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Lindsey Vonn admits she let
up at the end - and it cost her.


      Austria's Andrea Fischbacher upset Vonn in the super-G at the
Vancouver Olympics on Saturday. Vonn earned bronze behind surprise
silver medalist Tina Maze of Slovenia.


      While many of the favorites struggled with a sharp right turn
midway down, Vonn made it through that section without a problem.
She then lost nearly half a second on the bottom section of the
course.


      "Once I got past those difficult sections, I kind of backed off
the gas pedal," Vonn said. "I felt like I just didn't ski as
aggressively as I could have, and I think that's where I lost the
race."


      The Austrians, who won 14 Alpine medals including four golds in
Turin, had gotten off to a slow start. Elisabeth Goergl's bronze in
the downhill had been their only medal so far. Fischbacher was
reduced to tears after placing fourth in the downhill, finishing
only 0.03 seconds behind Goergl.


      "At first I was really sad," Fischbacher said. "Then I was
just saying, 'OK, maybe I make it in the super-G."'

      Her coach, Juergen Kriechbaum, set the super-G course according
to International Ski Federation rules that rotate the job to
correspond with the higher-ranked super-G skiers. Fischbacher
navigated her way down Franz's Run in 1 minute, 20.14 seconds.


      Maze was 0.49 behind, and Vonn was 0.74 back.


      Vonn had already wrapped up the season-long World Cup super-G
title by winning three of the five races so far; Fischbacher was
third in the event standings.


      Vonn won the downhill to open her Olympics, then wiped out in
the slalom leg of the super-combined. On Saturday, she was denied a
sweep of the speed events. Depending on how her bruised right shin
holds up, the American still has two events remaining in Vancouver
- giant slalom and slalom.
      


      Switzerland's Simon Ammann won the large hill to become the
first ski jumper with four individual Olympic titles.


      Ammann put down the best jump in both rounds. He used his
disputed bindings again, beating four Austrians who weren't happy
about his equipment.


      Polish veteran Adam Malysz took silver, and 20-year-old Austrian
Gregor Schlierenzauer earned bronze - the exact same finish as in
the normal hill jump a week ago.
      


      Marcus Hellner of Sweden won the men's 30-kilometer pursuit,
pulling away from three rivals after entering the ski stadium and
building enough of a lead to sprint alone to the finish.


      He was timed in 1 hour, 15 minutes, 11.4 seconds. Germany's
Tobias Angerer finished 2.1 seconds behind for the silver medal.
Sweden's Johan Olsson took the bronze, 2.8 back.
     



      Two wins in a row for the U.S. men's curlers. This one was an
8-7, extra-end victory over Sweden, thanks to the exceptional
shot-making of Jason Smith.


      A loss Saturday would all but have eliminated the Americans from
medal contention.


      Skip John Shuster returned to the lineup after being benched for
the team's win over France on Friday following an 0-4 start.
      


      The finals for women's freestyle aerials will be missing
defending champion Evelyn Leu of Switzerland.


      Leu fell on her second of two jumps in the qualifying round and
did not make the final 12. Alla Tsuper of Belarus won the
qualifying, followed by China's Li Nina, the 2006 silver medalist.


      No American had advanced past qualifying since 1998. This time,
three made it to the Wednesday's final: Emily Cook, Lacy Schnoor
and 16-year-old Ashley Caldwell.


      Thousands of mourners flocked to the yard of Nodar
Kumaritashvili's family for a traditional funeral in Bakuriani,
Georgia. Inside the two-story brick home, the body of the
21-year-old luger lay in a coffin, surrounded by Orthodox Christian
icons and burning candles. A choir sang chants and a portrait of
the Olympian hung on the wall. His father, David Kumaritashvili,
stared at the picture.


      "I wanted to throw a wedding feast for you," he said.
"Instead, we have a funeral."


      The 21-year-old luger died in a crash hours before the opening
ceremony. He is to be buried in the cemetery of a tiny church in
the snowy Alpine village.

Gallery

Sports

Austria's Andrea Fischbacher upset Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. in the super-G at the
Vancouver Olympics on Saturday. Vonn earned bronze behind surprise
silver medalist Tina Maze of Slovenia.

Austria's Fischbacher wins super-G, upsets Vonn

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