Alpine Skiing

Today's News Headlines from

• Business: The next commodities king
• Business: Days of rock-bottom interest rates are numbered
• Globe Life: Riding the waves in Central America
• Globe Life: Have you ever made a sex tape?
• Ottawa Notebook: Rookie MP shoots for royal commission on hockey violence
• News: Police account for everyone in vicinity of avalanche in B.C. Interior
• Globe Drive: Electric two-seaters are traffic beaters

WHISTLER - American ski racer Lindsey Vonn may be getting most of the buzz leading up the 2010 Winter Games, but meet Vancouver's other would-be golden girls.

Maria Riesch of Germany and Anja Pärson of Sweden have the mettle to take on Vonn, the defending two-time World Cup overall champion, and are expected to capture multiple medals in the alpine events in Whistler.

Vonn, Riesch and Pärson, who were ranked first, second and third respectively in the overall standings heading in the Games and race in all five disciplines, are the "big three" to watch, according to Crazy Canuck Ken Read, a former member of the squad that pierced the European ski nation domination in the 1970s and 1980s.

"They're experienced competitors who know how to peak at the right time," he said.

Vonn, the 25-year-old from Vail, Colo., has already been dubbed the Michael Phelps of the Winter Games, but her rivals from the more traditional ski powers headquartered in Europe won't let her waltz onto the podium without a fight.

The Associated Press and Sports Illustrated predicted Vonn will win gold in the downhill and super giant slalom events. AP also believes she take bronze in the super combined. But observers expect the 25-year-old Riesch and 28-year-old Pärson to collect a similarly impressive amount of hardware. 

AP projects that Riesch will clinch three medals - gold in the super combined and two silver in the slalom and the downhill, while the news agency pegs Pärson to claim two medals - silver in the super giant slalom and bronze in the downhill.

Sports Illustrated is also counting on Riesch to pick up three medals - gold in the slalom as well as two silvers in the downhill and the super combined, while Pärson should capture two - gold in the super combined and bronze in the downhill.

Riesch and Pärson have the pedigrees to support the lofty expectations.

Of all racers actively on the circuit, Pärson leads the pack with 41 World Cup wins. Vonn sits at 31 and Riesch has 13.

Pärson was raised in Tärnaby, a small village in northern Sweden, where there was little to do but ski.

"It is said that I already as a three year old knew what I wanted in this world, that is, to become the world champion in alpine skiing," she wrote on her website.

She grew up to become one of the world's greatest female racers of all time measured by World Cup and Olympic success. Pärson is coached by her father, Anders, who has trained a number of other elite athletes.

"As coach, he has the ability to see the small things that ultimately is what turns out to make a big difference. He is stubborn and is the one who always leaves the ski slope last," Pärson said.

She was 17 when she won her first World Cup race and went on to win back to back overall World Cup titles in 2004 and 2005. She's been on the World Ski Championship podium 10 times - seven of those victories and covering all disciplines. She also owns five Olympic medals from the Salt Lake Games in 2002 and Turin in 2006, where in the slalom she won her first Olympic gold.

But Pärson, who underwent surgery to her left knee in 2006, reinjured it in January after straddling a gate in a slalom race. At the end of last season, she said after this Olympics, this would be her last.

"Out of all the racers she definitely has the most experience and sometimes that can be good and sometimes that can be bad," said Karen Percy Lowe, an alpine commentator for CTV at the Games, who took two bronze medals at the Calgary 1988 Olympics, "She has the experience behind her. It's her last year and she's going to go for it."

While Pärson may have experience on her side, Riesch is a hungry alpine star who will be competing in her first Olympics. Her younger sister, Susanne, will also be racing in her first Games at her side.

In 2005, Riesch tore a ligament in her left knee after crashing in the giant slalom in Aspen, which knocked her out of the Turin Games. She missed of the prior season with a shoulder and a ligament injury to right knee, which also was also repaired on the operating table. 

She had some hesitation coming back from injury, but according to Read, she is contributing to the overwhelming strength of the German squad "that could have quite a field day" at the Games.

While competing in the speed events in Lake Louise last December, Riesch admitted she has had little training on the Olympic course, but added that she likes the track. She won the super combined at Whistler in an Olympic test event in February, 2008. (Pärson was third. Vonn was kept off the podium, but finished second in the downhill test event.)

Hailing from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, one of the stops on the World Cup circuit where made her debut tour in 2001, Riesch is an all around athlete on and off snow. She is already counted among the most winning female German ski racers of all time, but is also a nationally-ranked tennis player and avid cyclist.

Standing nearly 6 feet, Riesch is not only one of the tallest women on the circuit, but one of the strongest. She has four overall titles in three disciplines - slalom, super giant slalom and the super combined - and last season she finished second in the overall standings to Vonn and third the year prior.

She has one World Ski Championship podium, a win last year in the slalom in Val d'Isere, France her most recent victory this season was a big one in the last downhill before the Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland, which denied Vonn a sweep of all the races in the discipline.

While rivals on the hill the skiers are also best friends.

Vonn often spends time with Riesch's family in Germany during the Christmas break and the racers try to dine together the night before each race. They are often asked about what it's like to be on the podium together.

"She's obviously my best friend and it's always good to see her on the podium and to be on the podium together is even better," Riesch said in Lake Louise, where the skiers stood on the podium in back-to-back downhill races.

Vonn concurred. "You always want someone you can cheer for standing next to you."

Emily Brydon was on the podium with them for both of those races and is one of Canada's best hopes for a medal at the Games. Vonn is the woman to beat, she has said but Pärson is a "big event" skier who doesn't succumb to pressure and Riesch is a "talented multi-event skier."

But anyone is beatable.

"The Olympics is a totally different ball game," Brydon said.