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Vail Daily 12/02/2012

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A20 || Sunday, December 2, 2012 THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com

Vonn wins 2nd Lake Louise downhillLindsey VonnedgesteammateStacey Cook by0.52 secondsASSOCIATED PRESS

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — LindseyVonn raced to her 13th World Cup vic-tory at Lake Louise on Saturday, lead-ing another 1-2 U.S. sweep in the sec-ond downhill at the Canadian resort.

Vonn finished in 1 minute, 52.9 sec-onds to edge teammate Stacey Cookby 0.52 seconds. On Friday in the sea-son-opening downhill, Vonn beatCook by 1.73 seconds.

Vonn nearly skidded into safety netsrounding a corner halfway down thecourse.

“A lot of people make mistakes in alot of races, but if you don’t thinkyou’re going to win after a mistakethen you’re not,” Vonn said. “I keptcharging. I knew I could make upsome time if I skied well on the bottomand thankfully my skis were fast and Ihad a good line and I was able to makeit up.”

Switzerland’s Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden was third in 1:53.52.

The 28-year-old Vonn, fromBurnsville, Minn., will race in thesuper-G on Sunday in a bid to sweepthe three-race event for the secondstraight year.

“I did it last year and I’m going to domy best but super-G is a whole otherball game,” Vonn said. “I really hope Ican get another sweep, but I would beextremely happy to be on the podium.”

Vonn tied Switzerland’s VreniSchneider for second place on theWorld Cup victory list with 55. Aus-tria’s Annamarie Moser-Proell is theleader with 62.

Vonn raced for the third time sincereturning from a stomach bug thatlanded her in the hospital. Last weekin Aspen, Colo., she was 21st in thegiant slalom, then skipped the slalom.

“I’m a little bit more tired today forsure, especially with that mistake,”Vonn said. “It was definitely interest-ing today and an adventure. I’ve mademistakes here before. I haven’t wonwith that big of a mistake before.”

She said she pressure to win thewomen’s races because she asked theworld governing body of skiing to racethe men’s World Cup at Lake Louise.Vonn was denied by FIS, but hasn’tgiven up on that dream. Her best argu-ment to race the men at Lake Louise isto continue winning by large margins.

“I’ve been racing here for so manyyears that there’s definitely been a lotof interesting things that have gone inthe races, but this weekend was veryimportant for me to make sure I wonat least one race and to come awaywith two wins is more than I hoped forbeing sick,” she said.

“I felt like I had a lot of pressurecoming into these races because I, ofcourse, wanted to race the men. Youmake that kind of statement, you kindof have to back it up. I’m confident inthe way I ski here. I know what to doand I think I proved that this week-end.”

Cook watched Vonn’s run on televi-sion at the bottom of the course.

“I was like ‘I don’t have a chance’and then I saw her make a mistake. Myheart stopped beating for a second,”Cook said. “But she’s so good. She’sthe only person who can stop and stillwin.”

The 28-year-old Cook, from Mam-moth Mountain, Calif., celebrated herfirst two podium finishes.

“I really kind of lifted a monkey offmy back yesterday getting that firstpodium out of the way,” she said. “Iknow I can compete with these girls.It’s just been a long time coming toactually believe it and I think I’m start-ing to.”

AP PHOTOLindsey Vonn celebrates her win with teammate and second place finisher Stacey Cook, left, and third place finisher Switzerland’s Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden on thepodium after the women’s World Cup downhill ski race in Lake Louise, Alberta, on Saturday.

AP PHOTOLindsey Vonn reacts in the finish area following her run at the women’s World Cup downhill skirace in Lake Louise, Alberta, on Saturday.





A24 || Saturday, December 8, 2012 THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com

®

LAST WEEK

LAST WEEK Warnings given for safety violations

SEASON TO DATE

GONE FOR THE SEASON

Days of skiing/riding privileges revoked for safety violations.VAIL: 231 BEAVER CREEK: 140

VAIL: 43 BEAVER CREEK: 21



Days of skiing/riding privileges revoked for safety violations.

Individuals who have lost skiing/riding privileges for the season.

Vail and Beaver Creek Ski Patrol, Mountain Safety, and Mountain Management are enforcing skier safety on Vail and Beaver Creek mountains every day this season.

Vail and Beaver Creek are committed to providing an enjoyable experience for all of our guests. Integral to that experience is skier and rider safety. As an industry leader, Vail and Beaver Creek are committed to ski safety edxucation, awareness, and enforcement. Please use good judgement, follow the Skier Responsibility Code to ski and ride safely and responsibly.

(970) SKI-VAIL (754-8245)

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Holiday Wish List:#1 SNOW!#2 Spa Anjali

Daily staff [email protected]

The Surefoot Colorado Ski Cup is back atCopper.

The Surefoot Cup is a FIS race for athletesover the age of 16.

Between the snowflakes on Friday, racersfrom Breckenridge, Vail, Winter Park,Steamboat, Canada and even Japan battledit out for the Surefoot downhill title. Therewere three days of training and two days ofcompeting in downhill, with Friday beingthe second day of competition.

Maybe it was all the high-speed slippingfrom volunteering at the Birds of Prey thathelped Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV)perform so well at the Surefoot Cup. Notonly did the U18 and U21 boys from SSCVsweep the top three spots Friday, they in facttook the top five spots.

Florian Szwebel came away with the winby just over one-tenth of a second. Gregoire

Pasquier placed second, followed byWilliam Blommer in third. These athleteshave been making the most of their earlyseason training, despite the lack of snow.

“It is obviously a great accomplishment tobe on the podium at a FIS race. These racesare the highest-level FIS races in the RockyCentral Division,” said SSCV men's abilitycoach Stefan Hughes.

Thursday was also a successful day, withSzwebel in second place and Pasquier infirst.

“William Blommer made a hugeimprovement from placing ninth on the firstday of the competition to placing third onthe second day,” said Hughes.

SSCV also placed well on the women'sside of the event, with Grace Merriman inthird on Day 1 and fifth on Day 2. Katie Tal-bot placed fourth on Day 1 and seventh onDay 2. Kelly Balfanz showed consistencyand scored well by placing sixth on bothdays.

SSCV sweeps at Copper

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYSki & Snowboard Club Vail sweeps the podium Friday at Copper Mountain.





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 13 || TUESDAY, 12 • 11 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

Patriots 42, Texans 14By Barry WilnerAP PRO FOOTBALL WRITER

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Look out.That familiar sight is the New EnglandPatriots romping through December,looking like a Super Bowl team.

The Patriots rolled over Houston 42-14on Monday night, stamping themselvesonce again as the team to fear in the AFC— and making the Texans look like pretenders.

Tom Brady threw for four touchdownsand 296 yards as New England manhan-dled the team with the league’s bestrecord. The Patriots (10-3), who alreadyown the AFC East title, won their seventhstraight and moved one game behind theTexans (11-2) for the conference’s topseed.

