Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Women's DH Color Commentary by Martin Bell [click for transcript]

German Grrrl Power

Seizinger Wins [click to zoom]

A determined Katja Seizinger busted ass on the icy downhill course today and became the first woman in Olympic history to win back-to-back downhill golds.

Seizinger captured gold after being shut out of the medals in the women's Super G four days ago, when she had criticized the course as being too flat. However, this downhill course was right up her alley.

Icy and technical, as was demonstrated by the noisy chatter of skis, the course proved to be the stuff that good German performances are made of.

Pernilla Wiberg [click to zoom]

Seizinger won the gold by approximately one-third of a second over the silver medalist, Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg. Wiberg, last year's overall World Cup winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist, is back strong from a torn ligament injured while training last fall. France's Florence Masnada took the bronze.

Today Seizinger boomeranged back by winning not just one, but two downhill races. She also posted the fastest time in the first leg of the women's combined downhill, two hours after winning the gold. The slalom portion of the combined event is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17 (JST).

Seizinger is currently ranked number one in both the downhill and Super G disciplines on the World Cup circuit and won the last women's downhill before the Olympics in Are, Sweden.

Isolde Kostner (ITA) lost her medal hopes when the binding on her left ski pre-released, causing her to wipe out just moments after leaving the start.

Picabo's Launch [click to zoom]

Picabo Street (USA) skied conservatively and placed 6th in this downhill. Street was looking to bring home two golds from Nagano, but seems satisfied she skied the best she could in this downhill.

"The snow was really hard (and) bumpy because so many people were slipping it," Street said about the course. "It was a tough course today. I just didn't have the confidence and the training to trust myself and go hard enough to attack it. I lost my downhill ski on a couple of turns and that's scary. I'm just glad to be standing down here and talking to you in one piece. I didn't want to hit the fence again today."

The Place to Be [click to zoom]

Other contenders included Melanie Suchet of France who placed 4th. Suchet recently won her first World Cup Super G Cortina, Italy in late January. Another German tower of power, Hilde Gerg, placed 10th.

Results

1 Katja Seizinger  Germany   1:28.89
2 Pernilla Wiberg  Sweden  1:29.18
3 Florence Masnada France   1:29.37
4 Melanie Suchet France 1:29.48
5 Svetlana Gladishiva Russia  1:29.50
6 Picabo Street United States 1:29.54
7 Regine Cavagnoud  France  1:29.72
8 Alexandra Meissnitzer Austria   1:29.84
9 Katharina Gutensohn Germany  1:29.96
10 Hilde Gerg Germany 1:29.96
11 Ingeborg Helen Marken Norway  1:30.19
12 Heidi Zurbriggen Switzerland 1:30.25
13 Warwara Zelenskaja Russia 1:30.38
14 Carole Montillet France 1:30.65
15 Stefanie Schuster Austria 1:30.73
16 Trude Gimle Norway 1:30.87
17 Jonna Mendes United States 1:30.89
18 Michaela Dorfmeister  Austria 1:31.17
19 Kate Pace Lindsay Canada 1:31.30
20 Bibiana Perez Italy  1:31.43
21 Alessandra Merlin Italy  1:31.44
22 Catherine Borghi Switzerland 1:31.45
22 Melanie Turgeon Canada  1:31.45
24 Spela Bracun Slovenia  1:31.54
25 Janica Kostelic  Croatia  1:31.97
26 Kathleen Monahan  United States  1:32.22
26 Morena Gallizio Italy 1:32.22
28 Kirsten L Clark United States  1:32.25
29 Ekaterina Nesterenko Russia  1:32.54
30 Corinne Rey Bellet Switzerland   1:32.92
31 Lucie Hrstkova  Czech Republic   1:33.00
32 Anna Larinova  Russia 1:34.36
33 Yulia Kharkivska Ukraine 1:35.60
34 Carola Calello Argentina  1:36.71
35 Monika Kovacs Hungary 1:37.03

Renate Goetschl  Austria  DNF
Isolde Kostner  Italy DNF
Regina Haeusl Germany   DNF
Kristine Kristiansen  Norway DNF