VAL D’ISERE, France (Dec. 16, 2016) – After winning the downhill run, Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) finished 10th in the Audi FIS Ski World Cup alpine combined in Val d’Isere.
Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia capitalized on her hot streak to win her third World Cup of the season—and her third World Cup of her career—having won both downhills at Lake Louise. Michelle Gisin of Switzerland was second and Sofia Goggia of Italy was third.
Ross excelled at the dark and bumpy downhill portion of the day. "The downhill run is awesome--the snow is great, a little bumpy in spots and most of the course is in the shade so it's tough to see," said Ross. "But was a ton of fun. It felt a little faster today, but that may be due to the fact that I didn't make any big mistakes and was skiing more aggressively than in the training runs."
But the downhill skier struggled a bit in the slalom, moving back into 10th place overall. However, Ross will go into Saturday’s downhill with confidence, after leading the speed portion of the day by three-tenths.
"The slalom portion today was tough. The snow was pretty icy, but sweet, and the course was turny. I was fairly intimidated right out of the start and wasn't ever able to really let it go," said Ross. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow's downhill as I know I can be fast--I'm going to take the confidence out of today's downhill run into tomorrow and see what happens."
The women now take on two speed events over the weekend: downhill on Saturday and super G on Sunday.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Laurenne Ross was the top finisher for the Americans—taking 10th in the alpine combined.
- It was Ross's second-best combined result, having grabbed seventh in Lenzerheide last March.
- Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) was 24th in the downhill, but finished 32nd overall. Breezy Johnson (Victor, ID) did not start the slalom, after taking 27th in the downhill. Stacey Cook (Mammoth Lakes, CA) did not finish the downhill.
- Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO), who is currently injured, was second in last year’s Val d’Isere combined, finishing behind Swiss Lara Gut.
- Road to Aspen: Current World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO) opted to sit out the three speed events this weekend to focus on GS training, which gives Gut an opportunity to threaten Shiffrin’s lead. However, Gut skied out in the slalom portion of the combined and will not score points.
- There are still two more races in Val d’Isere this weekend—a downhill on Saturday and a super G on Sunday. By the end of the weekend, Val d’Isere will have hosted eight World Cup races in a month.
QUOTES
Laurenne Ross
The downhill run is awesome--the snow is great, a little bumpy in spots and most of the course is in the shade so it's tough to see. But it is a ton of fun. It felt a little faster today, but that may be due to the fact that I didn't make any big mistakes and was skiing more aggressively than in the training runs. The snow seems to be hardening up a bit as well as the days go on here, and it's getting rougher every run. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's downhill as I know I can be fast--I'm going to take the confidence out of today's downhill run into tomorrow and see what happens.
The slalom portion today was tough. The snow was pretty icy, but sweet, and the course was turny. I was fairly intimidated right out of the start and wasn't ever able to really let it go. I held on, but it turned out alright. 10th is my second-best combined result, so I'm pretty happy with it.
RESULTS
Women’s alpine combined