A matchup of the top two scoringteams in the league was a mismatch fromthe outset. It took take New England onlyone possession to start its scoring barrageas the Patriots surpassed their average of

35.8 points per game.Wes Welker’s 31-yard punt return and

25-yard reception — the 107th straightgame he’s had a catch — led to AaronHernandez’s 7-yard score. That gaveBrady 45 consecutive games with a TDpass, third longest in NFL history.

It also set the tone. Houston, which had won six straight,

threatened on its next series, only to haveMatt Schaub force a ball into double cov-erage in the Patriots’ end zone. DevinMcCourty picked it off and returned it 19yards, setting up more pinpoint throws byBrady, who finished 21 of 35.

He couldn’t miss if he tried, hisreceivers were so uncovered: BrandonLloyd for 14 yards, Danny Woodhead for18, Hernandez for 13, then Lloyd for the37-yard TD to make it 14-0. Texans defen-sive coordinator Wade Phillips could onlyshake his head in disgust at his players’inability to challenge the Patriots.

It got worse. At the end of a 70-yarddrive helped by a 26-yard interferencecall on Danieal Manning, no Texans werelined up to Brady’s left in front of Hernan-dez. A quick snap, a quicker pass and the

tight end waltzed into the end zone.New England was headed for its 20th

successive home win in December, andits 21st straight victory in the second halfof the schedule.

Houston was headed back home won-dering not only how it could measure upto a perennial championship contenderin the future, but if it could hold off surg-ing Indianapolis in the AFC South.

The Texans have a two-game lead butface the Colts (9-4) on Sunday in Hous-ton, then in the season finale at Indianapolis.

Although the Texans have clinched atleast a wild-card berth, they haven’t hada truly convincing win since October.

This was a convincing defeat, however— although they got on the scoreboard inthe third quarter with an 88-yard drivecapped by Arian Foster’s 1-yard run.

By then the Patriots had their fourthTD, a gorgeous 63-yard throw to Donte’Stallworth, who was re-signed last weekto replace injured Julian Edelman. It gaveBrady his 18th game with at least four TDpasses, moving ahead of Hall of FamerJohn Unitas for fourth all time.


Vail is predominantly a ski-rac-ing town. However, with parkexpansion plans, a new 22-foothalfpipe in the works and the U.S.Open of Snowboarding coming toVail, big changes are on the hori-zon for Vail’s park and pipe scene.

There have been a handful oftremendous freeskiing andfreestyle skiers who have trainedin Vail and gone on to win numer-ous competitions. In the next fewyears, the Vail Valley will see morefreeskiing and freestyle athletesusing Vail as their training ground.

The North Face Open series forhalfpipe came to Copper Moun-tain this past weekend, and ath-letes from all over the worldshowed up to compete. Pro-levelathletes such as Mike Riddle, GusKenworthy and Tanner Hall werea few big names at the event. TheNorth Face Park and Pipe Openseries is a huge event for aspiringathletes looking to head to theOlympics. Both slopestyle andhalfpipe skiing will make theirOlympic debut in 2014 at theSochi, Russia, Winter Games.

The North Face series is anInternational Ski Federation (FIS)event, which provides athleteswith the points necessary to qual-ify for the Olympics. The athletestrained during the week at Copperand competed on Saturday, withthe finals on Sunday. With FISpoints in play and $55,000 in prizevalue up for grabs for the wholeseries, it is a great event to getnoticed and potentially pad thatwallet.

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail hashad a tremendous influence onthe world of skiing in the valley,and it is no exception when itcomes to freeskiing and freestyleskiing.

Just two short years ago, SSCVhired renowned coach ElanaChase to lead the freekiing pro-gram to new heights. Elana hascoached X-Games athletes such as

Torin Yater Wallace, David Wise,Jen Hudak and Walter Wood.

When she came to Vail, Chasedeveloped the current freeskiingpro team at SSCV. Annalisa Drew,Alex Ferreria, Walter Wood andAaron Blunck are a few of the ath-letes on the pro team that made itto the finals in The North FaceOpen.

On Saturday night in CopperVillage, during a blizzard, the U.S.Freeskiing team for the 2012-13season was announced to thepublic. Blunck, who is currentlyranked 14th in the world, accord-ing to AFP’s (Association ofFreeskiing Professionals) overallranking, and Ferreria, who placedfourth in the qualifiers at theNorth Face Open, wereannounced to the U.S. Freeskirookie team during the ceremony.With hard work, these athletes willhave a chance to compete in thenext Winter Olympics.

Wood is a name that has beenin the press before. This rising starhas been training in Vail withChase for the past couple of yearsand has shown incredible talent.Currently ranked ninth in theworld for halfpipe, he almost hadthe perfect finals run at the event.

“We haven’t really been skiing

since this summer in NewZealand,” Wood said. “Thesecompetitions come up quick, andyou have to really be on it if youwant to do well. The conditionstoday were absolutely freezingcold, which makes your equip-ment start to malfunction a bit. Itis tough to compete in these con-ditions, but the person that push-es through is usually the one thatgoes away with the podium. I hada blast today, and I’m excited fornext weekend.”

Wood actually broke his bind-ing, partly due to the cold temper-atures, when he landed in thepipe on his last “hit” out of thepipe. He sees this past weekend’sNorth Face Open as a good train-ing opportunity for next week-end’s Dew Cup at Breckenridge.

Blunck, a Vail Ski & SnowboardAcademy student, skied unbeliev-ably well in the finals. By linkingsmooth off-axis tricks from wall towall, Blunck landed himself a spoton the podium. During his finalrun, Blunck attempted a doublecork 1260, which is one of themore difficult tricks a pipe skiercan perform. Blunck outper-formed well-known veteran ath-letes such as Hall, Justin Doreyand Matt Margetts.

The 16-year-old Crested Butteresident ended up placing third inthe event, winning himself $1,250.

“The facilities that have comeup in Vail recently are top of theline for training,” Blunck said. “Wehave a trampoline room inside ofVSSA. We will have a 22-foot pipeto ski on this year in Vail andwon’t have to drive to otherresorts. I’m really excited abouteverything that has been happen-ing in Vail, and I’m really excitedabout how today went.”

Former VSSA student PeterCrook placed second in the finals,winning $1,500 just behind Rid-dle. Riddle is currently one of thebest pipe skiers in the world, andit showed during his smooth run.

Crook recently established theBritish Virgin Islands NationalFreeskiing Team so that he cancompete for his home country inthe Olympics.

“I started skiing pipe here inCopper this week for the first timein a while,” Crook said. “I had amissing link in my run that Iworked on and managed to putdown a good run. This is a hugeboost for my confidence, and I’mexcited to continue to progressthis season.”

The fact that these up-and-coming athletes are able to suc-cessfully compete with some ofthe best is a clear indicator thatthey, too, are some of the best inthe world.

