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Jan 31 2013, 08:02 AM
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LAKE LOUISE, Alta. Bernard Pollard Jersey . -- Lindsey Vonn is in a class by herself in womens World Cup skiing at Lake Louise. After winning both downhills, Vonn capped a sweep with a victory in Sundays super-G The American ski star scored a hat trick at the Alberta resort for the second straight year after winning all three races in 2011. Vonn brought her career wins at Lake Louise to 14. Is that enough to prompt the world governing body of skiing to re-consider Vonns request to race the mens World Cup there? Vonn would like to think so. "Its not like Im getting 20th every day and saying I want to race the men," Vonn said. "I try to let my skiing speak for itself. "I think this weekend was the next step for me and a testament to why I want to race with the men." The U.S. womens team had a banner weekend in the season-opening speed events. Julia Mancuso was second in Sundays super-G after Stacey Cook was runner-up to Vonn in both downhills. Anna Fenninger of Austria was third Sunday. Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., was the top Canadian in 25th. Vonn felt pressure to win at Lake Louise this year. In October, the defending overall World Cup champion asked FIS to allow her to compete the mens World Cup on the same mountain. FIS denied her request. Vonn arrived in Alberta not feeling her best. The lingering affects from a stomach ailment that hospitalized her for two nights in November drained her energy. She finished 21st in a giant slalom in Aspen, Colo., prior to her arrival in Lake Louise. Tina Maze of Slovenia jumped into the lead in the overall standings with a pair of giant slalom victories to start the season. Vonn felt uncertain about how she would perform, but Lake Louise was once again "Lake Lindsey." "I was in a pretty rough place sitting in a hospital bed and everyone is training and skiing fast and Tina is winning everything and, Great. How am I supposed to get up and keep going? I have no training, I have no energy," she recalled. "Ive never quite dealt with something like that before. I didnt know what was going to happen. "I came up here trying to have a clean slate, giving myself every chance to do well and it turned around. This really sets me up well for the rest of the season. This is exactly the weekend I needed." Vonn rolled her eyes at Internet rumours that her hospitalization and stomach pains were due to pregnancy. "Oh yeah. Its awesome," she said sarcastically. "Do I look pregnant? Maybe I had too much breakfast. People write crap all the time and I have to take it in stride." Its not just her wins, but her margin of victory at Lake Louise that sets her apart. Vonn beat the field in Fridays season-opening downhill by 1.73 seconds. The difference between second and third that day was one hundredth of a second. Despite a major slip halfway down the course, the 28-year-old from Burnsville, Minn., won again Saturday by .52 seconds. Vonn completed her sweep Sunday skiing .42 seconds clear of the field. "Honestly, it doesnt matter if I won by one tenth or one second," she said. "I think it definitely validates my cause a little bit more by winning by a larger margin, but its just a win and thats all that matters to me." With her super-G win back in 2010, Vonn is the first woman to string together seven straight wins at one venue. The previous record was six by Swedens Anja Paerson in Maribor, Germany. Alpine Canada president Max Gartner has been supportive of Vonns bid to race the men at Lake Louise. "She definitely made a statement this weekend by dominating the womens circuit again and saying shes ready to take that next challenge," Gartner said. "We are certainly there to support it if it goes that way. "I think at the moment on this course when she has a normal run without any major, major mistakes, I dont think anybody can beat her." Extrapolating how Vonn would fare against the men at Lake Louise based on her times and speed in the womens races is problematic. The courses for the men and women at Lake Louise were virtually identical this year. There are years, depending on conditions, when the womens start hut is lower. Vonns top speed in the downhill of 135.67 kilometres per hour matched the fastest posted by Canadas Jan Hudec in the mens downhill. Hudec finished 17th in that race. Vonn says thats an apples-and-oranges comparison. A large dump of snow prior to the mens races made for a slower course for them. The track hardened and was faster for the women. "I would really love to say you can directly compare it, but you cant," Vonn said. "The course this year is more similar than I think it has been in the past years, but at the same time, they totally re-groom the hill, the snow conditions were different. You just cant compare it. "I dont know exactly where Id stack up, but thats kind of the whole point, to see where I stand and see how much farther I can push my skiing because the men, theyre skiing is the best in the world hands down. Thats where I want to get my skiing to be." With her 56th career World Cup victory, Vonn moved past Switzerlands Vreni Schneider into second all-time. Vonn needs six more to match the 62 of Annamarie Moser-Proell of Austria as the winningest skier in womens World Cup history. The next womens World Cup is in St. Mortiz, Switzerland, starting next Friday. "Those kinds of records are really hard for me to think about because they mean so much to me," Vonn said. "Annamarie is a legend. Shes held that record for so many years and its been thought to be untouchable. "I dont picture myself in the same league as her so to be this close and still feel like I have a few more years of racing left in me is much more than I ever anticipated." Yurkiw was the lone Canadian in the downhills at Lake Louise and she finished outside the top 30 in both. She was joined in the super-G by Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., who was 28th. Marie-Pier Prefontaine of Saint-Saveur, Que., did not finish. Yurkiw, 24, had her first top-10 result before a catastrophic knee injury in 2009 sidelined her for two years. She is trying to work her way back into the worlds elite. "We have a very strong slalom team now but we are thin on the speed side," Gartner said. "Larisa is coming back and I think she has a chance to be coming into the top 15 soon. "Behind that, were trying to build a new program, but were trying to be a little bit patient. The young athletes, we dont want to throw to the wolves and throw them into the downhill when theyre not ready for it." Haloti Ngata Black Jersey . Lewis, seven strokes behind South Koreas Lee Bo-mee entering the round, had 10 birdies and two bogeys to finish at 11-under 205 at Kintetsu Kashikojima. "I dont think Ive ever come back from this far," Lewis said. Albert McClellan Jersey . Matt Cain took the mound for his first home start since tossing his gem June 13, and with one pitch his chances of throwing the Giants fifth consecutive shutout were gone. http://www.ravenssuperbowl47room.com/ . The San Antonio Spurs were ahead 36 points and he didnt want Gregg Popovich to end his night just yet. Ed Reed Elite Jersey . The Angels, with a high payroll and high expectations as the season started, were eliminated from the wild-card race after the Oakland Athletics 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night. Anquan Boldin Super bowl Jersey . -- Its only Week 3 and already the Kansas City Chiefs are so banged up theyve had to alter their practice schedule. PIESTANY, Slovakia -- Canadas final preliminary-round game at the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial hockey tournament didnt matter in the standings, and coach Todd Gill says early on, his team played like it didnt matter on the ice either. But a three-goal burst in the final five minutes gave Canada a 3-2 win over co-host Slovakia on Wednesday and a boost of confidence heading into the semifinals. Captain Sam Reinhart scored the winner with just 53 seconds left in regulation as Canada finished the preliminary round on top of its group with a 3-0 record. "We had a really good chance just throwing a bouncer on net and the goalie got back and just made a great save on it," said Reinhart. "We regrouped on the faceoff and just started getting pucks in the net again, and soon after we had a mini break and (the puck) just went in off the goalies glove and over him." Ryan Kujawinski and Josh Morrissey also scored in the final five minutes for Canada, making up for the teams disinterested start. "We played like we were though for the first period," Gill said. "Finally we kicked it up a notch but we just couldnt put the puck past their goalie." Slovak goaltender Maros Mikolas was stellar, stopping 33 shots. "Hats off to their goalie, he played an outstanding game," Reinhart said. "He stopped quite a few shots, but we were abble to get a few bounces our way and finally get the victory. Justin Tucker Womens Jersey. " Slovakia got off to a quick start when Kristian Horvat scored just 1:40 into the game. The Slovaks continued to play a patient game controlling the neutral zone, and it paid off when Martin Ambroz put Slovakia up 2-0 late in the second period. "I give (Slovakia) credit, they played a hell of a game," Gill said. "Great game plan, they frustrated us. The thing I liked about our kids though is they battled through adversity and we battled our way back to win the hockey game." Kujawinski finally got Canada on the board with a goal at 16:15 of the third period, and the offence took over from there. Morrissey tied the game with a power-play goal at 17:07 of the third, setting the stage for Reinharts winner. "The No. 1 thing I think for Canada is we have all our best players here, and when we hit some adversity, individualism kicks in," Gill said. "Its not because theyre selfish, they just want to do something to get us over the hump. "That happened in the first two periods, and in the third we started playing our system, and we were all over them and were lucky enough to get the three goals." Eric Comrie made 21 saves for Canada. The Canadians have dominated this event, having won it the last four years and 16 times overall since 1991. ' ' '
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