN Sanni 1989 FIN
Did not qualify 1st run
65 35089 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena 1984 ARG
64 196806 NOENS Nastasia 1988 FRA
63 415128 JARVIS Sarah 1986 NZE
62 35079 SIMARI BIRKNER Maria Belen 1982 ARG
61 305962 HANAOKA Moe 1984 JPN
59 305944 KIYOSAWA Emiko 1983 JPN
58 565320 FERK Marusa 1988 SLO
56 155415 ZAHROBSKA Sarka 1985 CZE
54 505908 SMEDH Veronica 1988 SWE
52 515855 GOOD Esther 1987 SUI
50 538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA
48 425707 BRUSLETTO Anne Cecilie 1988 NOR
45 538284 MCJAMES Megan 1987 USA
41 196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA
39 495065 RIENDA Maria Jose 1975 SPA
38 565268 DREV Ana 1985 SLO
35 105269 GAGNON Marie-Michele 1989 CAN
33 425629 LOESETH Lene 1986 NOR
30 505632 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica 1984 SWE
28 196179 BERTRAND Marion 1984 FRA
27 225206 ALCOTT Chemmy 1982 GBR
23 295435 GIUS Nicole 1980 ITA
Did not finish 2nd run
49 206160 RIESCH Susanne 1987 GER
34 705287 ZUZULOVA Veronika 1984 SVK
31 55590 SCHILD Marlies 1981 AUT
17 515766 SUTER Fabienne 1985 SUI
11 55898 BREM Eva-Maria 1988 AUT
4 296259 MOELGG Manuela 1983 ITA
Did not finish 1st run
60 485525 BUREEVA Vladislava 1989 RUS
55 516109 VOGEL Nadja 1990 SUI
53 538305 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA
51 197319 BAUD Adeline 1992 FRA
46 515849 DETTLING Andrea 1987 SUI
44 206078 FERNSEBNER Carolin 1986 GER
40 425880 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth 1991 NOR
37 56032 SCHILD Bernadette 1990 AUT
32 106825 PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier 1988 CAN
26 296476 ALFIERI Camilla 1985 ITA
19 537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA
13 296379 GIANESINI Giulia 1984 ITA