Vail athletes dominate podium at North Face Open

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYAaron Blunck boosts out of the pipe on a cork 900 at The NorthFace Park and Pipe Open at Copper Mountain on Saturday.

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYThe men’s podium at The North Face Park and Pipe Open at CopperMountain this past weekend had some familiar faces.

Patriots rout Texans in key matchup

AP PHOTONew England Patriots quarterback TomBrady (12) reacts after running foryardage against the Houston Texansduring the third quarter Monday.





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 24 || FRIDAY, 12 • 14 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

SSCV in actionon Dew TourBy Janice Kurbjunand John LaConteSUMMIT DAILY NEWS

BRECKENRIDGE — A handfulof Ski & Snowboard Club Vail ath-letes qualified for the finals in theDew Tour ski and snowboardsuperpipe competitions in Breck-enridge on Thursday.

Freeski superpipe finals are setfor today at 3 p.m., with the snow-board superpipe finals on Satur-day at noon.

Edwards skier Taylor Seatonmade the finals with a 10th placefinish in Thursday’s qualifier,while SSCV snowboarders BrettEsser and Ayumu Hirano alsomade the finals with their fifth andninth place finishes, respectively.

Check out the Dew Tour in per-son at Breckenridge or on TV on

NBC Sports Network — where thestation will be trying out a newcable-cam angle. The freeskisuperpipe will air at 3 p.m. and thesnowboard superpipe is Saturdayat noon.

Men’s snowboardslopestyle

Last year in Breckenridge,Frisco’s Eric Willett finished ninth.

In Thursday’s snowboardslopestyle semifinal, Willett land-ed himself a third-place finish,solidly qualifying for Sunday’sfinal and getting his hopes andconfidence up for a top finishduring this year’s single stop inBreckenridge.

Willett finished behind TorsteinHorgmo (Norway) and MaxenceParrot (Canada) with a score of88.50. Horgmo sat nicely on topwith a 95.00 and Parrot squeakedinto second with an 89.00.

“It’s good,” Willett said. “Younever know how that first com-

petition is going to go. … Theconditions were a little gnarlyout there for all of us. We had abunch of snow, so we didn’t gettoo much practice in the first fewdays. The wind played a factor(Wednesday).”

Men’s snowboardsuperpipe

As Thursday’s semifinalswound down, Scotty Lago beatout defending champion ShaunWhite to take the top spot in themen’s snowboard superpipesemifinal event.

He started his run with afrontside 540, followed by a back-side 900, frontside 1080 doublecork, cab 700, frontside 900inverted nose grab and a back-side air.

Shaun White finished the con-test in second, and Greg Bretzrounded out the top three. Topcontender Ioui “iPod” Pod-ladtchikov ruled himself out of the

finals by finishing in 12th place.

Men’s freeski superpipesemifinal

Day two of the Dew Tour iONMountain Championships start-ed off with 21 freeskiers hittingthe superpipe, each taking tworuns during a single heat of tworounds, with only their best scorecounting.

Considering that only the topten skiers will be moving on to thefinals, the semifinal level of com-petition resembled a winner-take-all attitude from the athletes,according to Alli Sports.

The best score of the day wentto Mike Riddle (Canada) with hisfirst run of the day. His run con-sisted of a double 1260, right 900,left 900, flatspin 360, switch left900 and a switch right 900.

“It felt pretty amazing to wintoday. They narrowed it downfrom three stops to one this year. Itis a pretty big deal. They are really

pulling out all the stops, so it feltpretty good to come out on top. Iam feeling real strong this year andcan’t wait for finals,” Riddle said.

David Wise (Reno, Nev.) andJustin Dorey (Canada) roundedout the top three from semis in sec-ond and third place, respectively.

Women’s snowboardslopestyle

South Lake Tahoe native JamieAnderson’s strong first run put herin the top spot going into Friday’ssnowboard slopestyle final for thewomen.

Anderson threw down a switchback 540, a back 180 and cab 540in her first run, giving her a scoreof 94.25.

Anderson’s first run score wasthe highest of the he day.

Trailing close behind JamieAnderson was Germany’s SilviaMittermueller with a 93.00 andEnni Rukajärvi in third with a92.00.

Local athletes advance after semifinals

Hefty crowd turnsout for inauguralDew Tour eventBy Janice KurbjunSUMMIT DAILY NEWS

BRECKENRIDGE — It was adog fight to the top of the freeskibig air podium on Thursday night,with athletes one-upping eachother in their three runs for thefinals event.

New Zealand’s Josiah Wells, Tel-

luride’s Gus Kenworthy, Pitts-burgh’s Tom Wallisch, Switzer-land’s Kai Mahler and Sweden’sHenrik Harlaut landed spotsamong 12 contestants in the enviedfinals heat.

There, they battled it out for thewin in the winter Dew Tour’s inau-gural freeski big air event, with vic-tory going to the skier with the bestscore of three final runs. Kai Mahlerlanded an undisputed 97.00 with aswitch double misty double Japangrab and gaining huge air, much tothe crowd’s delight.

“It was the first time I ever didthat trick,” the Swiss skier said. “Itwas a super cool jump, one of thebest I have ever jumped in my life.”

Mahler took the lead early witha 93.25 in a jump with amplitude,depth and rotation.

Everyone else started with scoresin the 80s in the first heat. Wellslanded a 69.75 in the first roundand never really stepped it up.

In Round 2, Kenworthy cleanedup with huge height, adding a tailgrab and sneaking ahead to firstplace with a 94.50. But then Hen-

rik took his smile and pink helmetdown the ramp to boot into hisbutter takeoff and a 94.75 score.

Heading into the third round,Kenworthy bested himself for thethird time in three runs for a 95.75and another first-place spot, onlyto be bested by Mahler’s final run,which wowed the crowd both withits style and score.

Harlaut wasn’t able to throw atrick that impressed the judges asmuch as he did in his secondround, and he finished with a91.50 on the third run.

Freeski big airfinal results1. Kai Mahler — 97.002. Gus Kenworthy — 95.753. Henrik Harlaut — 94.754. Josiah Wells — 87.755. Tom Wallisch — 87.50

iAthletes hit big air under the lights in Breckenridge

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYBreckenridge’s Eric Willet flies through the air on his way to a third-place finish during the Dew Tour men’s snowboard slopestyle qualifying event on Thursday.





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 13 || TUESDAY, 12 • 18 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

Local World Cupskier still illBy Andrew DampfAP SPORTS WRITER

ALTA BADIA, Italy — Lindsey Vonn isheading back to the United States for anunexpected break in the middle of theWorld Cup ski season and is unlikely toreturn to Europe until January.

After a weekend of disappointing resultsat a World Cup meet in France, the four-time overall champion said in a statementon her Facebook page Monday that sheneeds to get her full strength back beforereturning to the slopes after New Year’s.

Vonn stayed two nights in a hospital inVail, Colo., in November after sufferingfrom severe intestinal pain.

