There are few examples of purely dominant sport performances: NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point performance, Wayne Gretzky circa 1985, pre-sex scandal Tiger Woods.
For three days in Lake Louise, Lindsey Vonn joined the pantheon of truly dominant performers.
Vonn completed the Lake Louise hat trick with another scintillating performance in the Super G Sunday (Dec. 4), finishing first with a time of 1:20.21, ahead of Austria’s Anna Fenninger (1:20:40). American Julia Mancuso finished third.
It was the second sweep of Vonn’s illustrious career, her 46th career win and 11th at Lake Louise.
“If you would have asked me if I would have had this may wins when I was younger, I would have said you’re crazy. I feel extremely lucky to do what I love every day,” Vonn said.
Vonn’s performance at Lake Louise was nothing short of legendary, as she moved into fourth place on the all-time World Cup win list, one spot behind Renate Goetschl. She’s still behind Vreni Schneider (55 wins) and Annemarie Moser Proell (62 wins), but at 27 years old, she still has a lot of skiing ahead.
It also comes in the wake of news she is divorcing her husband and longtime coach. Vonn repeated over the weekend how it was important for her at this time to focus on her skiing and perform well.
“It’s definitely a lot more than I expected, considering everything that’s going on.”
She had some trouble high on the course and appeared to take a more conservative line, however, her remarkable speed carried her, toppling Fenninger from the podium.
Given the chance to record the triple, Vonn had to calm herself down before the race, listening to some Drake and Lil Wayne.
“I was pretty nervous. Whenever there are records on the line it’s hard to focus on skiing. I tried to stay cool, listen to some rap music before and that fired me up.”
However, once on track, she was flying.
“I love it here. I love the track. It’s always suited me well.” Vonn trained with the Austrian men’s team this summer in an effort to push her speed to the next level.
“I want to ski more like the men do – have that strength and be dynamic.”
It’s a lesson the six young Canadians in the Super G also want to learn. Marie-Michelle Gagnon was the top Canadian, while Bow Valley skiers Tess Davies and Madison McLeish made their World Cup Super G debuts.
McLeish finished 55th, but remained cool after her first World Cup performance.
“I was excited, but it wasn’t that big for me. This is the first step on the road to all my goals. It’s starting to feel like I’m ready to be here and I know I can do so much better.
“I definitely made a few errors. It was fast and there were bumps. I fought the whole way down and there was still some good skiing going down.”
Davies was 56th, right behind McLeish. For the first time on the weekend, she nailed the Fall Away turn, but had trouble with the rest of the course.
“I kinda forgot I had to ski the rest of the pitch after that, but it’s OK,” Davies said.
Exhausted after a big week of skiing, Davies said she’s keen to get back to a few NorAm races.
“It’s been a long week. I’m pretty tired and didn’t quite have that fire today, which was too bad. But there will be other chances. It’s left me pretty hungry for more.”
Watching the rest of the World Cup racers, Davies said commitment and fire separates the top from the bottom skiers.
“It’s the amount you have to go for it. It’s no longer a technique that separates the top end to the back, it’s aggression.”
After this weekend, she’ll no longer be satisfied with ‘just competing.’
“The biggest thing is I want to get to a point where I can be their competition, not just that little girl at the end of the race chilling out at the bottom.”
