|
 Maze, who tied with Switzerland's Dominique Gisin at the Sochi
Winter Games, was virtually in a class of her own on a sun-kissed
day as she shot down a challenging Raptor track in one minute, 45.89
seconds.
Austria's Anna Fenninger, who won the championship-opening Super-G
on the same layout on Tuesday, took second with Swiss speedster Lara
Gut third.
A philosophical Maze was edged for Super-G gold by 0.03 seconds but
on Friday good fortune was on her side as she pipped Fenninger by a
wafer-thin margin of 0.02.
"It's amazing, it's crazy good," said Maze after collecting her
eighth world championship medal (three gold, five silver. "Finally,
I understood this hill, how you should ski.
"It's a hard hill to ski, but when you ski like that, it's so much
fun."
For much of the race, the packed grandstand and thousands of
spectators lining the course waited patiently for American speed
queen Lindsey Vonn, the most successful women's skier of all-time
with 64 World Cup wins, to launch her bid for gold.
The favourite after topping the World Cup podium five times in 10
races this season, including two downhill wins, Vonn posted the
fastest times through two intervals.
But then it all went wrong has she wobbled through the middle part
of the course, losing time all the way to the bottom and crossing a
disappointing fifth.
[to top of second column] |
"It just wasn't a good run, I tried so hard, it just wasn't quite
good enough," said Vonn. "I wanted to come down with the lead early
and give the crowd something to cheer about. It's my home town and I
really wanted to do something special.
"But it's not always that easy."
It was another productive day for the Austrians who have now
collected medals from every event, including gold in both Super-G
races.
They launched an all-out assault on the podium, placing three in the
top six as the ski-mad nation continued to stamp its authority on
the two-week competition.
"I was a bit emotional at the finish when I was one second in the
lead and then big emotion when Tina came down," said Fenninger. "I
always think that the luck comes back."
(Editing by Gene Cherry)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