“After talking with my family and consult-ing with my coaches and trainers, I havedecided to take a break from the World Cupcircuit,” Vonn said. “Since my intestinalinfection last month, I have been strugglingwith my energy and strength. I believe thatsome time off the mountain will help meregain the physical strength that I require tocompete at the level that I demand frommyself.”

Earlier Monday, U.S. women’s headcoach Alex Hoedlmoser told The Associat-ed Press on Monday that the timing ofVonn’s return “depends on how she’s feel-ing and exactly what her condition is.”

“She’s going home for now,” Hoedlmosersaid. “We’ll have to see when she’s ready.It’s a little bit unknown, but the plan is to gether back strong. ... With the way the sched-ule has been and all the travel she just has-n’t had a chance to get back to strength. Wewant her back at full strength.”

Hoedlmoser said Vonn will miss thisweek’s slalom and giant slalom races in Are,Sweden. The following races on the sched-ule are also technical races in Semmering,Austria, Dec. 28-29.

“It’s possible she’ll skip Semmering, sothat would mean her next races would be inJanuary,” Hoedlmoser said. “It dependshow she’s feeling and exactly what her con-dition is.”

Vonn won three consecutive speed racesat Lake Louise, Alberta, this season, and a

super-G in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec.8 for her 57th career World Cup win —moving her within five of record-holderAnnemarie Moser-Proell on the all-timelist. But she fared poorly in both her racesthis past weekend in France.

On Friday in Val d’Isere, she had anuncharacteristic fall in the downhill, anevent in which she’s the Olympic champi-on. On Sunday in Courchevel, she fell againin the opening run of a giant slalom.

Immediately after Sunday’s race, Vonnposted a note on Facebook: “Hit a rock onmy left ski in the GS and skied offcourse...struggling to find the energy I usu-ally have...going to think hard over the nextfew days about my plan for the comingweeks and how to get strong again. Tryingto stay positive. Now I’m packing up the

Audi and heading to the airport.”After Semmering, there is a special city

event in Munich on New Year’s Day and aslalom in Zagreb, Croatia, on Jan. 4, fol-lowed by speed races Jan. 12-13 in St.Anton, Austria — on one of Vonn’s favoritecourses.

Depending on how many races Vonnmisses, her chances of defending the over-all title may be affected.

Vonn is fourth in the standings. TinaMaze of Slovenia leads with 799 points, fol-lowed by Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany at468, Kathrin Zettel of Austria at 440 andVonn at 414.

Vonn, however, might not miss any speedraces, her specialty, so Hoedlmoser wasn’tcounting her out.

“In January there are plenty of races left

for her,” he said. “The goal is to get her backup in shape.”

In last week’s issue of People magazine,Vonn revealed she struggled with depres-sion in 2008 and was prescribed an antide-pressant. She added that she’s happierthese days.

“All the parts of my life are finally in sync,”she said. “I accept who I am, and I’m mov-ing forward.”

Vonn separated from her husband of fouryears, Thomas, last year.

In Monday’s statement, Vonn said “Iwant to be emphatic that this has nothing todo with my recent interview with PeopleMagazine.”

“I had completed that interview weeksbefore I was in the hospital with the intes-tinal infection,” she said.

Vonn heads home for midseason break

By Andrew DampfAP SPORTS WRITER

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO, Italy —Ted Ligety is ruling the giant slalom like

few others, and thepraise extraordinary:“phenomenon,” “super-hero” and “unreal.”

His performance alsohas left some rivals ques-tioning whether hisequipment conforms tonew rules introduced bythe International SkiFederation for this sea-

son that limit the hourglass shape of skis.But the federation says no equipmentrules have been breached.

“It would be nice if people would be moreobservant of all the preparation Ted hasdone, and all the training he did with thenew equipment,” U.S. technical coach MikeDay said. “That’s why he’s dominating.”

It’s been mainly Italian skiers raisingquestions, after they couldn’t keep upwith Ligety at home in Sunday’s race in

Alta Badia, when Ligety won the first runby a massive 2.40 seconds.

Ligety won by 2.04 seconds, withdefending overall World Cup winner Mar-cel Hirscher of Austria the runner-up.

Ligety also won the first two GS racesthis season by large margins, finishing2.75 ahead in Soelden, Austria, and 1.76 infront in Beaver Creek, Colo. Swedish leg-end Ingemar Stenmark set the record formargin of victory at 4.06 in 1978-79.

Still, Ligety became the first man sinceStenmark in 1978-79 to win two giantslaloms in the same season with anadvantage of more than two seconds.

In an article in the Italian newspaperCorriere della Sera on Monday — head-lined “Ligety even more giant, amid talentand the usual suspects” — skiers ManfredMoelgg and Davide Simoncelli wonderedabout the American’s skis.

“It seems to me the tails are wider,”Moelgg said.

Simoncelli said: “It does raise somedoubts.”

A similar article appeared in Gazzettadello Sport.

AP PHOTOLindsey Vonn waits at the finish area after failing to complete a women’s World Cup downhill race in Val d’Isere, France, on Friday.


The second Smartwool Series race tookplace on Saturday and Sunday at Loveland.Athletes earned FIS points in their respec-tive age groups. A week ago, local boys fromSki & Snowboard Club Vail landed podiumspots at the Surefoot race. This time, localgirls from SSCV came out strong and land-ed podium results.

The Smartwool Series is no small timerace. With a deep field of more than 70 girlsfrom numerous clubs, and even a few col-leges such as the University of New Mexico,it is the perfect race for alpine athletes tostep up their race game and compete withseasoned veterans.

Local athlete Abigail Murer, from SSCV,had an incredible day racing giant slalomon Saturday, winning her U16 division andlanding in third place overall. The U16 divi-sion was the largest division at the compe-tition. Leah Newton, from SSCV, placed12th overall, and Genevieve Soden placed15th overall.

Although Saturday was a phenomenalday from Murer, Sunday proved even betterfor the young racer. Murer ended in secondplace on Day 2 of the giant slalom race.Soden sped up her time from Day 1 and

landed in 10th place overall on Day 2. Lau-ren Viola, from SSCV, had a huge improve-ment from Day 1 to Day 2. On Saturday, sheplaced 29th but improved her time on Sun-day and finished in 13th.

On the boys’ side of the race, Jack Keanehad a solid and consistent performance, asusual. Keane ended in a respectable 15thplace on Saturday and 14th place on Sun-day. Luke Vickerman skied well on Sundayand ended in 18th place.

Local racers excel at LovelandAmid doubts by rivals,Ligety gets OK on skis

TED LIGETY

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYLocal athlete Abigail Murer, from SSCV,had an incredible day racing giant slalomon Saturday, winning her U16 divisionand landing in third place overall.





