Hoefl-Riesch was fastest in the final training run for

LAKE LOUISE, Alta. -- Germanys Maria Hoefl-Riesch returned to the top of the podium at Lake Louise with a victory in a World Cup womens downhill Friday. Hoefl-Riesch won a pair of downhills at the Alberta resort in 2010 before Lindsey Vonn of the U.S. went on a run of seven straight wins on the mountain. But the American ski star was tentative. She finished well back in 40th in her first race since crashing and injuring her right knee at the world championship in February. Hoefl-Riesch was fastest in the final training run for Fridays downhill and carried her pace into the race. "Since the very first time when I came here at the age of 18 or 19, I was always skiing good here and also had some wins and some podiums," Hoefl-Riesch said. "The last two years were a little bit difficult because the year before I was winning two races and one second. Last year and the year before was not perfect, but now it seems its really good for me again. Its great that I had such a good run and finally went back to the podium here. Hoefl-Riesch posted a winning time of one minute 56.03 seconds on a clear, but bitterly cold day. Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland was .70 seconds back in second and Elena Fanchini of Italy was third in 1:57.23. A second downhill is scheduled for Saturday followed by a super-G on Sunday. Larisa Yurkiw of Owen Sound, Ont., was Canadas lone racer and she delivered a career-best seventh. Yurkiw was 51st in the start order and was initially tied for eighth with Stefanie Moser of Austria when the Canadian crossed the finish line. The disqualification of Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein in fifth bumped them up the rankings. The result was a triumph for Yurkiw, who was dropped from the Canadian ski team after last season. The 25-year-old raised about $150,000 on her own to fund her summer ski camps in Europe and pay for her own coaching and training expenses. Yurkiw embarked on the ambitious plan to find deep-pocketed sponsors because she wasnt ready to give up on her dream of competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics. She wasnt able to race in the 2010 Winter Games because of a catastrophic knee injury suffered just a few weeks before the opening ceremonies. Yurkiw needs one more top-12 result to meet Alpine Canadas criteria for nomination to the Olympic team. "Today feels like a dream," Yurkiw said. "I had this number seven in my head for some reason all day. When I came down in eighth I forgot about it and then someone mentioned I moved up one. "I was thinking riding up the chair that the pressure is so high, but finally I can say Im doing a good job of staying focused on the things that matter and the things that will make me fast. That part Im really proud of. "I always admired people who were able to perform under pressure and Im really happy I feel like I joined the club." Lake Louise is nicknamed "Lake Lindsey" because Vonns 14 victories here are more than any other skier at one venue. The reigning Olympic champion has charged through trials and tribulations to some of those victories, but she lacked her characteristic aggression Friday. "I was definitely very nervous having my first race in 10 months," Vonn said. "I was really optimistic that I could come down and first race right out of the blocks win. It was wishful thinking, but might as well shoot for the best. "I was just too nervous. I was really tight and I skied that way. I wasnt in a really deep tuck and pushing the line where I could have. I just kind of skied it. Thats not my style and not how I attack a race. "I think tomorrow is going to be a whole other story. Im going to be much more relaxed and hopefully more confident and able to ski more aggressively and more like myself." Vonn tore ligaments in knee and broke a bone in her lower leg when she crashed in the super-G at the world championships in Schladming, Austria. She partially tore a ligament in her surgically repaired knee while training in November, which kept her out of the first downhill race in Beaver Creek, Colo. Hoefl-Riesch and Vonn are friends as well as rivals. The German thought Vonn felt confident because Vonn had skipped the last training run. "Of course, its not an easy situation for her," Hoefl-Riesch said. "She wants to keep the season going and take a chance for the Olympics. Of course, she needs to do races. "I hope that she can get more confident for her knee. I spoke to her and she said her knee was kind of bothering her. Difficult situation for her definitely." But when Vonn was asked after the race how her knee felt, she replied "fine." The temperature was minus 25 for the race, but windchill pushed it to minus 31. The race was an hour late starting because of a pair of 30-minute delays. The first was to allow the temperature to rise a degree or two. The second was because the resorts snow guns created ice fog over the upper sections of the course. The racers had to wait for it to dissipate. Hoefl-Riesch had just got on the chairlift to the start hut when she heard of the delay. Rather than freeze at the top of the mountain, she stopped in at one of the lift houses to stay warm and passed the time chatting to a lift worker. "I was talking to the lift guy, who was from New Zealand," she said. "It was an interesting conversation." Greg Maddux Jersey . The appointment of Boullier continues the behind-the-scenes restructuring at McLaren, who recently brought back former team principal Ron Dennis as its new chief executive. Kyle Schwarber Cubs Jersey . Lawrie was hit on the hand by Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto in the second inning of Sundays 4-3 loss to the Reds. http://www.cubsauthentic.com/cubs-kyle-schwarber-jersey/ . -- Max Domi scored twice and set up two more as the London Knights toppled the visiting Kingston Frontenacs 6-4 on Sunday in Ontario Hockey League action. Kosuke Fukudome Jersey . Bryce Harper? He also came into Wednesday without a long ball and hadnt driven in a run. He was hitting .160, had nearly three times as many strikeouts as hits and was dropped to seventh in the batting order. Javier Baez Jersey .Airport spokeswoman Heather Lissner said that all departing flights were back on schedule. However, arriving flights were still trying to catch up.Super Bowl Sunday got off to an inconvenient start for hundreds of passengers trying to get to Phoenix for the game.SQUAW VALLEY, Calif. -- Olympic slalom gold medallist Mikaela Shiffrin won the giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships by nearly 2 seconds on Thursday. The 19-year-old Shiffrin, who is based in Eagle-Vail, Colo., won her third U.S. title overall, after slalom championships in 2011 and 2012. She completed Thursdays two runs in 2 minutes, 30.93 seconds. The race was open to women from other countries, and Marie-Michele Gaggnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que.dddddddddddd, finished second, 1.88 seconds behind. Julia Mancuso, a four-time Olympic medallist who lives in Squaw Valley, was third. Shiffrin became the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history last month at the Sochi Games, then returned to the World Cup circuit to wrap up a second consecutive slalom season title. All nine of her World Cup career race wins have come in slalom. ' ' '