Vonn’s course ‘correction’ saves Super G season title ahead of hard-charging Mancuso

Lindsey Vonn struggled at the end of her run but clinched the Super G season title.

It was hardly a typical Lindsey Vonn victory march on Thursday (March 15) in the Super G, but the American’s sixth-place finish was enough to clinch the season title in the discipline. Vonn now has four titles this season: Downhill, Super G, Super Combined, Overall.

The fact is, Vonn had a huge lead near the end of the run, but misread the course and slowed down so much to make the next gate that her lead evaporated (and then some). It could have been disastrous had she not finished, as fellow American Julia Mancuso turned in another strong run for second in the race and wound up second for the season, just 72 points behind Vonn. See who won the race and more in this story.

The flawed finish for Vonn reduces her chances for a 2,000-point season with just a Giant Slalom and Slalom remaining. She now stands at 1,948.

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Vonn wins World Cup downhill in Austria, remains on pace for 2,000 point season

Leave it to Lindsey Vonn to punctuate her spectacular season with a dominant win on Wednesday (March 14) in the final World Cup downhill in Austria.

Vonn’s victory, by nearly one second, was her fifth of the season in the eight downhills contested (she has won 12 events total this season. She had previously secured the season title in the discipline.

Slovenian Tina Maze finished third and remains second to Vonn in the overall points standings, which Vonn clinched. Julia Mancuso finished fifth, which means she finished a strong fifth for the season in downhill. Read about the race.

Vonn now has 53 career World Cup wins (an American record) and has a season total of 1,908 points. That keeps her hopes of a 2,000-point season alive with a Super G on Thursday (March 15).

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Shaun White wins Slopestyle for second gold, Torin Yater-Wallace wins first gold at Winter X Games Tignes

Torin Yater-Wallace won his first X-Games gold in Ski Superpipe on Friday at Winter X Tignes. The 16-year-old from Aspen topped the star-studded field with a massive third run. Watch it on ESPN.

EARLIER FRIDAY: It had been three years since Shaun White won gold at Winter X in snowboard slopestyle, an event in which even the superstar admitted he was behind the times.

Not any more. White had runs of 95 and 97 to not only catch up with the rest of the riders but to easily win his second gold medal in as many days on Friday (March 16) at Winter X Tignes. Watch how he did it at ESPN.

THURSDAY: What did you expect? One day after he was the top qualifier (with jet lag and no practice in the pipe), Shaun White won gold in Superpipe on Thursday (March 15) at Winter X Tignes. Watch video of his winning run.

Tom Wallisch has been the man to beat for much of the season in men’s ski slopestyle. That didn’t stop Bobby Brown, who knows a thing or two about being the “man to beat,” from snagging gold on Thursday. Watch the video at ESPN.

WEDNESDAY: Who needs practice? Jet lag? Forget about it. Shaun White arrived at Winter X Games Tignes on Wednesday (March 14) and went straight to the pipe, where he qualified first for the finals on Thursday (watch it at 1:30 EDT on ESPN2/3). He’s got good company: Louie Vito stands second and other qualifiers include  Iouri Podladtchikov. Watch the video.

The incomparable Kelly Clark won the women’s Superpipe over Elana Hight and a talented field. Meet the rest of the podium and watch the video. Earlier, Canada’s Kaya Turski won her third consecutive Winter X Games Tignes gold medal at Women’s Ski Slopestyle. See who took took silver and bronze and watch video highlights of the event at ESPN.

Check back for continuous updates from the Winter X Games in Europe.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

All Things Lindsey Vonn: From new coach to old rival, World Cup overall titles to photo shoots

A photo of Lindsey in action from her web site.

UPDATE: Great story in the New York Times talks with Lindsey Vonn about her record-breaking 2011-2012 season as well as the personal challenges she faced as she navigated a divorce from husband Thomas Vonn that she described as a “mess.” Read more.

Hickok Award: Vonn was named the monthly winner of this prestigious award. Read more.

Lindsey Vonn is more than the best skier on the women’s World Cup circuit. (This column suggests she’s the best American skier EVER.) She’s a superstar, one of the most visible athletes in the world, with multiple endorsements and magazine cover stories just part of the proof.

Recognizing that, we’ve collected a variety of information about Lindsey all under one roof, you might say, to help current and future fans keep up with Lindsey during and after ski season. Use this as your digital launching pad to learn “All Things Lindsey Vonn.”

