Rolland wins women's downhill world title
Marion Rolland of France beat all the favorites to win the world downhill title.
SCHLADMING: Marion Rolland of France beat all the favorites to win the world downhill title on Sunday, mastering an icy course that left most of her rivals struggling to find the right race line.
Rolland, who has yet to win a World Cup race after 15 top-10 finishes in downhill, earned her first medal at a major championship after charging down the 3.05-kilometer (1.9-mile) Streicher course in 1 minute, 50.00 seconds.
Nadia Fanchini of Italy trailed Rolland by 0.16 in second. Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, who won the super-combined title Friday, came 0.70 back in third.
Rolland earned France s third medal of the worlds, after silver for Gauthier de Tessieres in the men s super-G and bronze for David Poisson in the downhill.
Rolland got her two career World Cup podiums on the same course during the World Cup finals in Schladming last year.
Fanchini, who won bronze in downhill at the 2009 worlds, was the second starter. She skied the turning middle part better than all the favorites, giving her more speed for the finish section. She led the race until Rolland wearing bib No. 22 came down.
Fanchini won bronze in downhill at the 2009 worlds in Val d Isere, France, but then injured both her knees in a crash two weeks before the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Then as she was still working her way back, she tore the ACL in her left knee again ahead of the World Cup race in Cortina d Ampezzo in January 2011.
Nadia s older sister Elena Fanchini finished ninth.
Former overall champion Hoefl-Riesch, who won just one race on the World Cup circuit this season, has now made her second podium this week.
Stefanie Moser, the third starter, flew into the safety netting while racing at 110 kph (68 mph). The Austrian s right ski came off after the binding broke on one of the icy bumps. She got up quickly and appeared unhurt.
Dominique Gisin of Switzerland also avoided injury after a nasty crash that also left her in the netting.
Defending champion Elisabeth Goergl of Austria came 1.48 back in tenth, and super-G champion Tina Maze missed out on a third medal after placing seventh, trailing Rolland by 1.21.
The Slovenian, who is likely to win the overall World Cup title this season, led Fanchini by 0.43 at one stage but was pushed wide in the middle section.
Lindsey Vonn left the championships Tuesday after an ugly crash in super-G that damaged her right knee and ended her season.
With five straight World Cup titles, the 2010 Olympic champion has dominated women s downhill racing. Vonn won gold at the 2009 worlds and silver in 2007 and 2011, and she also won three of five downhill events this season.
Teammates Julia Mancuso in fifth and Stacey Cook in sixth were the highest-ranked Americans.
Mancuso, who bronze in super-G, called champion Rolland "one of the fun girls. The French girls are always smiling. She s funny. They re relaxed the classic French downhill attitude."
Cook led Fanchini by 0.92 at the second split and was the last racer in sixth to finish within a second of the winning time.