A24 || Wednesday, December 19, 2012 THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com

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Sylvan Ellefson, Tad Elliot, Noah Hoffman,Ryan Scott, Christian Shanley and MaxScrimgeour make up Ski & Snowboard ClubVail Nordic’s self-proclaimed “Team Home-grown.” Last weekend, they were in Albertacompeting in the Canmore World Cup.

“In general, winning the Olympics isharder for Nordic but placing top 30 in theOlympics is actually easier than in a WorldCup event. World Cup events have a deeperfield of athletes that are all really fast,” saidHoffman during a Skype call last Friday.

Hoffman placed 22nd in the 15K massstart Thursday and had an outstandingeighth-place finish in the 15K freeskiathalon on Sunday. He had the fastesttime out of anyone else from the U.S. and isclearly on a mission to success.

Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s (SSCV)Nordic program director, Dan Weiland, aswell as Kevin and Karl Hochtl, created the“Team Homegrown” program within theNordic program at SSCV before the 2009-10season. The purpose of the group is to giveolder Nordic athletes the chance to contin-ue to pursue a career in Nordic skiing.

“If athletes come back from college look-ing to ski Nordic, they still have a place withus here in Vail,” says Weiland.

Unlike other more injury-prone snows-ports, Nordic skiing has the unique advan-tage of having a longer “prime” period.Many athletes competing on a World Cuplevel are older than 25.

According to statisticalskier.com, manyNordic athletes hit their prime in their late20s. This provides Nordic athletes with alasting chance to reach a higher level ofcompetition.

Competing in any sport can be expensive.

Unlike baseball, football, or any other big-name sport, professional skiers often shellout their own money for competitions andtravel expenses. One of the biggest tools thatWeiland has provided his “Homegrown”athletes is an outlet to make all these com-petitions financially possible. Weilandhelped create the Rocky Mountain NordicAngel Fund; the money raised helps thedreams of local Nordic skiers who have achance to go to the Olympics. Even thoughElliot and Hoffman are currently on the U.S.Ski Team, they still have to pay their way tocompete in World Cup events.

“It really all started last year after skiingnationals. Sylvan was the Super Tour leaderand we all got to go ski in Russia as a group,”said Elliot.

The Super Tour is the Nordic equivalentof a Nor-Am and allows for athletes to qual-ify for World Cup events.

“We all grew up competing against eachother in Rocky Mountain events and it ispretty cool to continue to ski with each oth-er,” said Ellefson.

After winning the Super Tour, Ellefsonwas eligible to compete in every World Cuprace before Christmas. The race in Canmorethis past weekend was Sylvan’s last eligibleWorld Cup race. He will now be comingback to the U.S. to compete in more SuperTour events.

Scott was eligible to compete in the Que-bec World Cup and the Canmore WorldCup last weekend due to an impressivethird-place finish at the Super Tour in Boze-man, Mont., earlier in the season.

“I didn’t perform as well as I would haveliked to in Quebec. I’m looking forward toU.S. Nationals in January out in Utah,” saidScott.

Scott is predominantly a sprinter, whileEllefson is an all around skier; Elliot and

Hoffman are both distance skiers.“It is great being able to train with these

guys and to be able to be up in Canada com-

peting with them. It really helps to see howefficient these guys are. Everything they dojust seems so effortless,” said Scott.

SSCV Nordic skier cracks the top 10 in World Cup

STEVE FULLER | Special to the DailySylvan Ellefson is one of six members of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail's “TeamHomegrown,” competing around the globe in the 2012-13 season.





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 30 || SATURDAY, 12 • 22 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

Shiffrin felt ready for the winEagle-Vail teen thethird youngestAmerican womanto win on tourBy Lauren [email protected]

VAIL — When 17-year-oldEagle-Vail ski racer Mikaela Shiffrinpicked up her first World Cup winThursday in Sweden, she said shefelt like she had come home.

Shiffrin became the thirdyoungest American woman to wina World Cup race behind Kiki Cut-ter, who won slalom in 1968 at theage of 16, and Jody Nagel, whowon slalom in 1969 at just threemonths younger than Shiffrin. Thewin also puts her on top of theWorld Cup slalom standings with196 points over Germany’s MariaHoefl-Riesch, who has 174 points.

She won the night race in Are,Sweden, with a combined time of1 minute, 45.36 seconds. U.S. SkiTeam spokesman Doug Haneysaid she had an “incredibly solid”first run, after which she was insecond place, but it was her sec-ond run that blew everyone away.Haney called it “flawless.”

Shiffrin sounded wise beyondher years in a teleconference withthe media around 2 p.m. MountainTime on Thursday as she spokeabout her win and the mindset shehad going into the race.

She felt like Thursday night washer night to pick up a win becauseshe said she finally felt ready. Sheknew whenever she felt ready,that’s when she would win,though she also said she has nev-er been able to predict when thatfeeling would come.

“I’ve been in this position a cou-ple times now and gave it awaybecause I was thinking too muchabout today being my day,”Shiffrin said, adding she knew shehad to fight for it Thursday night.

“Tonight I just felt like I know howto handle that position now.”

Shiffrin didn’t expect to win atsuch a young age, but she “surehoped for it,” she said. She said shehas tried to stay grounded andfocused as she has worked towardher first World Cup victory.

“I didn’t want to be waitingaround that long because I’m pret-ty impatient when it comes tocompetition,” she said.

Shiffrin talked about the emo-tions she felt after the win, andwhat it was like to see her motherat the finish area. She said the fin-ish area was hectic and she had to

stay out there for media photos. Itwas 10 or 15 minutes before shesaw her mother.

“I kept seeing her across thefence and I couldn’t get to her,”Shiffrin said. “It was so excitingand there was all sorts of emotionrunning through everybody. ...Hearing her say, ‘Great job,’ and ‘Ilove you,’ and ‘I’m so proud of you,’— it was just the best thing.”

That’s when it hit Shiffrin thateverything she’s been working sohard for is now paying off. Shedescribed that moment as whenshe started to feel like she washome — she now feels like she’s

where she belongs, she said.“It’s hard to find that feeling

when you’re so far away fromhome for so long,” Shiffrin said.

Shiffrin said her phone was“blowing up” while on the mediacall, which happened around 10p.m. in Sweden. Congratulatoryposts on social media sites werealso blowing up as the news

spread across the Atlantic.“Omg Mikaela Shiffrin just won

a World Cup in Sweden, huge,”tweeted professional skier ChrisAnthony, of Avon.

She was getting shout-outs fromfellow American skiers, too,including veteran racer Steven

AP PHOTOEagle-Vail’s Mikaela Shiffrin reacts at the finish line after winning a women’s World Cup slalom in Are, Sweden, on Thursday.

Watch Shiffrin’s winning runTo watch footage of Thursday night’s race in Are, Sweden, visit

www.youtube.com/ussanetwork.

Large crowd bravescold for openingevent in public raceseriesBy John LaConteSPECIAL TO THE DAILY

VAIL — Coach Dan Weilandwas amazed by the record-sizecrowd at Wednesday’s NordicTown Series opening race.

A group of 50 or so racersbraved the zero-degree tempera-tures to compete in the 20-minutefreestyle event, the first in a five-race Nordic skiing competitionthat’s an annual tradition in Vail.

“This is a pretty big field for us,considering we didn’t put anyfliers out or anything,” Weilandsaid as the race was starting. “Isent out an email at like 3 o’clockthis afternoon but that’s it ... this isthree times the size of the normal

field.”With the town series as a micro-

cosm of the program itself, Ski &Snowboard Club Vail’s Nordicbranch is growing successfullyand in the right direction, attract-ing athletes like Wednesdaynight’s winner, Cal Deline.

“He’s the top J1 in the UnitedStates right now,” said Weiland,“and one of the best overall jun-iors in the country.”

To pull off the win, Deline hadto battle it out with No. 2 finisherTony Ryerson, also a Ski & Snow-board Club Vail alumnus.

“On the final lap Cam and Iwere butting elbows the wholetime, switching off the lead, step-ping on each other’s skis,” saidRyerson. “It was really fun. Thedark made it even more dramaticbecause you couldn’t even seewhat you were doing.”

Cheering spectatorsBut Deline and the racers

weren’t the only ones braving thecold. Spectators such as Sally Dar-lington were on the sidelines,cheering on the competitors

“It’s a great group of folks here,”said Darlington. “The heartysouls, the people that want to dothe crazy things.”

Darlington’s children, NathanMaddox, 16, and Samantha “Bob”Maddox, 17, from Eagle ValleyHigh School, were among thecompetitors.

“They’re into it, and they’re allaround other kids who are justlike that,” she said. “It’s funbecause you know all the kids, youknow all the parents, and it’s allpart of this really great group ofpositive people.”

Darlington is originally fromMassachusetts, but moved to theVail Valley before having Saman-tha and Nathan. She said this sea-son, she's been really enjoyingcoverage of Vail's 50th anniversaryfrom publications like the new

Vail 50th magazine.“It’s been so interesting to read

about the folks that were here inthe very beginning,” she said.“They all had the same pioneer

spirit of wanting to create some-thing. And it became this, wow ...there’s stuff happening every-

Big start for Nordic Town Series

STEVE SHANLEY | Special to the DailyCal Deline and Tony Ryerson battle for the lead while Ski &Snowboard Club Vail coach Dan Weiland (in the blue flannel)watches the action Wednesday night at the Vail Nordic Center.

Shiffrin, page A31

Nordic, page A31





receive a spot at the NorAms for the sea-son,” said SSCV freestyle coach RileyCampbell at the top of the course on Fri-day morning. “The top two U.S. skiersreceive World Cup spots for the season.Our athlete Kaitlyn Harrell will most like-ly battle it out today with Keaton McCar-go from Telluride to land one of the WorldCup spots.”

During Wednesday’s competition, therewere 51 female competitors and 73 malecompetitors. Harrell had an incredible dayon Wednesday and ended up in thirdplace. The 15-year-old beat numerousskiers five to 10 years older than her.

On Friday, she wasn’t feeling well but stillplaced fourth overall. In the end, she wasone place away from making the World Cupspot. Despite her incredible results, Harrellwasn’t feeling well during the race.

“I was really trying to forget about myresults from the other day and not put any

expectations up for myself and just keepcalm,” Harrell said. “I get caught up in myhead, so my main goal coming out herewas to really control my nerves. At thesame time, it was a bit tricky competingtoday because I think I ate something thatreally upset my stomach. I actually almostthrew up at the top of the course.”

This rising star is well on her way to asuccessful season and will be competing inthe NorAm events throughout the season.

“She did really well today, and I’m nottoo worried that she didn’t get a WorldCup spot,” Dowling said. “She is only 15,and there will be many other opportuni-ties for her to get to the next level.”

Emerson Smith placed 22nd onWednesday and ended in 30th on Friday,which just qualified him for NorAms. Col-in Lang, who trains with SSCV and com-petes for his home country of Poland, fin-ished 26th on Friday. Vail local Hunter Bai-ley greatly improved on his ranking fromWednesday to Friday and ended in 18thplace. Bailey also qualified for NorAms.

THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com Sunday, December 23, 2012 || A29

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HARRELLFROM PAGE A28

Colin Lang, who trainswith Ski & SnowboardClub Vail and competesfor his home country ofPoland, finished 26th onFriday at CopperMountain.

MICHAEL SULEIMANSpecial to the Daily





A28 || Sunday, December 23, 2012 THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com

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Harrell places 3rd at U.S. Selections 15-year-old narrowlymisses World Cup spotDaily staff [email protected]

COPPER MOUNTAIN — Freestyleskiing has been visible in the Vail Val-ley for some time. Vail has producedbig name athletes such as Toby Daw-son and Heidi Kloser, among others.Recreational, and competitive, mogulskiers usually think of Mary Jane orWinter Park as a true place to rip a zip-per line. However, with runs like Pri-ma, Pronto, Log Chute and most ofChair 10, Vail has enough moguls tokeep the legs burning all day long.

This season Team Breckenridge hasmerged into Ski & Snowboard ClubVail’s program and will most certainlycreate a dramatic change in the com-petitive mogul scene. John Dowling,who was just hired as the FreestyleProgram director at SSCV, created theTeam Breckenridge program withRiley Campbell and is responsible forthe merging of the teams.

John Dowling has been coachingfreestyle athletes for years and hascoached 16 athletes to the U.S. SkiTeam. Riley Campbell and Dowlingstarted Team Breckenridge a fewyears ago and decided they wouldmove over to SSCV, which will ulti-mately offer a more suitable trainingground for their athletes. Dowling’scoaching style and wealth of knowl-edge is well known by many includingcurrent SSCV athlete Emerson Smithwho moved from Vermont two yearsago to be coached specifically byDowling.

“We met with John and knew thathe was the right coach for Emerson,”

said Emerson’s mother, Teresa Smith.“When we went to nationals last year,we talked to a lot of different coachesthat praised John’s coaching abilities.When John moved over to Vail thisseason, we knew we would be theretoo. Emerson is only 15 and has timeto continue improving especially insuch a great program.”

SSCV’s freestyle athletes have beentraining on Golden Peak for the pastmonth on a fast course with one jump.They were the only team in the RockyMountain Division to have an earlyseason training ground reflective of acompetitive mogul course. This earlyseason training was visible in theirperformance at Selections last week atCopper.

Selections started last Monday and

continued to run Saturday finishingwith duals. International athletes fromAustralia and Japan even showed upto compete in the event. During theearly parts of the week, the athletestrained the course on Rosi’s pitch, justnext to the Super Bee.

Freestyle Selections serve to placeathletes for seasonal NorAm competi-tions and potentially even World Cupevents. Wednesday was the first day ofcompetition and after training for twodays, it was clear that everyone wasready to compete. Friday was the sec-ond day of open moguls. With scoresso close, it was the little mistakes thatseparated the best from the great.