Lets start with some of the more “social” ways to catch up:

• Official Lindsey Vonn Website: Get the latest on Lindsey’s schedule, as well as photos, video interviews and more.
• Facebook: Here’s where you (and 416,000 other folks) can find the very latest from Lindsey, from great photos to race results.
• Twitter: For the most part, these are the same posts as Facebook. But if you prefer Twitter, this is the place to be for Lindsey.
• SI Swimsuit Edition: There’s a video featuring photos of Lindsey and her thoughts on appearing as a model in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, as well as her photos.
• Italian Sports Week Magazine Photo shoot: This is the latest example of Lindsey as style icon in an impressive shoot from December, 2011.

It’s not all about photo shoots and social media. Lindsey is one of the world’s top competitors and her results reflect that. These are just samples:

• Four Straight Wins: Coming out on top in one race is a challenge for any skier, but earlier this season Lindsey won an epic four straight races. Then she did some Tebowing to celebrate (but she’s not dating Tim Tebow).
• 50 World Cups Wins: When Lindsey won a downhill during February (2012) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, it made her only the third woman to reach that plateau.
• Super Combined Season Title: The 2011-2012 title came her way after some big wins and then a little weather.
• Fourth Overall Season Title: A Giant Slalom victory on March 9, 2012 was doubly sweet because it meant Lindsey had clinched her fourth Overall season title, more than any American. Plus: she regained the crown from friend and rival Maria Hoefl-Riesch.
• The Quest for 2,000: No woman World Cup skier has ever reached 2,000 points for a season. Lindsey still had a chance for the benchmark with a weekend to go.
• 2,000 Denied: After pulling within 20 points of the landmark score, a freak accident at the starting gate may have deprived Lindsey of the milestone, even though she still set a season record.
• Big Money: Not only did Lindsey Vonn score the most points on the women’s World Cup circuit, he made the most money.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Death of Canadian Zoricic in ski cross race has ski community grasping for ‘lessons’

Nick Zoricic

The sad news out of Switzerland on Saturday — the death of ski cross competitor Nik Zoricic — has numbed an already saddened Canadian ski team and left the ski community wondering what, if anything, can be done to prevent this from happening again.

On Sunday, his fellow racers held an emotional memorial for Zoricic on the same course where he died. The fatal crash happened on the final jump of a World Cup ski cross race in Grindewald on Saturday when Zoricic lost control and crashed into protective netting. “Nik Zoricic fell heavily just before the finish in the round of eight, crashing directly into the safety netting and thereafter lying motionless,” a spokesman for the FIS said late Saturday.

The news, difficult under any circumstances, was especially difficult for a Canadian Ski Team that had already seen the death of freeskier Sarah Burke in January after a training accident.

The family of Zoricic, in a statement released on Sunday, said “Nik loved what he did. Ski racing was his life and he enjoyed every moment of it.” Even so, a CTV story talked with a variety of insiders who said they hoped there were “lessons” to be learned from this tragedy that would keep it from happening again. Read more.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Ligety gets huge victory in World Cup GS to remain in hunt to defend title

Ted Ligety wins a GS in Slovenia.

He’s not finished yet.

Ted Ligety, facing long odds to defend his season title in GS, won a world cup race in Slovenia on Saturday (March 10). The American’s margin of victory was huge (1.61 seconds, the season’s biggest win in GS), but even he admits facing long odds of catching current GS leader Marcel Hirscher, who finished third.

Find out what Ligety says about his chance of rallying for the season title and what it will take for him to pull off the comeback in this story.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Giant Slalom win makes Lindsey Vonn first American to win four overall ski titles

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn’s incredible legacy grew  larger on Friday (March 9) when the American won a Giant Slalom in Sweden that clinched her fourth overall World Cup title. That’s more than any American; the great Phil Mahre won three in his storied career. Read more.

The victory, the 52nd in her storied career, also means Vonn has a shot at  a season-ending score that no woman has ever reached: 2,000. At 1,808 points with five races to go she has a chance to make that previously-unreached level. The current record is held by Croatian Janica Kostelic, who scored 1,970 in 2006. (Vonn discussed that goal earlier this week in her weekly diary in the Denver Post. Read the diary.)

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Video Contest winner and friends tear it up at Whistler

Congratulations to Brian Hopper,  the latest winner in our Swany Outdoor Adventures Video Contest. His winning video finds Brian and his friends tearing it up at Whistler.

Brian gets a great pair of Swany Gloves for winning.

