Skiers understand the capricious nature of fame in a sport that is largely hidden from public view for years at a time. It's all about timing. (And back stories, too, but that's another matter. And sometimes it's about timing and back stories together). You can win all the races you like, on any mountainside in the world, but unless you win at the Olympics, you are anonymous. Ted Ligety knows all about this.
Alpine skiing superstar Bode Miller is swapping the piste for the tennis court as he attempts to qualify for the U.S. Open championship at Flushing Meadow later this year.
Switzerland's Carlo Janka clinched the overall World Cup title and Ted Ligety of the United States sealed the giant slalom crown in the World Cup finals in Garmisch Partenkirchen on Friday.
updated: Sun Feb 28 2010 02:49:00
Lindsey Vonn's Olympics come to an end. Alex Thomas wraps up Friday's competition.
American skier Bode Miller failed in his bid for an unprecedented medal haul but the United States will finish the 2010 Winter Olympics on Sunday with a record total after winning gold and silver on Saturday.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Here was a familiar scene: Bode Miller standing benignly on skis at the side of race course, poles dragging in the snow, a look of vague disappointment on his face. He is wearing a racing helmet and speed suit, but he is as still as the pine trees behind him and the plastic gates that line the mountainside, all dressed up with no place to go.
Young German skier Viktoria Rebensburg sprung a huge upset as she claimed gold in the the weather-delayed women's giant slalom at Whistler Creekside on Thursday.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Running downhill through the Olympic Alpine Games, with two events left to ski (women's slalom Friday and men's slalom Saturday):
WHISTLER, B.C. -- For the first time in a week, it was snowing Tuesday afternoon in the mountains around Whistler. At least it was trying to snow, as dense, wet flakes turned occasionally to rain and then back again to snow, soaking spectators who were leaving the alpine racing stadium after Carlo Janka's victory for Switzerland in the men's giant slalom. It was a return to the conditions that had postponed the start of ski racing for two days at the beginning of the Games, but it was something else, too: Mancuso Weather.
South Korea's Lee Jung-Su confirmed his reputation as the top men's short-track speedskater at the 2010 Winter Olympics with his second gold medal on Saturday night, while American Apolo Anton Ohno snatched a place in the history books with a last-gasp bronze.
updated: Tue Feb 23 2010 04:26:00
Apolo Anton Ohno becomes the most decorated American Winter Olympian. Alex Thomas reports.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Forget the NFL, and apologies to baseball:
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway claimed his first Olympic gold medal with victory in the men's super-G at Whistler Creekside on Friday.
WHISTLER, B.C. -- The truth? It's tempting to say that we - those of us disseminate our words through magazines, websites, newspapers and television -- missed on Julia Mancuso. That we spent the better part of a year hyping Lindsey Vonn as the star-in-waiting of the 2010 Olympics and cruelly overlooked Mancuso, whose giant slalom gold from Turin in 2006 gave her one more Olympic medal than Vonn had won in two trips to the Games.
updated: Thu Feb 18 2010 19:10:00
Vonn, White and Davis all win gold for the U.S. in Vancouver. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States lived up to her billing as the golden girl of the Winter Olympics with a dominant victory in the women's downhill at Whistler Creekside on Wednesday.
The skiing champ proves that her injured shin won't get in the way of her dreams
Eight months before the Vancouver Games, Lindsey Vonn skis the Olympic downhill in her mind. She is in a subterranean workout room at the Red Bull soccer club's training center in Salzburg, Austria, balanced with each foot on a nylon slack line suspended three feet off the pebbled orange rubber floor. She is crouched in an aerodynamic tuck, her hands thrust out in front of her chin. Trainer Oliver Saringer speaks gently into her right ear: You're on the downhill course at Whistler .... Vonn closes her eyes and begins shifting her weight rhythmically from one foot to the other as if executing high-speed turns on a Canadian mountainside more than 5,000 miles away.
updated: Wed Feb 17 2010 16:20:00
Bode Miller and Seth Wescott collect medals for the U.S. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Bode Miller's record-breaking bronze medal in Wednesday's Olympic downhill was even more impressive than it initially appeared. Hours after the race, Miller's uncle, Mike Kenney, who is also a coach with the U.S. Ski Team, told SI.com that Miller had undergone arthroscopic knee surgery shortly after Christmas, barely seven weeks before Monday's race. Miller's agent, Lowell Taub, confirmed the surgery in an email exchange on Tuesday.
SI.com's writers will preview each event from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Here's Tim Layden's look ahead to Alpine skiing.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Look at it this way: Ski racers are generally injured so often that half their careers are spent in some combination of pain-management and rehabilitation. And even by those standards Lindsey Vonn is an outlier, with a long and colorful medical history that has alternately compromised her career and elevated her personal mythology. She has a scar somewhere to match every title she's won.
Lindsey Vonn wrapped up the World Cup super-G crown by claiming victory at St.Moritz on Sunday for her third straight win in the speed discipline.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche could miss the Vancouver Winter Olympics after breaking his thumb in a World Cup giant slalom in Kranjska Gora on Friday.
The snowboarding community and the sports world at large have rallied around Kevin Pearce, the 22-year-old Olympic hopeful from Norwich, Vt. who suffered a brain injury during a practice run on the halfpipe last week in Utah and remains in critical condition. As of Tuesday morning, more than 14,000 people signed on to the Facebook group Well Wishes to Our Friend Kevin Pearce. The site has received notes of support from fans and fellow snowboarders, but also from many survivors of traumatic brain injuries who have described the productive lives they now lead.
She's up. She's down. She's up again. The roller coaster ride that is Lindsey Vonn's season rose to its apex again over the weekend, when the defending overall World Cup champion swept three speed races in Haus im Enstal, Austria. Vonn won downhills on Friday and Saturday and captured a Super-G race on Sunday, easing fears that a damaged left arm she'd hurt in a fall last month would impair her Olympic ambitions. The victories boosted her lead in this season's World Cup standings to a robust 192 points ahead of Germany's Maria Riesch.
Lindsey Vonn completed a hat-trick of World Cup victories in the space of three days at Haus Im Ennstal in Austria as she claimed Sunday's super-G in fine style.
American skier Lindsey Vonn continued her dominance of the women's World Cup downhill season with a fourth successive victory in Austria on Saturday.
American Lindsey Vonn boosted her Winter Olympic preparations by reclaiming top spot in the overall World Cup standings with victory in Friday's women's downhill in Austria.
Local favorite Marlies Schild won the women's World Cup slalom in Lienz, Austria on Tuesday, as Lindsey Vonn rebounded from her heavy crash the day before to compete in the event.
A women's World Cup downhill cancelled at the French resort of Val d'Isere last week has been re-scheduled for January 8 at Haus im Ennstal, the International Ski Federation (FIS) have said.
Didier Cuche gave Switzerland opening honors in the men's World Cup skiing season with victory in the giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier in Austria.
Legendary Austrian skier Hermann Maier has ended his illustrious career at the age of 36 despite having recovered from knee surgery.
Austria's Benjamin Raich won the giant slalom at the World Cup finals in Are on Friday to close on the overall title ahead of the final race of the season.
American Lindsey Vonn clinched the World Cup downhill title despite finishing back in 12th in the latest round in Bansko, Bulgaria.
Germany's Kathrin Hoelzl has completed a shock victory in the women's giant slalom at the world skiing championships at Val D'Isere on Thursday.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche claimed the first men's gold medal in the alpine skiing world championships in Val d'Isere with victory in Wednesday's super-G.
Lindsey Vonn extended her lead in the overall World Cup standings with victory in the super-G at Garmish-Partenkirchen on Sunday.
Didier Defago and Dominique Gisin gave Switzerland double cause for celebration with superb victories in World Cup downhills on Saturday.
Frenchman Julien Lizeroux banked his first World Cup victory when he triumphed in the men's World Cup slalom at Kitzbuehel, Austria, on Sunday.
Austria's Reinfried Herbst upstaged favorites Jean-Baptiste Grange and compatriot Benjamin Raich to win the World Cup slalom in Abelboden in Switzerland on Sunday.
