Combined, Women1

Originally scheduled for Sunday 14 February the women’s super combined was postponed due to the bad weather which cancelled downhill training runs. The event was rescheduled for Thursday, 18 February and the only training run was held on Monday, 15 February. According to the rules the length was shortened and the start was from a lower point than the special downhill race held on the day before. But there were also some other changes on the piste after the bad crashes in the downhill.

This event was the first ever super combined held at the Olympics, so only one slalom heat was raced. Only two super combined events were held in the winter before the Olympics. The favorites were the close friends Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch. Riesch won the only World Cup super combined held on this course on 23 February 2008, but that event had a Super G instead of a downhill. Vonn led the Combined World Cup in 2009-10 and finished second in the Combined World Cup 2008-09, but failed to medal in the 2009 World Championships when she crashed in the slalom after winning the downhill heat. Riesch had the disadvantage that she didn’t compete well the day before, while Julia Mancuso showed good form in Vancouver. The reigning world champion was Kathrin Zettel, who won gold at Val d’Isère in 2009. Surprisingly Anja Pärson was able to start after her horrible crash the day before in the downhill. Pärson was the bronze medalist from Torino, 2007 World Champion, winner of the Combined World Cup in 2008-09, and was second in the 2009-10 Combined World Cup standings after winning the combined event at St. Moritz. She elected to compete at the last minute, but nobody expected her to medal.

The downhill started at 9:30 AM, with cold sunny weather. Julia Mancuso with was the first of the favorites and set the first top time. Lindsey Vonn started with number 18. She lost 0.23 seconds at the first intermediate split, but topped all other times and finished first, 0.8 seconds in front of Mancuso. After Vonn, Riesch started with number 19 and at the beginning it looked like that she was again struggling. But she found her speed at the end of the race and finally placed second only 33 hundredths of a second behind Vonn. Also Pärson finished the race in a top 10 position when placed seventh, 1.41 seconds behind Vonn. The slalom started at 12:30 PM. Pärson, seventh after the downhill, managed to take the lead. The sensational Pärson was still in the lead when the three leaders started. Mancuso, having won silver in the downhill the day before, raced a fine slalom and took the lead, 0.11 hundredths of a second in front of Pärson. But Riesch skied a great slalom and bettered Mancuso by 0.94 seconds. Then the top favorite and leader after the downhill, Lindey Vonn started. At the second intermediate split Vonn was only in second place, 0.18 seconds behind Riesch, but then hooked a gate and lost her right ski. So Riesch (on Head), after her disappointing downhill, won gold, Mancuso using Rossignol again won a silver medal, and the phenomenal Pärson (also on Head) took bronze, while Zettel (Atomic) and Maze (Stöckli) placed next to the podium. The first eight finishers represented eight different countries.