Soelden hat trick for Maze as Vonn injures wrist

SOELDEN, Austria: Lindsey Vonn’s start to the alpine skiing season proved an anti-climax when the American was forced out of the opening giant slalom in Soelden won by world champion Tina Maze yesterday.
Winner on the Austrian glacier a year ago on her way to her fourth overall World Cup title, Vonn hit a pole hard halfway down the second leg held in foggy conditions and was abruptly stopped.
The American, who had stolen the headlines in the pre-season by announcing her desire to enter a men’s race, remained on the side of the piste for a while holding her left hand, leaving Maze to take the day’s laurels.
While Vonn made it her goal this season to compete with the men, the Slovenian’s own ambition is simpler — beat Vonn and take the title at the end of the season after finishing second last winter.
Maze, already winner in the Austrian resort in 2002 and 2005, became the first woman skier to achieve a hat trick in Soelden in a combined time of two minutes 31.41 seconds.
It was a relief for the 29-year-old Slovenian, who had not won a race last season despite several podium placings.
“This is a super day and a super win for me. It’s exciting to start the season with that great win as I have trained very hard last summer and last fall with my group,” she said.
Maze, who progressed steadily in the overall World Cup standings from fourth in 2009, third in 2010 and runner-up last year, had won the last of her 11 wins to date at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide in March, 2011.
“I have set myself very high goals for this season and it’s wonderful to be able to achieve my potential right away. It takes much weight away from my shoulders,” she added.
Kathrin Zettel and Stefanie Koehle, both sporting a black armband to mourn the loss of young Austrian team-mate Bjorn Sieber in a car crash earlier this week, pleased the home fans by taking the other podium places.
The experienced Zettel was second, 0.42 adrift for her first top three placing since the 2010-2011 season.
Koehle finished a huge 1.71 seconds behind Maze but it was fast enough to snatch the first medal spot of her career so far.
Fog delayed the second leg by an hour and caused several favorites to crash out.
Apart from Vonn, Germany’s Viktoria Rebensburg, the giant slalom Olympic and World Cup champion, was forced out while France’s Tessa Worley straddled a gate.