Fernie’s Emily Brydon had a solid downhill run going in the ladies FIS Alpine World Ski Championships super combined in Val d’Isère before losing control near the bottom, making contact with a gate awkwardly. She was not seriously injured.
“I’m okay, a little banged up and I will probably be sore tomorrow but I think I’ll be fine,” said Brydon.
Canadian team medical director Chris Irving confirmed that Brydon had slightly bruised ribs but it was likely she would be able to participate in Sunday’s ladies downhill.
Austria’s Kathrin Zettel, stuck in fifth after the opening downhill, poured it on during the slalom to win. Zettel dominated the slalom portion, finishing in 48.16 seconds, to win the super combined in a two-run combined time of two minutes 20.13 seconds.
Swiss teenager Lara Gut held steady in the slalom after serving notice again that she will be a force in Sunday’s downhill race by having the second fastest time in today’s downhill run. Gut, who has won one of the DH training runs and was fourth in the other in Val d’Isère, took the silver medal in the super combined finishing 0.56s behind Zettel.
Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl was third in 2:21.01 after American Lindsey Vonn, the 2009 ladies super-G world champion, straddled a gate in her slalom run and was disqualified. Vonn had the fastest downhill time of the day.
Defending World Champion Anja Paerson of Sweden also did not finish the downhill portion of today’s super combined.
The men held their final training run prior to tomorrow’s World Championship DH with Erik Guay (Mont-Tremblant, QC) setting the pace for the Canadians in sixth place. Freshly-minted super-G champion Didier Cuche of Switzerland had the fastest time, finishing in 2:06.98, 0.96s ahead of Guay. COMPLETE RESULTS
CBC has live coverage of each men’s and ladies race on www.cbcsports.ca as well as cable channel bold. Highlights and athlete features are also available on the website. The Pontiac Alpine Ski Series on CBC coverage begins tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET with more coverage again on Feb. 14 and Feb. 15 at 3 p.m.
Radio-Canada Sports will report on the men’s DH from Val d’Isère tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET, as well as coverage of the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships Dec. 14 beginning again at 3:00 p.m. ET.
