Tina Weirather wins super-G ahead of Gut and Vonn

Tina Weirather produced a superb performance to win Sunday’s FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup super-G race in La Thuile, as Lara Gut made up ground on Lindsey Vonn in both the individual discipline and overall standings.

“I still have to stay focused on the race everyday and I can’t think about the records, or the future, or the points”, said Vonn after wrapping up a record 20th crystal globe, breaking Ingemar Stenmark record of 19.

After erasing the post from her Facebook page, Vonn spent the night drafting an apology with her Los Angeles-based agent and called Johan Eliasch, chairman of the Head group that supplies the American’s equipment.

“I made a mistake and everyone does that”.

After the race, however, Vonn took to social media in a much better mood. “The whole thing is a little bit perplexing to me”. “I think it messed with everyone to a certain degree. So now I’m just thinking about racing and that’s what I should be thinking about, because I have a lot of important races coming up”. Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., was 0.93 off the lead in fourth place.

Vonn now leads the standings on 1140 points and holds a 43-point lead over Gut.

The American’s second place, however, was good enough for her to regain the World Cup overall lead ahead of rival Lara Gut, who endured a disappointing day as she tied for 11th place.

Vonn was the last of the favorites to start and was ahead of Gut at the first checkpoint but then her right ski detached on a sharp turn at about 75 kph (50 mph) and she slid down the course on her hip.

Laurenne Ross posted her third top-five downhill result of the season Saturday.

Weirather came home in 1:17.73 minutes to pick up her first World Cup win of the season, moving Liechtenstein to ninth in the overall win list with this the nation’s 41st success in all disciplines. The Italian has also won two medals in downhill at world championships – silver in 2013 and bronze in 2009. “For me, and for everyone on paper, she’s the strongest woman of all time in this sport”.

Third place on the podium went to another Italian, Daniela Merighetti, at 00.72secs off the pace.