Barbs traded among hints of D.C. compromise

Crestwood, Back Mountain meet for Casey Classic title

First Posted: 12/18/2013 VAL D&#8217;ISERE, France &#8212; Former overall World Cup winner Maria Hoefl-Riesch posted the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday, while Lindsey Vonn was 12th quickest in her comeback from injury.
Hoefl-Riesch, who went off course in Sunday&#8217;s slalom race at Courchevel, clocked 1 minute, 49.30 seconds on the Olympique de Bellvarde course. Austrian skier Anna Fenninger was second in 1:49.47 and Spaniard Carolina Ruiz Castillo finished third in 1:49.56.
Vonn, a four-time overall winner and the defending Olympic downhill champion, crossed the line in 1:50.53 behind defending World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia.
The downhill is scheduled for Saturday with a giant slalom to follow on Sunday.
American Leanne Smith and Austrian Stefanie Koehle did not finish the run.
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old Vonn returned from racing for the first time in 10 months after a serious knee injury. She finished fifth in her last race, a super-G on Dec. 8 at Lake Louise, Alberta. She skipped last weekend&#8217;s St. Moritz as part of a lighter schedule before the Sochi Olympics.
During training in November, Vonn partially re-tore one of two knee ligaments that were reconstructed last February following a crash at the world championships.
Meanwhile, in Val Gardena, Italy, men&#8217;s overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was fastest in the opening training run Wednesday for this weekend&#8217;s downhill on the Saslong course, while Italian standout Dominik Paris was injured in a fall.
Svindal clocked 1 minute, 58.07 seconds as he seeks his third win of the season. Erik Guay of Canada was second, 0.41 seconds behind, and Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland was third, 0.77 back.
Bode Miller, who won a super-G here in 2006, was 32nd, and American teammate Steven Nyman, the 2006 and 2012 downhill winner, was 34th.
Paris lost control after the tricky Ciaslat section and hit the safety netting. He has a bruised left calf and will likely sit out the second training session Thursday and Friday&#8217;s super-G race, in the hope of racing the downhill Sunday.

Vonn starts comeback with 12th-quickest time in slalom practice