BREAKING NEWS – Schleper leads USA Ladies’ Giant Slalom effort; Vonn out
Three of the four United States skiers in the Ladies’ Giant Slalom complete their first run Wednesday. Sara Schleper (Vail, Colo.) posted the best time of 1:16.19 to rank 14th and 1.07 behind the leader from Austria. Other American first-run finishers were Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, Calif., 18th, 1:16.42) and Megan McJames (Park City, Utah, 31st, 1:18.30). Mancuso won the 2006 Olympic gold medal.
American Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.) did not finish her first Ladies’ Giant Slalom run as she skied off the course after leading the race by 0.35 seconds after the third timing position.
Three Austrian skiers rank among the top four racers with France’s Taina Barioz second (1:15.14). Elisabeth Goergl was the first-run leader by 0.02 (1:15.12) over Barioz with Austrian teammates Kathrin Zettel (1:15.28) and Eva-Maria Brem (1:15.38) third and fourth, respectively.
A quote from Lindsey Vonn after her run Wednesday morning:
“The course is breaking up at the bottom. I got a little bit too inside and lost my outside ski. My knee came up and hit my chin. I got all tangled up and hit the fence. I hurt my finger (right pinkie) and need to get it x-rayed.”
For more information on Team USA at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, visit TeamUSA.org