Vonn continues historic quest

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The 25-year-olds Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch have been at the forefront of women’s Alpine skiing for the past few seasons and share much in common: leading their respective nations, racing on Head skis, a passion for tennis and enjoying driving their Audis fast.

Despite their rivalry on the slopes, Riesch and Vonn have shared a close friendship for many years. Perhaps the most significant difference between the two skiers, other than their hairstyles, is that Vonn has two overall World Cup titles and Riesch none.

Last season, Riesch was first in the slalom standings, third in downhill and fourth in combined –- amassing 1,424 points in the overall, a distant second to Vonn’s 1,788. If the German can improve significantly in giant slalom and super-G this season, perhaps she can dethrone America’s queen of skiing.

“Every event has it’s own challenges,” said Riesch during an interview in Soelden, Austria, site of the season opening giant slalom a few weekends ago. “I tried hard again this summer to get in good shape for every event, but it’s so hard to find the perfect set-up, shape and performance in every discipline. I think in skiing your mind is really important so it’s important to have a good start and get some good results in the beginning.”

On Oct. 24 in Soelden, Riesch began her season finishing 18th in the GS while Vonn was ninth. Considering that the 2009-10 season ends almost five months later on March 14 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, the veteran racers admit that conditioning plays a huge role into the race for an overall title.

“In spring I had the goal to get in good shape so that I could ski a lot in the summer and winter of course because the season is long and to have a really good performance your body must be in perfect shape,” said Riesch. “I did hard conditioning training especially in May, June and July then started skiing again in New Zealand during the middle of August for five weeks.”

Vonn attained her second consecutive overall title last season also winning the downhill and super-G disciplines. She was second in combined, third in slalom and eighth in giant slalom.

“I’ve felt good in training and I think that my GS is a little bit better than last year,” said Vonn in Soelden. “I’m very optimistic. I’ve made small gains in downhill and super-G as well. I feel like I’ve definitely improved and hopefully that shows in my results.”

Along with Vonn’s two overall titles, she also owns four world championship medals including two gold from last season. However, she has yet to win a medal in her two previous Olympics Games. The ladies’ events at the 21st Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver begin on Feb. 14 with the super combined.

“Definitely my biggest goal this season is to try and win an Olympic medal, but I’d also like to defend my overall, super-G and downhill titles,” said Vonn. “These are all important for me. I’m going to take every race one at a time. Same goes for the Olympics. I’m going to work hard and hopefully things go well.”

Expected to once again challenge Vonn and Riesch is Swedish veteran Anja Paerson, 28, who won overall titles in 2004 and 2005 and was third last season. She also has five Olympic medals, second all-time to Croatia’s Janica Kostelic.

The traditionally powerful Austrians may lack the depth of years past especially after 2007 overall champion Nicole Hosp suffered a season-ending right knee injury in a fall at the inaugural race in Soelden.

Their best hope lies with Kathrin Zettel, 23, a technical specialist who finished fourth overall last season. Zettel suffered a left knee injury last spring which hindered her off-season training. However, the young Austrian was second in the Soelden opening race, just one-hundredth of a second behind Finland’s Tanja Poutiainen. It was announced today that Zettel has been ruled out of the next World Cup race -- a slalom this Saturday in Levi -- due to illness.

Considering her auspicious start, Poutiainen could also contend. Last season the Finn was fifth in the overall and is a proven racer with nine career wins in slalom and giant slalom in addition to 36 podiums. However, Poutiainen, 29 focuses solely on the technical disciplines which will make attaining an overall title difficult. She will be a favorite at home this weekend when the World Cup continues.

Not to be overlooked is Slovenia’s Tina Maze. Maze, 23 finished last season with a GS triumph at World Cup Finals in Are, Sweden securing sixth in the overall. She also had downhill and super-G podiums late last season in Tarvisio, Italy and Bansko, Bulgaria.

“It’s important that everything comes together,” said Maze, third in last season’s GS standings. “Slalom is my weakest discipline and I hope I can also be good in combined. For the overall title you need to be strong in all of them.”

While optimism is abound early in the season, Maze and Vonn’s other main challengers are quick to admit that knocking the American off the top spot is no easy task.

“Mentally, she is really strong,” says the Slovenian about Vonn. “I think her skiing has become so strong and stable over the past three years, even in slalom. She’s 100 percent focused.”

And the experienced Vonn is taking nothing for granted.

“I always keep an eye on what people are doing but I know that they are going to be skiing well so my job is to do the best that I can,” said the Vail, Colorado resident. “I know that Maria (Riesch) is going to be skiing strong in all disciplines and so is Anja (Paerson). Of course there are a lot of young girls coming up as well that I have to look out for. My work is definitely just beginning.”

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