Italy's Cristof Innerhofer mastered the treacherous conditions on the Stelvio course at Bormio to win the prestigious World Cup downhill event on Sunday.
Croatian Ivica Kostelic triumphed in Monday's rescheduled World Cup slalom in Italy with Jean-Baptiste Grange of France and Austria's Benjamin Raich completing the podium line-up.
Swiss Daniel Albrecht claimed the fourth success of his career on Sunday when he won the men's World Cup giant slalom at Alta Badia, Italy.
Austrian Michael Walchhofer has won the men's World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy for the second year in succession from a back-to-form Bode Miller -- on a course shortened due to strong winds.
March gets noisy around now, here in the States. Tickets to the Big Dance are punched daily, brackets are busted, NFL free agents are signing, and veterans are being released or given new life. (Good luck David Carr, and if Eli Manning goes down, I don't want to be you even for one minute). In Florida and Arizona, the regulars are playing deeper into every exhibition game as Opening Day draws near.
The final women's World Cup downhill of the season was canceled on Wednesday, hurting the hopes of American Lindsey Vonn in the race for the overall title.
A men's World Cup downhill scheduled for Val D'Isere on Saturday was canceled because of heavy snowfall.
Austrian Mario Matt won the men's World Cup slalom in Switzerland on Sunday when American Ted Ligety crashed and compatriot Bode Miller failed to finish the first run.
Anja Paerson recaptured her form to score her first World Cup success of the season, a women's downhill in Saint Moritz.
Aksel Lund Svindal surged to within touching distance of the overall World Cup title on Saturday, winning the final giant slalom of the season to complete a stunning hat-trick of victories in this Swiss resort.
Tanja Poutiainen of Finland won her first World Cup race in more than two years with victory in a giant slalom on Saturday to move to just 16 points behind Austria's Nicole Hosp in the trophy battle.
Benjamin Raich took the giant slalom World Cup lead with his third successive victory in Kranjska Gora on Saturday.
Renate Goetschl of Austria added the downhill World Cup to the super-G title she had already won by finishing second behind American Julia Mancuso in the penultimate race of the season on Saturday.
Austrian skier Renate Goetschl suffered a setback in her bids for the overall World Cup and downhill titles as she injured both her knees in a training accident on Thursday.
U.S. alpine skier Lindsey Kildow has long been burdened by her own promise. She won an international race in Italy at age 14, followed by three medals in the junior world championships. She earned a place on the 2002 Olympic team at age 17 and, six weeks after her 20th birthday, had her first World Cup victory, at a downhill in Canada in December 2004.
Sarka Zahrobska kept her cool to upset the big names and become the first Czech to win a world Alpine skiing title in Friday's women's slalom.
Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won his second gold medal of the world skiing championships in Are with victory in the men's giant slalom on Wednesday.
Former world slalom champion Ivica Kostelic failed to qualify for the men's giant slalom at the world Alpine skiing championships, when he was disqualified during qualifying because a plate on top of his bindings was too thick.
A mighty Austrian squad, led by exciting newcomer Kathrin Zettel, will be out to stop Anja Paerson's amazing run in the women's giant slalom at the world Alpine skiing championships on Tuesday.
Anja Paerson became the first person to win world titles in all five Alpine skiing events when she blazed to downhill victory with another dream run at the world championships on Sunday.
Bad weather hit the showcase event at the world skiing championships on Saturday when the men's downhill had to be postponed because of poor visibility on the upper part of the course.
Weather delays are expected at the world Alpine skiing championships starting in Are on Saturday, but the entire program should not be disrupted, organizers said.
American Julia Mancuso's superb season continued on Friday when she beat the Austrian favorites to win a rain-delayed World Cup super-G race at Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Renate Goetschl put the Austrian women back on track in the blue riband event of the World Cup with victory in a downhill race on Saturday.
Young Swiss skier Marc Berthod celebrated one of the most unlikely maiden World Cup victories in history on Sunday, coming from 27th place at the halfway stage to win a men's slalom race.
