Zahrobska Repeats Aspen Slalom Win

ASPEN, CO (Nov. 29) - The Czech Republic's Sarka Zahrobska took her first run lead and parlayed it into the second World Cup slalom win in as many years at the Aspen Winternational Sunday. No U.S. Women qualified for the second run.

Austrians Marlies Schild and Kathrin Zettel followed Zahrobska on the podium in second and third, respectively.

The fans showed up to the Aspen Winternational in full force during the weekend, making historic attendance numbers for the early season women's World Cup in Colorado.

It was a somber day for the U.S. Women's Alpine Team with no athletes making the top 30 cut for the second run.

"I'm very disappointed. This is not an indication of how we ski and how we've been training. This is an embarrassing day for us," Women's Alpine Head Coach Jim Tracy said.

Many of the racers had challenges with the challenging, icy race course but according to Tracy, the athletes have to be able to adapt to all conditions of the race.

"There were some slick spots up there for sure, but we've been on it before and we train on this stuff. It's easy to say that, but to me it's an excuse," Tracy said. "It isn't for some others and those other ones are going to be on the podium and they're going to gain World Cup points. We train on it. We have trained on it. We just didn't mentally do what we needed to do today."

Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN) was the top finisher for the U.S. in 34th.

"If I could have done today over again I would have done some things differently. I learned my lesson that you have to attack and put it all on the line every single race," said Richardson, who did just that in the opening slalom at Levi, Finland, moving from the 70th start position to finish 23rd in the race. "The course was in perfect condition, the set was a little bit tricky, but that doesn't mean you hold back. I was holding on a little bit the whole way down."

The first racer up for the U.S. was fan favorite Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) who, after going out in Sunday's race, was disappointed that she was unable to give a crowd pleaser despite trying her hardest.

"It's been a disappointing weekend. Obviously it wasn't what I was hoping for and what the U.S. fans were hoping for, but I did my best," Vonn said. "I think I've gotten a little bit unlucky, but hopefully that's out of the way. My husband said that lightning struck twice this weekend."

According to Vonn, her skis locked on the hard surface and rocketed her off course.

"I felt like I was skiing OK on the top, but not my best, and then I just got shot off the course. There's nothing I could do about it. Sometimes things just don't go your way," Vonn said. "Lake Louise is a place where I can build confidence back and get happy again. I'm just looking forward to skiing some downhill."

"The course is a little bit more like a GS on the top and it catches up to you so you just have to be smart," said Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) who was 34th. "If you ski it well, there's not much to get in your way but yourself."

It was a unique experience for Julia Ford (Plymouth, NH) who marked the slalom in Aspen as the first World Cup start of her career.

"It feels good to just get it under my belt. It took a lot of effort and I was just trying to stick with it. I got thrown around and made some mistakes but I was determined to get down," Ford said. "The hill was intense today and the course was challenging."

The Team remains in North America as the athletes now head to Lake Louise in Alberta for speed races.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP
Aspen, CO - Nov. 29, 2009
Women's Slalom

1. Sarka Zahrobska, Czech Republic, 1:43.45
2. Marlies Schild, Austria, 1:44.03
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 1:44.22
4. Susanne Riesch, Gremany, 1:44.91
5. Maria Riesch, Germany, 1:45.40
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34. Kaylin Richardson, Edina, MN, 58.04
35. Hailey Duke, Boise, ID, 58.11
37. Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA, 58.70
39. Sarah Schleper, Vail, CO, 58.85
40. Sterling Grant, Amery, WI, 58.97
44. Julia Ford, Plymouth, WA, 1:00.43
DNF: Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO