Aicher wins Tarvisio Super G to boost Olympic medal hopes

On a Super G course that demanded the full repertoire of speed skiing skills, the best young all-rounder on the women's World Cup tour answered the call.

Emma Aicher (GER/Head) won in Tarvisio on Sunday, continuing her meteoric rise and throwing down the gauntlet to Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) three weeks out from the Olympic Winter Games.

The 22-year-old German mastered a surprisingly tricky Italian course to push Vonn (+0.27s) into runner-up position for the second time this season, with two-sport star Ester Ledecka (CZE/Kaestle, +0.94s) finishing a distant third.

A year ago, Aicher was a promising prospect who had never made a World Cup podium. Now she has made seven of them in three disciplines, including an impressive four victories.

"I'm pretty happy with how I skied from top to bottom," she said in her typically understated manner.

"I had a few moments where it was like, 'Ooh, it could be tight.' But it was a nice course, it was fun to ski and I'm happy with how I skied."

Aicher bested Vonn, who won her first World Cup race a few months after Aicher was born, for the second time this season after doing so in the second of the St. Moritz Downhills.

As in that race, and in the previous Super G in Val d'Isère, the three podium finishers on Sunday were born in three different decades: the 1980s (Vonn), 1990s (Ledecka) and 2000s (Aicher).

Regardless of age, skiers had to deal with foggy conditions on Sunday as they did in Saturday's Downhill, especially on the top of the lower Super G course.

Negotiating the technical second sector proved to be the bigger challenge, however, one that Aicher managed beautifully with the quickest time of all on that part of the track.

Early on course with bib No.5, the four-discipline skier took a high line, finished her turns early and let her skis run after the turns to build all-important speed in the soft snow on the flat middle section.

She carried that speed into the gliding section on the bottom half of the course, and despite almost missing the penultimate gate after the final jump, she crossed the line more than a second ahead of the other early starters.

"A few turns you needed direction, I think I managed to do it quite well," the young German said in analyzing her race. "In the finish I thought, 'It must have been a pretty good run.'"

Of those who came after Aicher, only Vonn seriously threatened her.

The 41-year-old comeback queen led her young rival narrowly at the first three intermediate splits, but couldn't match Aicher's closeout to fall to second.

"I felt disappointed in the way I skied the bottom," Vonn said. "We had a course report and the coaches told me to do this line and I don't think it was the fastest."

Nevertheless, it was Vonn's seventh podium in eight races this season — her worst result is fourth — and her 49th career World Cup Super G podium, extending her all-time record in women's or men's Alpine skiing.

"It was good points, I'm only 10 points away from the red bib (behind leader Sofia Goggia, ITA/Atomic), so it's always a good day when that happens," Vonn said.

"If I can fight for the Globe in Super G as well, that would be amazing. I obviously feel really confident in Downhill, but Super G could be a little better, so today was a good step in the right direction and it gives me confidence for Milano Cortina."

Skiing as the last of the top seeds with bib No.15, Ledecka used a brilliant top sector to reach her first Super G podium in nearly two years and remind the field that she is a contender to reclaim the Olympic Super G gold medal she famously won with bib No.26 at PyeongChang 2018.

"I was happy about having fun on my skis, that was the main point of the day," the Czech star said.

"I was even afraid to get the time, I was like, 'I don't even want to know if it was fast or not' — it was just fun."

Ledecka's fun on snow will take place on a snowboard as soon as Sunday afternoon as the two-time Olympic snowboard parallel giant slalom champion continues to balance both sports as a unique winter superstar athlete.

And while Aicher can't catch Ledecka on a snowboard, she knows plenty about changing events within Alpine skiing as the only woman currently competing at a high level in all four disciplines.

She has produced top-12 results in each discipline so far this season, including podiums in Downhill, Super G and Slalom.

"I like all of them," Aicher said when asked to nominate her favourite discipline. "I like that I can change slopes fast — one day I'm doing Downhill and the next day I'm doing Slalom."

And if Aicher can maintain that fast-changing pace, she might come home from next month's Olympic Games with a handful of medals.

Click here for full results from Sunday's race and click here for the updated women's Super G standings.

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