Lindsey Vonn finishes second in World Cup downhill race

Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn finished second in the final World Cup downhill race of the season, maintaining a comfortable lead in the overall title point standings with three races remaining.

Maria Riesch of Germany won the event, completing the 2,920-meter Kandahar course in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in 1 minute, 34.82 seconds. Vonn finished nearly half a second behind her close friend and rival. Anja Paerson of Sweden finished third, and American Julia Mancuso was fifth.

Vonn maintains a 225-point lead over Riesch in the World Cup standings and stands a good chance of claiming the title at the next event.

"I haven't won it yet," Vonn told the Associated Press. "It's not finished yet. It's still possible [for Riesch to win]. It's unlikely, but it's not finished."

Vonn, who won the gold medal in downhill at the Vancouver Games, clinched the World Cup downhill title Saturday. She is still recovering from a broken finger she suffered while crashing out of the Olympic giant slalom.

Vonn could break the American record for most career World Cup wins with a victory in the giant slalom on Thursday. She is tied with Bode Miller with 32 career victories.

-- Austin Knoblauch

Photo: Lindsey Vonn, left, Maria Riesch, center and Anja Paerson celebrate following their runs in a World Cup downhill event Wednesday. Credit: Stephan Jansen / EPA

Jacques Rogge (part 3): Props to Paerson, Majdic, Ammann, Bilodeau

At the Thursday breakfast interview session for a small number of international journalists, I asked International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge which athletes at the 2010 Winter Games had most impressed him for their character and achievement.

He singled out Sweden's Anja Paerson and Slovenia's Petra Majdic.

Paerson, the most decorated women's Alpine skier of the last decade, gave a performance recalling that of Austrian ski superstar Hermann Maier in 1998, when he came back from a crash in the downhill to win the Super-G three days later.

Paerson crashed hard in the  downhill here Feb. 17, then won a bronze the next day in the super combined.

"This is not why both athletes won a medal, but what really impressed me most was the physical and mental courage of Anja Paerson,'' Rogge said.  "You saw her making a spectacular fall, then winning a bronze the day after, when all [her] entourage was saying, 'She's not going to race.'  And she said, 'I am going to race.' "

Majdic, a cross-country skier favored in the individual sprint, hit an icy patch during a training run and fell into a ditch, cracking ribs and puncturing a lung.  She shrugged off pain and medical advice to rest and competed in the three rounds of .87-mile races, winning bronze.

"I am an orthopedic surgeon,'' Rogge said.  "I know what it is like to have four broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

"These [Paerson and Majdic] are examples of sheer courage and resilience. Hats off for that.''

Rogge said it was too soon to declare who would be the "king and queen'' of the Games.  But he will, as of Thursday, most remember the performance of Swiss ski jumper Simon Ammann.

Ammann was just 20 when he won both individual events at the 2002 Winter Games.  He struggled much of the next five years, finishing 38th and 15th at the 2006 Olympics, then won both events again here.

Julia Mancuso wins silver in women's super combined; Lindsey Vonn falls during slalom run

Julia Mancuso doubled her medal total with a silver in the super combined Thursday. Mancuso won the silver medal in the women's downhill Wednesday. Lindsey Vonn of the U.S., who led after the downhill portion, fell during the slalom and did not win a medal. Maria Riesch of Germany won the gold; Anja Paerson of Sweden won the bronze.

The super combined adds the total of a downhill and slalom run. Lowest combined time wins.

Mancuso becomes only the fifth American woman to win two alpine skiing medals in the same Olympic Winter Games. The others: Gretchen Fraser (gold in slalom, silver in combined, 1948); Andrea Mead-Lawrence (golds in giant slalom and slalom, 1952); Penny Pitou (silvers in downhill and giant slalom, 1960) and Jean Saubert (silver in giant slalom, bronze in slalom, 1964).

"I didn't expect that," Mancuso said of her success. "Such a great feeling of accomplishment and really just believing in everything I was doing."

Mancuso is now tied with male counterpart Bode Miller for most career Olympic Alpine medals by a U.S. skier at three.

Mancuso also gave America its first medal in women's Olympic combined or super-combined since 1948. And her best event is yet to come — the giant slalom on Wednesday, the race the 25-year-old from Squaw Valley, Calif., won at the 2006 Turin Games.

Hip surgery after the Turin Games led to back problems that made sidetracked her career. To push her further into the shadows, Vonn has claimed 18 World Cup race victories and two overall titles. Mancuso hasn't won any World Cup race since March of 2007.

"I just came to these Olympics trying to put the past behind me and rip it up," Mancuso said.

Vonn, who has been racing against Mancuso since they were children, has a different perspective.

"She's just attacking. She has a lot of intensity, and I think her struggling in the past few years is maybe motivating her more," Vonns said. "And she's coming in here as an underdog. No one's really expecting her to do anything, and I think that helps.

"When you don't have any pressure, it helps to ski aggressively. It definitely is a lot different, you know, when you have everyone looking at you and expecting you to do things."

As for Vonn's fall during her slalom run, she said it was the most common of mistakes.

"I hooked a tip, and that happens in ski racing all the time," she said. "I just wish it wasn't at the Olympic Games."

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Julia Mancuso. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand /AFP/Getty Images

Lindsey Vonn plays it safe, finishes third in World Cup super combined

With the Winter Olympics two weeks away and her main rival out of contention, Lindsey Vonn decided to play it a little safe in today's World Cup super-combined event in Switzerland.

The American finished third in the event, taking a cautious approach in the slalom race to extend her overall lead in the World Cup standings.

Sweden's Anja Paerson won the event, posting a combined time of 2 minutes, 0.54 second. It was her 41st career World Cup win, pushing her up to fourth on the all-time list.

Vonn took a more conservative run in the slalom after Germany's Maria Riesch, who is second in World Cup points, skied out of the super-G after missing a gate.

"That definitely changed my tactics quite a bit in the slalom run," Vonn told the Associated Press. "If [Maria] would have finished and been competitive in the super-G, I would have had to risk a lot more. I took it pretty easy and made it down."

Vonn is among the favorites to win the Olympic super combined on Feb. 14. She says she is more confident in the event following today's encouraging result.

"I'm definitely going to risk a lot more in the Olympics," she said.

-- Austin Knoblauch

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo: Lindsey Vonn clears a gate during the super-G portion of the women's World Cup super combined race in Switzerland on Friday. Credit: Arno Balzarini / EPA

Lindsey Vonn wins super-G, takes over World Cup points lead

American Lindsey Vonn captured her seventh victory of the season today, winning a World Cup super-G event in Italy's Dolomite Alps.

Vonn, who is among the gold medal favorites in the downhill and super-G at next month's Winter Olympic Games, was pleased with the run and is looking forward to competing in Vancouver, Canada.

"Speed keeps me happy," she said. "Hopefully I can keep my confidence up and get one medal. Nothing is guaranteed in life -- ever -- and at the Olympics too, so I have to ski hard."

Vonn completed the Olympia delle Tofane course in 1 minute, 21.74 seconds, more than half a second faster than second place Fabienne Suter of Switzerland. Sweden's Anja Paerson was third.

The victory snapped Vonn's three-race pointless streak, giving her a 56-point lead over German rival and friend Maria Riesch in the World Cup point standings with 13 races left. Vonn is on pace to break her season-best mark of nine race victories.

Vonn is favored to win Saturday's downhill, but she'll face another technical test in Sunday's giant slalom.