So much for the idea that Lindsey Vonn and the rest of the U.S. ski team would have a down season in the post-Olympic year. Vonn and fellow Olympic champ Ted Ligety both earned decisive victories in World Cup events as the Cup tour made its annual fall pass through North America. Vonn captured the Super G race in Lake Louise, Alberta on Sunday, while Ligety won the giant slalom event on the Birds of Prey course in Beaver Creek, Colo. It marked the first time since 2006 that two U.S. alpine skiers had won World Cup events on the same day.
Germany's Maria Riesch added slalom gold to her super-combined title as her great friend and rival Lindsey Vonn went out on the first run at Whistler Mountain on Friday.
WHISTLER, British Columbia -- As massive, wet snowflakes fell on the Creekside alpine racing stadium Friday afternoon, Lindsey Vonn worked an adoring crowd. Autographs here, photos there, always a smile. The hood was pulled up on her white, U.S. Ski team jacket and a hat was yanked down to the top of her eyebrows, but there was no mistaking who was beneath the down and wool. You cannot cover up stardom.
USA back on top
updated: Fri Feb 19 2010 10:00:00
Evan Lysacek wins skating gold, Julia Mancuso takes skiing silver. CNN's Alex Thomas reports.
In a major upset, Evan Lysacek of the United States edged out defending gold medalist Russian Evgeni Plushenko to win the men's figure skating gold medal.
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.
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.
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.
Austria's Kathrin Zettel won the women's World Cup slalom in Maribor, Slovenia on Sunday after first-run leader Marlies Schild failed to finish her second run.
Marlies Schild of Austria threw down the gauntlet to her Olympics rivals in winning Tuesday's women's slalom on home snow at Flachau as the likes of Lindsey Vonn and Anja Paerson both failed to finish.
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.
American superstar Lindsey Vonn claimed her third World Cup win of the season with victory in a super-combined race at Val D'Isere in the French Alps on Friday.
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.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States continued her dream finish to the season with victory in the super-G at the World Cup finals in Are on Thursday -- clinching the overall title in the discipline.
Overall World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn crashed out in the second leg as France's Sandrine Aubert opened her World Cup account with victory in the women's slalom in Ofterschwang, Germany, on Saturday.
Austria's Kathrin Zettel closed in on the World Cup giant slalom title with an exciting victory in her favored discipline in Ofterschwang on Friday.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States took a stranglehold on the overall World Cup title with victory in the super-G at Bansko on Sunday.
American Lindsey Vonn clinched the World Cup downhill title despite finishing back in 12th in the latest round in Bansko, Bulgaria.
Switzerland's Fabienne Suter won Friday's women's World Cup downhill in Bansko, Bulgaria, as American Lindsey Vonn increased her overall advantage after finishing tied for third place.
Lindsey Vonn has set a new American record of 19 World Cup victories after her success in Sunday's super-G at Tarvisio, Italy on Sunday.
Gina Stechert of Germany claimed her first-ever World Cup success after edging American Lindsey Vonn by just one-hundredth of a second in Saturday's women's downhill at Tarvisio in Italy.
Germany's Maria Riesch claimed her first gold at a world championships in a dramatic finale to women's competition at Val d'Isere on Saturday.
Lindsey Vonn of the United States saw her dream of sweeping the titles at the alpine skiing world championships disappear in a fraction of a second as she missed a slalom gate in the super-combi on Friday.
Lindsey Vonn made a dream start to the alpine skiing world championships in Val d'Isere with victory in a testing super-G -- the opening event at the French resort.
Sweden's Anja Paerson and Dominique Gisin of Switzerland tied for victory in Sunday's women's downhill at Zauchensee, Austria, with both completing the 2.95km Kaelberloch course in an identical time of one minute, 47.52 seconds.
Didier Defago ended Switzerland's six-year wait for a Wengen men's downhill victory by finishing first on the classic Lauberhorn course in front of a record-breaking crowd of 30,000.
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.
German skier Maria Riesch completed a World Cup slalom hat-trick in Croatia on Sunday and leapfrogged unlucky American Lindsey Vonn at the top of the overall standings.
Germany's Maria Riesch claimed her second World Cup victory of the season -- and eighth of her career -- by taking the women's night slalom in Semmering, Austria, on Monday.
Lindsey Vonn moved to the brink of clinching the overall World Cup title on Thursday, when Maria Riesch captured the super-G crown by finishing sixth in the discipline's final race of the season, in Bormio.
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.
Lindsey Vonn continued her domination of women's downhill and closed on the overall World Cup title with her fifth win of the season in skiing's fastest discipline on Saturday.
Reigning World Cup champion Nicole Hosp of Austria stretched her lead in this season's overall standings by winning the women's World Cup slalom in Maribor, Slovenia on Sunday.
Italian Isolde Kostner wept tears of joy on Saturday after winning her first World Cup race since a crash shattered her confidence 14 months ago.
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