Where to Ski And Snowboard - Double win for US in Sölden

Double win for US in Sölden

24th October 2011, by Chris Gill

Sölden's Rettenbach glacier

Lyndsey Vonn and Ted Ligety have won the opening World Cup races in Sölden, Austria.

Vonn won the first women’s giant slalom race of the new season, showing that she is making a serious attempt to reclaim the World Cup overall title – which she lost last year, following a three-year consecutive win.

Vonn was trailing in fourth position after the first run down the Rettenbach glacier, but put in a solid second run to beat German racer Viktoria Rebensburg by 0.4 seconds. Her success followed a disappointing start to the weekend, with a fall in training that kept her off the snow for a few days.

But the US racer has been putting in the effort all summer, with sessions in New Zealand to work on her giant slalom and slalom disciplines. It paid off on the icy Sölden course on Saturday.

Expressing her delight at the result, Vonn commented, ‘It’s so positive for me to have this result today. I have a lot of momentum and confidence now going into the rest of the season. I fell pretty hard training on Saturday and I didn’t ski all week, so it wasn’t great preparation for Sölden but I had done a similar thing before in Aspen a few years ago and did well in the race.’

Sunday was the men’s race day, and it turned out to be a double success for the US teams when Ted Ligety won the opening giant slalom. Ligety kept his lead from the first run to finish with a time of 2 minutes 22 seconds.

Alexis Pinturault of France was second. Philipp Schorghofer of Austria was third. Ligety is a three-time winner of the World Cup giant slalom title in Sölden. The 27-year-old was unable to claim a fourth win last year, as the race was cancelled in the second round.

Conditions on Sölden’s glaciers are quite good at present, firm and fast. It’s mild with a foehn wind influencing the weather, but nine lifts are open and 35km of slopes.