In his own words: ”I’m from Crystal Mountain, Wash. I have been skiing since age 10 and had the opportunity to ski all across the West Coast, Utah, and British Columbia. I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. Skiing is a passion for me. Some buddies and I made this video, mostly at Whistler in February. We are all amateurs in filmmaking but had a lot of fun. We used a GoPro for some POV shots and also a Canon A2 digital SLR.”

Have a video that you’d like to enter? Just upload it to the likes of YouTube or Vimeo, then send us the URL at swanygloves@gmail.com. That’s all there is to it! Complete rules here.

• The season’s first winner, Cameron Little, captured a powder day at Apex Mountain Resort. Watch
• Dan Malone tore it up at Vail. Watch
• A. J. Scolaro and friends rode the rails at Mount Snow, Vt. Watch
• Benton Inscoe had a blast skiing Wolf Creek in Colorado after a powder dump. Watch.
• Nate Smilanic went flying on his snowboard at Winter Park. Watch.
• Leroy Maarhuis hit it hard in the powder at Whitewater in British Columbia. Watch.

Take a look at last season’s winners in the  Swany Outdoor Adventure Video Contest, ranging from the aerial acrobatics of Bobby Brown to daring mountain rescues.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Dominant Bradley Wiggins claims Paris-Nice victory after topping final time trial

No doubt about it: Bradley Wiggins of Sky was THE man in the 70th Paris-Nice “Race to the Sun,” staying in yellow most of the eight-stage race and punctuating his overall triumph by winning Sunday’s climbing time trial. Find out who the surprising second-place finisher was and what Wiggins thinks this means for his chances in the Tour de France by reading this story in VeloNews.

MARCH 10: The leader of the Paris-Nice pack, Bradley Wiggins, remained in yellow after Stage 7 on Saturday (March 10), but Levi Leipheimer took his lumps and may have ridden himself out of a chance for a podium finish. Find out what went wrong.

MARCH 9: Luis Leon Sanchez won today’s exciting sixth stage of Paris-Nice thatat one point had him almost tied with overall leader Bradley Wiggins. See how the day turned out in this story. Despite the excitement, much of the conversation before and after the race centered on Sunday’s climbing time trial, in which current third-place holder Levi Leipheimer is expected to put tremendous pressure on current leader Bradley Wiggins. Here’s more on the time trial.

MARCH 8: Lieuwe Westra outkicked the field on the final climb Thursday (March 8) for a surprise win in Stage 5 of the Paris-Nice “Race to the Sun.”

The victory also moved Westra into second behind overall leader Bradley Wiggins, while Levi Leipheimer remained in third. Find out how Tejay van Garderen and Alejandro Valverde, both also in the hunt, fared by reading this story in VeloNews.

MARCH 7: Gianni Meersman showed patience on the final uphill sprint to win Stage 4 of Paris-Nice on Wednesday (March 7). See who else made the podium and if leader Bradley Wiggins is still in yellow by reading the story at VeloNews.

MARCH 6: We’d be the first people to tell you that it’s still skiing and riding season in North America and Europe.

But don’t tell that to the world’s top pro cyclists who are currently grinding through the 70th Paris-Nice race. The event runs from this past Sunday (March 4) to this coming Sunday (March 11). In all, the 8-stage event and will cover a total distance of 1,155.5 kilometres.

A familiar name, Alejandro Valverde, was the winner Tuesday (March 6) in the hilly third stage to climb into sixth place, 20 seconds behind leader Bradley Wiggins. Those two are expected to battle the rest of the way, challenged by two other top riders showing good form: Levi Leipheimer and Tejay van Garderen.

Valverde is a familiar name, but one who was banned from racing in the 2010-11 seasons due to blood doping. The Spanish rider discusses the race and how he’s dealing with his comeback in this story in VeloNews.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.

Lindsey Vonn aims for something no woman has achieved in World Cup skiing: 2,000 points

Lindsey Vonn

Lindsey Vonn’s lead in the overall World Cup standings is a massive 494 points heading into this weekend’s events in Sweden. So there’s no drama left, since she could even clinch the title before the following weekend’s World Cup Finals, right?

Think again. Vonn has her sights set on a season-ending score that no woman has ever reached: 2,000. And at 1,708 points with six races to go she has a good chance to make that record-setting level.

How will she accomplish that goal? She explains in her weekly diary in the Denver Post, in which she also talks about the U.S. Team’s excitement over Resi Stiegler’s hard-earned podium this past weekend. Read the diary.

Swany Gloves is dedicated to bringing you the best of outdoor adventure. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter.