Yurkiw lands on third consecutive World Cup podium
Alpine skier Larisa Yurkiw has done it again, landing on the podium for a third consecutive downhill World Cup race when she finished second at Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday.
Following a bronze at Val d’Isere last month and a silver in Altenmarkt to start 2016, Yurkiw was second in Italy by completing the course in one minute 37.29 seconds, her time 0.28s behind the winner, Lindsey Vonn of the United States.
Larisa Yurkiw (left) on the World Cup podium with Lindsey Vonn (centre) and Lara Gut at Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 23, 2016.
For Vonn, it was a record-setting 37th downhill World Cup victory, overtaking the former standard set by Annemarie Moser-Proll of Austria. Vonn leads the downhill World Cup standings having won all four races this season.
Yurkiw continues to share her focus between training and a self-funded program. It’s hard to argue against the result of her efforts. The Sochi 2014 Olympian has finished off the podium in just one of the four downhill events run so far in the 2015-16 events calendar, which was a strong seventh place outcome in the Lake Louise, Alberta season opener. Since then Yurkiw has not relinquished her claim on the World Cup podium and sits second behind Vonn in overall downhill standings.
Larisa Yurkiw (left) and Lindsey Vonn spray sparkling wine given to podium finishers following the World Cup downhill race in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy on January 23, 2016.
Lara Gut of Switzerland, who leads the overall women’s alpine skiing World Cup table due in large part to her consistency in the giant slalom, was third in the downhill on Saturday behind Vonn and Yurkiw.
The next downhill event will be in two weeks at Garmisch Partenkirchen in Germany, the final to take place on February 6 in the mountain resort on the Austrian border.
