12/21/24
December 17, 2005
American Women Wins World Cup Downhill! : Val D'Isere France, American Women finish 1, 2. The 1st Americans since Picabo Street (2nd 1996) to finish in the Top 3 at Val D'Isere in downhill. Lindsey Kildow finished 1st with Caroline Lalive 2nd. Lindsey Kildow leads the World Cup Downhill standings with 245 total pts. having won earlier in Lake Louis, Alberta. Austrian Alexadra Meissnitzer finished 3rd. It's seen as a Major Tune-up for the XX Winter Games coming to Torino, Italy in Feb 2006.
posted by skydivedad to other at 11:17 AM - 6 comments
This just in from Mens World Cup Alpine Downhill: Val Gardena, Italy Dec. 17th. 1st=Marco Buechel, Liechtenstein 2nd=Michael Walchofer, Austria 3rd=Erik Guay, Canada Overall points leader Bode Miller (USA) finished 8th but maintains his overall lead with 442 pts. in 12 events 2nd Walchofer 440 pts. 3rd Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) with 417 pts. coming into the Olympics.
posted by skydivedad at 12:26 PM on December 17, 2005
Actually, skydivedad, I think the US men are already there, and objectively, they're stronger than the women. The women's onslaught in the speed events this year has been nothing short of astonishing: Lindsay Kildow proving that last year's results were no fluke; Kirsten Clark coming back from a freak staph infection in her knee that radically cut into her offseason training time; Julia Mancuso finally turning into a top-ten money player, Caroline Lalive managing to get past her legendary accident-prone-ness, shaking off some incredible diggers and coming back with her first World Cup podium in nearly four years...and who's this Stacey Cook? They're a formidable team, and quite possibly the best team in women's speed events. But the US women don't have a good presence in the tech events, where the US men have done quite well. There's a lot of great crossover on the US men's squad, with Bode Miller becoming dominant in speed events and Daron Rahlves becoming highly competitive in GS. There isn't an event in which they don't pose a significant threat -- indeed, where they're not the boys to beat. If the women can develop tech event skills to match their speed skills, they will be the team to beat. As it is, Kildow is currently leading the World Cup downhill standings and is second overall. BTW, one of the interesting things about World Cup ski races is that the host town or sponsors frequently award the winner with some kind of tangible gift, as well as the cash prize. Last year, for example, Bode Miller won some race and was awarded with his weight in the local wine. They actually had a big scale set up in the finish area, and Bode put on all his extra clothes and was wearing his boots, helmet, and everything else he could put on before he climbed on the scales. Depending on your interests, Kildow either made out a whole lot better or a whole lot worse: event organizers gave her a cow. (p.s. Hooray for Guay! I like that guy)
posted by lil_brown_bat at 05:28 PM on December 17, 2005
llb Thanks for the insights on our Mens Team. I didn't realize their potential. Should be an outstanding Olympics for The Alpine Events. Can't wait! That explains the pic of Kildow. :)
posted by skydivedad at 05:52 PM on December 17, 2005
Well, they're all sure peaking at a good time. Good on Kildow & Guay (as well as Bode Miller & the rest of the North Americans), and we'll see them all in Turin.
posted by chicobangs at 11:09 PM on December 17, 2005
Latest news: she's keeping the cow.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:57 AM on December 20, 2005
Fantastic. Way to go ladies! It's going to make watching the Olympic Alpine events so much sweeter to have some Americans to support. No if we can get the Mens Team to step it up a notch.