“The top-20 female U.S. competitors

Ski &Snowboard ClubVail’s KaitlynHarrell, 15, right,landed on thepodium in thirdplace at U.S.Selections atCopperMountain lastweek. Shefinished just oneplace away frommaking theWorld Cup spot.

MICHAEL SULEIMANSpecial to the Daily

Harrell, page A29





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 27 || SUNDAY, 12 • 23 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

Kloser gets first World Cup podiumVail native,moguls skierfinishes secondin KreischbergBy John LaConteSPECIAL TO THE DAILY

VAIL — When Vail residentsMike and Emily Kloser get anearly morning phone call fromtheir daughter Heidi overseas,they never know what to expect.

But in Saturday’s 7:30 a.m. callfrom Austria, they received someof the best news they’ve everheard from Heidi — she’d madethe podium in a World Cupevent.

“This call was one you wake upto and are extremely happy tohear the news,” Mike Kloser saidon Saturday afternoon. “We’reincredibly excited for Heidi.”

The second-place finish —Kloser’s first podium in WorldCup competition — came afteranother top-10 finish last week-end, a seventh-place effort at theseason opener in Ruka, Finland.

Kloser told her parents that

her outstanding qualifying run,and the Kreischberg course itself(one of the flatter on the circuit),had her feeling good about herchances going into the finals.

“I qualified second, which isthe highest I’ve ever qualified, soI went into finals really excited,”she said.

Dual moguls World Cup com-petition pits athletes againsteach other in a head-to-head

format on a jump-and-bumpcourse, with judges scoring theathletes on technical turns,speed and aeriel maneuvers todetermine a winner. Some for-mats have mogul skiers side-by-side only in the final rounds, witha seeding system used to deter-mine those finals, but the formatused at Kreischberg on Saturdaywas similar to NCAA basketball,where competitors were seeded

down to a field of 16, followed byfour rounds of duals.

Kloser went head-to-headagainst her teammate Eliza Out-trim in the round of 16, bestingher to make it to the round ofeight where she defeated theCanadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe. In the final four, Kloserknocked out Austrian BrittneyCox to qualify second into thefinal round against teammateHeather McPhie.

“I had a bit of a sloppy runagainst Heather, but I’m reallyhappy with my second-place fin-ish,” she said.

McPhie is undefeated in dualmoguls so far this season, win-ning every matchup in Ruka, aswell, where she defeated Kloserin the round of eight.

“It was great going into finalswith Heidi,” McPhie said afterthe event. “When I saw her com-ing up the cat, I couldn’t havebeen more excited for her.”

Moguls coach Garth Hagersaid the finish was one of thebest he’s ever seen.

“Both Heather and Heidi werevery consistent today in trustingtheir speed into the bottom jumpwhere they were able to make upground,” he said. “They trustedtheir skiing and didn’t worry

about what anyone else wasdoing. In doing that they wereable to make the bottom as cleanand fast as they could.”

McPhie knew that for Kloser,qualifying for finals with a guar-anteed podium was a milestoneaccomplishment for the youngskier. McPhie, 28, has eight yearsseniority on Kloser, who justturned 20 in September. In Ruka,McPhie defeated Kloser in theround of eight

“As soon as I saw her, I told her‘I’m going to be competitive inabout five minutes, but right nowI’m so stoked for you,” McPhiesaid. “The U.S. is killing it rightnow, and this was a great Christ-mas present for all of us!”

Kloser, McPhie and the rest ofthe Americans will get to spendChristmas at home in the U.S.,with the European wing ofmoguls competition over fornow.

“We’re so excited that Heidiwill be here for Christmas,”Mike Kloser said. “She’ll workwith the Ski Club Vail coacheshere during the break and alsohelp coach some of the youngathletes.”

Kloser will return to competi-tion Jan. 17 with a World Cupmoguls event in Lake Placid, N.Y.

AP PHOTOHeidi Kloser, of Vail, jumps during the women’s freestyle World Cup dual moguls skiing competition in Kreischberg, Austria, on Saturday. Kloser placed second.

AP PHOTOAmerican Heather McPhie, left, finished first and Vail’s Heidi Kloserfinished second in the women’s freestyle World Cup dual mogulsskiing competition in Kreischberg, Austria, on Saturday.





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A32 || Monday, December 24, 2012 THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com

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Steadman Clinic Vail Cup results

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYThe U10 girls division winners celebrate on the podium at the Steadman Clinic VailCup on Sunday in Vail.

Vail Cup, page A33

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYRacers pause for a photo op at the Steadman Clinic VailCup on Sunday.





THE VAIL DAILY || 970 • 949 • 0555 || vaildaily.com Monday, December 24, 2012 || A33

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5 Amanda Norvell 40.036 Katie Bervy 40.197 Marley Chappel 41.108 Campbell Sullivan 41.109 Meriel Upton 41.3210 Jordan McMurtry 41.9811 Roxanna Chaney 42.1212 AInsley Proffit 42.3313 Lizzy Harding 42.3414 Schuyler Woodland 43.0115 Yarmony Bellow 43.1116 Hailey Harsch 43.3717 Georgia Driscoll 43.3718 Nicola Rountree-Williams

43.5519 Josephine Trueblood 44.9720 Audrey Schane 45.1321 Gabriella Byrne 46.1822 Samantha Lindall 46.5223 Ava Jemison 46.6124 Charlotte Gunther 46.9925 Bloem Van den Berg 47.04

26 Kiki Lettovska 49.3227 Emily Creek 49.7128 Alexandra Mayer 49.9029 Rosemary Millett 50.5930 Lorenza Meza 51.8031 Caroline Dewell 52.1332 Gracie Rounds 52.5733 Lexi Linafelter 54.6634 Senna Sink 56.9735 Berit Frischholz 57.17

Jenevieve McMurtry DNFHeather Smith DNF

U12 Boys1 Henry Heaydon 38.092 Kellen Kinsella 38.993 Andrew Stevens 39.544 Zane Worrell 39.715 Phenix Tatge 41.496 Ian McCormick 41.537 Zach Wehner 41.598 Emil Soden 41.689 Reagan Wallis 42.07

10 JP Starkey 42.1911 Robert Harnick 42.2812 Nick Ebner 42.3313 Jose Antonio Ascencio

42.5114 Dominik Lettovsky 42.9615 Kai McGuffin 43.0716 Dominick Epifanio 43.3017 Cade Cyphers 43.6518 Brody Cyphers 44.3819 Alexander Viola 45.1720 Trey Kelsey 45.9321 Jack Goss 46.4522 Paul Skok 48.9623 Ryan Cole 49.1524 Griffin Marx 49.4025 Aiden Woodard 50.6826 Will Brown 51.5127 Nicholas Mayer 51.8628 Justin Mayer 52.2829 Andres Ascencio 54.04

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYSarah Schleper signs a bib for Leah Sandberg at theSteadman Clinic Vail Cup on Sunday at Vail.