American Bode Miller has an opportunity to win his first World Cup European downhills this week in the final races of the year in Bormio on Thursday and Friday.
Marlies Schild won an Alpine skiing World Cup super-combined event on Friday as the dominant Austrian women's team filled the top four places on home snow.
Val d'Isere will host two World Cup women's downhill races and one slalom next week, the International Ski Federation (FIS) has announced.
An Alpine skiing World Cup women's downhill and a super combined scheduled for next month in St. Moritz, Switzerland, have been called off due to a lack of snow.
Benjamin Raich began the defense of his overall World Cup title with a superb victory in the opening men's slalom of the Alpine ski season in Levi, Finland,on Sunday.
Croatian Janica Kostelic won the final women's giant slalom race of the season on Saturday to set a World Cup points record.
Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal won the downhill at the World Cup finals in Are, Sweden on Wednesday with American Bode Miller returning to form with a solid second place.
Michael Walchhofer looks more than ready to capture his second consecutive World Cup downhill title on Wednesday in the opening competition of the 2006 finals.
Bad weather saw the postponement of the women's Olympic Alpine skiing super-G on Sunday and that could be good news for Janica Kostelic.
Michaela Dorfmeister won the one prize that has long eluded her when she claimed Olympic gold in the women's Alpine skiing downhill in San Sicario.
Olympic organizers were told to make the women's downhill skiing course more challenging. Mission accomplished, it would seem.
Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz took the gold in the men's downhill at the Winter Olympics on Sunday with a heroic challenge down the Kandahar Banchetta slope.
Heavy fog saw the penultimate World Cup downhill of the season canceled on Saturday, strengthening Michael Walchhofer's chances of defending his season title.
Spain's Maria Jose Rienda Contreras won a women's World Cup giant slalom on Friday with two quick runs - one week before the start of the Winter Olympics in Turin.
While people have been skiing for thousands of years, the sport of alpine skiing is relatively new.
Austria are celebrating a triple triumph as Renate Goetschl took the Cortina downhill while Michaela Dorfmeister secured the overall downhill title.
Swiss Bruno Kernen recorded the fastest time in training for Saturday's World Cup downhill after several skiers slowed to get favorable starting positions.
Hermann Maier took his fifth Kitzbuehel super-G win on Friday to underline his status as a major contender for gold at next month's Turin Olympics.
Daron Rahlves underlined his Olympic ambitions with a superb victory in the classic Lauberhorn race, his third win out of six World Cup downhills this season.
Sweden's Anja Paerson recorded her second World Cup downhill victory at Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria, edging home skier Michaela Dorfmeister by .04 seconds.
France alpine skiing team coach Severino Bottero has died in a car crash.
American Lindsey Kildow won a controversial weather-affected women's World Cup downhill race on Saturday.
Double World Cup champion Benjamin Raich was fastest in both Austrian team training runs for the opening giant slalom of the season later this month.
Snow and fog forced a 24-hour postponement of the women's downhill race at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide.
Hermann Maier won a World Cup downhill race for the first time in more than a year in Kvitfjell while team mate Michael Walchhofer crashed, losing a chance to clinch the season's trophy.
Hermann Maier bounced back to take gold in the giant slalom at the world skiing championships with his compatriot Benjamin Raich's silver medal completing a return to form for Austria.
Slovenia's Tina Maze delighted her home fans with victory in the World Cup giant slalom.
Michael Walchhofer led Austria to a one-two finish in a World Cup downhill on the famed Lauberhorn, in Wengen, the longest course on the circuit.
Tina Maze of Slovenia captured her second women's World Cup giant slalom of the season when she held her nerve to win with more than a second to spare at Santa Caterina, Italy.
Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister sounded a warning to her world championship rivals with a comfortable victory in the women's World Cup downhill.
Johann Grugger won his first World cup race and led an Austrian sweep of the podium in the downhill on Bormio's challenging Stelvio slope on Wednesday.
American Lindsey Kildow has won the women's downhill in Canada - the first World Cup victory of her career.
Janica Kostelic of Croatia completed a stunning Alpine skiing comeback by winning the season's first World Cup slalom after more than a year out.
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