Alpine

Vonn Grabs World Championships Downhill Bronze

by
USSA
2017-02-12 04:47
 

ST MORITZ, Switzerland (Feb. 12, 2017) – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) landed on the podium, taking the bronze medal, to lead all four Americans into the top 15 in Sunday’s downhill at the 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec continued her dominant season to take the gold ahead of Austria’s Stephanie Venier, who grabbed the silver. Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) was fifth, Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) tied for 12th and Breezy Johnson (Victor, ID) was 15th.

Laurenne Ross
Laurenne Ross was fifth in downhill Sunday in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Alexis Boichard)

“It’s been a tough year for me coming back from my arm injury,” said 32-year-old Vonn, who became the oldest woman in World Championships history to stand on the podium. “Definitely struggled with my confidence there for a little bit, but I fought back and today a bronze medal feels like gold to me. It’s my seventh World Championship medal, and I now have every color in downhill, so I’m very proud of what I did today.”

Ross nailed the bottom of the downhill course to post a career-best World Championship result.

Wiles DH
Jackie Wiles finished tied for 12th in Sunday’s downhill at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Alain Grosclaude)

“My strongest section is coming off the bottom pitch and off that last big jump,” Ross said. “I could feel myself carrying speed. I’m not sure how my top sections were - they haven’t been the fastest this week - but I gave it what I had and I skied well and I’m happy.”

 

 

For Wiles, who is competing in only her second World Championships, Sunday’s downhill was an opportunity to get back on track after not finishing the super G earlier in the week.

“I was a little bummed at first after the super G,” Wiles said. “After the training runs, I needed to tighten my line up quite a bit after watching some video. I just tried to send it as hard as I could today and tighten that line up. I think for the most part, it was pretty good in sections, but there were a couple turns also where I scrubbed (some speed). But it’s OK, still a lot of fun, and I’m just happy to be here.”

Vonn DH
Lindsey Vonn took the bronze medal in the downhill at the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Hans Bezard)

Up next, the women compete in the team event Tuesday. All events are streamed live on NBCsports.com and the NBC Sports app.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Lindsey Vonn took the bronze medal in Sunday’s 2017 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships downhill.
  • Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec won the gold ahead of Austria’s Stephanie Venier, who took the silver medal.
  • Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) was fifth, Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) tied for 12th and Breezy Johnson (Victor, ID) was 15th.


Vonn celebrates her podium. (Getty Images/Agence Zoom-Giovanni Auletta)

QUOTES
Lindsey Vonn
I’m very satisfied. It’s been a tough year for me coming back from my arm injury. Definitely struggled with my confidence there for a little bit, but I fought back and today a bronze medal feels like gold to me. It’s my seventh World Championship medal, and I now have every color in downhill, so I’m very proud of what I did today.

[on her injuried arm]
It’s not getting any better, but it's not getting any worse so I’ll just keep using tape on my pole until the end of the season. And then I can do more rehab when I get done with the season, and hopefully it gets better.

[on preparing for the 2018 Olympics]
We still have more World Cup races this year, but I’m going to do my best to be prepared for the next Olympics.

Laurenne Ross
My strongest section is coming off the bottom pitch and off that last big jump. I could feel myself carrying speed. I’m not sure how my top sections were - they haven’t been the fastest this week - but I gave it what I had and I skied well and I’m happy.

It’s World Champs, so it’s all or nothing. So I knew I had to give it everything I could and I had to leave it all out on the hill. So I approached it with that sense. I didn’t want to have any regrets. So I just sent it and hoped that it would come together.

Jackie Wiles
I was a little bummed at first after the super G. But I gave it my all and I had to let that one go and get ready for the downhill. I still felt like I gave it my all, it just wasn’t good enough today.

After the training runs, I needed to tighten my line up a quite bit after watching some video. I just tried to send it as hard as I could today and tighten that line up. I think for the most part, it was pretty good in sections, but there were a couple turns also where I scrubbed (some speed). But it’s OK, still a lot of fun, and I’m just happy to be here.


The women stand on the podium. (Getty Images/AFP-Dimitar Dilkoff) 

BROADCAST + LIVE STREAMING (times EST)
Sunday, Feb. 12
12:30 p.m. – women’s downhill – NBC
2:00 p.m. – men’s downhill – NBCSN

Monday, Feb. 13
4:00 a.m. – men’s alpine combined, downhill run – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
6:30 a.m. – men’s alpine combined – NBCSN – LIVE
11:00 a.m. – men’s alpine combined (encore) – NBCSN

Tuesday, Feb. 14
6:00 a.m. – team event – NBCSN – LIVE
11:00 a.m. – team event (encore) – NBCSN

Thursday, Feb. 16 
3:45 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE
10:30 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN

Friday, Feb. 17
1:00 a.m. – women’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN
3:45 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE
10:30 a.m. – men’s giant slalom, run 2 (encore) – NBCSN

Saturday, Feb. 18
3:45 a.m. – women’s slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – women’s slalom, run 2 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
1:00 p.m. – women’s slalom, run 2 – NBC

Sunday, Feb. 19 
3:45 a.m. – men’s slalom, run 1 – nbcsports.com/live – LIVE STREAM
7:00 a.m. – men’s slalom, run 2 – NBCSN – LIVE

RESULTS
Women’s downhill

 

 


 


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