SPECIAL TO THE DAILYA racer speeds down the course at the Steadman ClinicVail Cup on Sunday in Vail.

VAIL CUPFROM PAGE A32





SPORTSSECTION A || PAGE 23 || SATURDAY, 12 • 29 • 12 || 970 • 949 • 0555 || VAILDAILY.COM

Eagle-Vail skier hasbest giant slalomfinish of her career;Austria’s Fenningertakes the winBy Eric WillemsenASSOCIATED PRESS

SEMMERING, Austria — AnnaFenninger of Austria had twonear-perfect runs to win a WorldCup giant slalom on Friday, whilesecond-place Tina Maze of Slove-nia extended her lead in the over-all standings.

In difficult conditions becauseof snowfall, Fenninger posted thefastest time in both runs on thePanorama course and finished ina combined time of 2 minutes,13.09 seconds to beat Maze by1.10. Tessa Worley of France, whowas second after the opening run,was third.

Eagle-Vail teen Mikaela Shiffrin,who won her first World Cup racelast week, was eighth for the best

GS result in her career. She’s now10th in the overall standings.

Shiffrin had several mistakes inher final run but used a blisteringsecond to finish 2.68 seconds offFenninger’s winning time.

“I had some energy that run,”said Shiffrin, who struggled with acold. “My energy level has beenOK, or maybe I am just tellingmyself that’s OK — mind overmatter ... Hopefully tonight I get agood night of sleep and come outtomorrow (for the slalom) andhave some fun.”

Shiffrin leads the slalom stand-ings, the first time since 1982 thatthe U.S. women’s team has threeracers in the top 10.

Defending overall championLindsey Vonn of the UnitedStates skipped the race. Vonn,who is fifth in the overall stand-ings, is taking a break from thecircuit to fully recover from anintestinal illness.

Fenninger earned her secondWorld Cup victory after claiming aGS on home soil — in Lienz — ayear ago to the day.

“I was very difficult to free my

mind before the start,” said Fen-ninger, who had never led a WorldCup race after the first run before.“I tried to tell myself that it’s justan ordinary race. I kept repeatingthat, and it worked.”

Fenninger held a 0.90-secondmargin over Maze going into thefinal run but refused to hold backand managed to even increasethat lead, to the delight of thehome crowd.

Maze, who won the first four GSevents this season, accepted herdefeat.

“I am really happy with my ski-ing,” said Maze, who lost time ear-ly in her opening run as she strug-gled for rhythm in the first flat sec-tion. “I lost a lot of time there. Ifought until the end but Annareally had a perfect day. She wasunbeatable today.”

Maze became the first womanskier to earn nine podium finish-es in GS within one year, beatingthe record previously held byLise-Marie Morerod of Switzer-land (1977), Deborah Com-pagnoni of Italy (1997) and AnitaWachter of Austria (1999).

“It’s my skiing that makes meconfident, I don’t look at thepoints or the records,” the Sloven-ian said. “I try to prepare eachrace as well as I can. It’s not alwaysperfect but I am a fighter.”

Maze finished runner-up toVonn last season without winninga race.

In the first 15 events of this sea-son, Maze won five times andearned five more podium finishes.

She tops the overall standingswith 999 points, and is likely tosurpass the 1,000-point mark inSaturday’s slalom, the lastwomen’s race of 2012.

Maze already leads second-place Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Ger-many by 417 points. Vonn is fifth,trailing Maze by 585 points.

“It’s still a long season, anythingcan happen,” Maze said. “If Lind-sey comes back and she wins allthe downhills, you never know. Iam not calculating. I hope Lind-sey returns to the circuit quickly,but of course her health is mostimportant.”

The only other racer besidesMaze and Fenninger to win a GS

this season, Olympic championViktoria Rebensburg of Germany,finished 1.91 behind Fenninger infifth place.

After six of nine events, Maze isa strong favorite to take the disci-pline title. She leads No. 2 KathrinZettel by 198 points, with each vic-tory worth 100 points.

There is one more women’s GSscheduled ahead of February’sworld championships — in Mari-bor, Slovenia, on Jan. 26.

The 2006 Olympic champion,Julia Mancuso, finished 25th onFriday, 4.16 seconds behindFenninger.

“I felt pretty well but somehowthe time isn’t there,” the Americansaid. “I was surprised that I wasthat far behind. I thought I had apretty good section.”

Mancuso switched her ski sup-plier in the offseason. Her bestresult so far in the discipline wassixth on Dec. 16 in Courchevel,France.

“I am better when the snow isreally hard,” Mancuso said. “Iguess these are not quite myconditions.”

Mikaela Shiffrin,of Eagle-Vail,

speeds down thecourse during awomen’s World

Cup giant slalomin Semmering,

Austria, on Friday.

AP PHOTO

Shiffrin notches a top-10 GS finish

By Arnie StapletonAP PRO FOOTBALL WRITER

ENGLEWOOD — Kick returnerTrindon Holliday is doubtful for theDenver Broncos’ season finaleagainst Kansas City because of asprained ankle.

The injury has sidelined him allweek and prevented him fromworking on ways to cut down onfumbling. He has five fumbles onreturns to go with touchdowns on a

punt return and a kickoff return.Coach John Fox said the cure for

that is “you just practice. You workon it. No different than a runningback or quarterback as far as in thepocket, receivers after they catchthe ball. Anytime you have that ball,you have the other 10 guys’ bestinterest in hand. It’ll be somethingthat we’ll continue to work on.”

Jimmy Leonhard is expected tohandle punt returns and OmarBolden the kickoff returns if Holli-

day doesn’t play Sunday against theChiefs.

Cornerback Tracy Porter (con-cussion) was ruled out for Sunday.He was injured last week just threesnaps into his first game since Oct.7. He had been sidelined afterexperiencing symptoms similar tothose he had before a seizure dur-ing training camp.

“That’s so unfortunate becausehe’s been waiting for this opportu-nity to get back in there. And I just

hope he’s OK. I think he will be butonly time will tell,” cornerbackChamp Bailey said.

Right guard Chris Kuper is 50-50for Sunday after participating on alimited basis for the second straightday. He’s been sidelined with asprained left ankle and migraines.

Fox said he wasn’t worried aboutKuper’s availability heading intothe playoffs.

“He practiced for the first timeyesterday and then today. I think

he’s making good progress,” Foxsaid. “He’s been out for a little bit.We’re just going to make sure he’sready to play football and we’llmake that decision day to day.”

Kuper has played in just sixgames this season. He missed thefirst month with a broken forearmand five of the last seven gamesafter spraining his left ankle, thesame one in which he tore liga-ments in a gruesome injury onNew Year’s Day.

Holliday doubtful, Porter out for Broncos-Chiefs

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