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Vonn sweeps Lake Louise Winterstart

Robbie Dixon fourth at Beaver Creek
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Four Runner Whistler's Robbie Dixon carves his way into the top five at Beaver Creek on Sunday, placing fourth in the super G. photo by Alpine Canada Alplin/Pentaphoto

American skier Lindsey Vonn swept the podiums at Lake Louise Winterstart, while the Canadian women — mostly newcomers to the sport — were not a factor in any of three World Cup races.

For whatever reason, Vonn owns the women's downhill course at Lake Louise, but this is the first time that she's swept all three events — two women's downhill races and a super G. It's also the first time anyone has swept the series since German skier Katja Seizinger in 1997.

Vonn has now stepped on the podium at Lake Louise 17 times since she earned her first podium there in 2004. She now has 84 podiums to her credit in total.

Her win also came on the heels of an announcement that she was divorcing her husband Thomas Vonn after four years. It's unknown whether she will start racing under her maiden name Lindsey Kildow.

In the opening downhill she finished in 1:53.19, almost two seconds ahead of Liechtenstein's Tina Wierather in 1:55.14. Dominique Gisin of Switzerland was third in 1:55.25.

The two Canadians in the race, Tess Davies and Sarah Freeman, were 54th and 56th respectively. Both were making their World Cup debuts.

In the second downhill, Vonn finished in 1:51.35, well ahead of Marie Marchand-Arvier of France. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria was third in 1:53.26.

Davies and Freeman were 50th and 51st respectively.

In the super G the field was a little different with World Cup skier Marie-Michele Gagnon in the start gate. Although she's better known for her technical skiing, she earned some FIS points in 26th place after starting in 46th on the day.

"I'm excited," she said. "I'm in the points in super G — I couldn't ask for more. I know I can push it more and I was a little round in some places — probably most of the way — but I'm happy.

"It's the first speed race of the year. It's kind of like getting back on the speed skis... and feeling out the snow."

Sarah Elliiot, making her World Cup debut, was 39th on the day. Sarah Freeman was 54th and Whistler's Madison McLeish — making her start with the national team — placed 55th. Tess Davies was 56th.

Women's head coach Hugues Ansermoz knew it would be a tough weekend for the team.

"Marie-Michele did a really good job, having not been here for the downhill races," he said. "Sarah has no experience here, but she's a talent. That was great to see. "

McLeish also called it a first step: "This was the first step on the way to all of my goals. It's starting to feel like I'm ready to be here and I know I can do so much better than I did today, so I just can't wait until the next opportunity."

The women's World Cup speed team is rebuilding following the retirements of Britt Janyk and Emily Brydon, while Kelly VanderBeek — the other senior member of the team — is still working to rehabilitate after a knee injury in the run-up to the 2010 Games.

Dixon fourth at Beaver Creek

Whistler's Robbie Dixon led the men's team at Beaver Creek, Colorado, finishing with five one-hundredths of a second of his first World Cup podium in the super G race. Not bad for a guy who missed the second half of last season with a concussion, and was only recently cleared to race.

"It's a bittersweet day for me, but I did everything I could," said Dixon. "To get a podium would have been a pretty special moment, especially with some of the stuff I've had to go through over the last year. But Sandro (Viletta of Switzerland) had a wicked run. This is a big step for me in terms of building confidence."

A fourth place result ties Dixon's best result in super G to date, going back to February 2008. Since then he's spent a lot of time on the sidelines — early 2009 to 2010 with a head injury not related to skiing, and early 2011 until the start of the season at Lake Louise after a head injury in race training.

Dixon's podium looked like a sure thing until Viletta's run. The Swiss skier earned his first World Cup podium and first win despite being the 30th racer out of the gate. He finished in 1:18.71, followed by Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway in 1:18.91. Beat Fuez of Switzerland — fast becoming one of the most dominant teams in the world after taking three of six medals at Lake Louise — was third in 1:18.97. Dixon finished in 1:19.02.

But while Dixon stole the show for Canada, it was a pretty good race overall with Erik Guay placing seventh on the day and Jan Hudec earning points in 22nd. Benjamin Thomsen, in his second year with the team, came close to the top 30 in 36th place.

It was Guay's second top 10 in super G in as many weeks.

"Some good things are happening and some bad things," he said. "Today I had good flats and slow pitches. When I do finally put a run together..."

The day before the Canadians took part in a downhill. Jan Hudec and Erik Guay were 16th and 17th in that race, while Dixon earned some valuable points in 24th. Benjamin Thomsen was also solid in 40th place, while the other Canadians —including Whistler's Conrad Pridy in his second week with the national team — finished out of the top 50.

Bode Miller of the U.S. took the gold medal in 1:43.82, followed by Beat Fuez of Switzerland in 1:43.86 and Klaus Kroell of Austria in 1:43.96.

In the giant slalom on Sunday, Jean-Philippe Roy made his return to the World Cup after a knee injury, and managed to get two clean runs in to finish 21st.

In the second giant slalom event, Jean-Philippe Roy built on his positive start with a 13th place finish — despite starting out of the top 30.

Teammates Dustin Cook and Robbie Dixon did not qualify for a second run.