LIENZ, Austria (Dec. 29) - With a ferocious scream out of  the start house, Sarah Schleper (Vail, CO) charged the second run of slalom Tuesday to push her way from 12th to fifth during a World Cup race in Austria. It was Schleper's best World Cup finish since a win in slalom in 2005.

"I've been skiing so well, I just wanted to put one together," Schleper said. "In slalom you're always recovering from mistakes. So to put a clean run down and was aggressive and fast ... there's just a lot more involved. When everything lines up, it's great."

Schleper's wild hair shot out the back of her helmet as the team veteran raced down the slalom run. Over the last berm and into a technically difficult part of the hill, she charged the gates, gaining speed and crossing the finish line ahead of the field behind her to take the lead, eventually landing in fifth.

After laying down the third fastest second run, the successful finish is a huge confidence booster for Schleper to know that if she puts together two fast runs, she can be on the podium again.

"I've been skiing really well in slalom. This result is more than I could hope for. I'm so close to the podium," Schleper said.

For the mother, who was the only athlete racing in the second run born in the 1970s, hard work and a good team are the things that pushed her back into aggressive skiing and hopefully a step closer to the Olympics.

"Going into an Olympic year I feel like I've worked really hard this summer. These last two years getting back here, my coaches have done such an amazing prep period with us," said Schleper, whose son Lasse turns two in January. "They've challenged us in every way, in every type of snow conditions. I think we just have a great team and everything's there."

According to Women's Tech Coach Trevor Wagner, Schleper's success was a matter of putting all the pieces together over a period of time.

"Last year she had all the ingredients, but she just didn't have the mileage with that technique. With last year underneath her belt everything is coming together now," Wagner said. "We started working on her technique again and building on what we had before, but more modern technique. Now she's comfortable with it and it's all coming together."

World Champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) showed her tenacious spirit once again on the slalom hill. The champ, who only last season was taping her hand to her pole in order to ski following a laceration on her hand during the World Championships, took to the hill slightly injured with a bruised left wrist to finish 18th.

Vonn, who crashed after her skis locked up going around a gate mid-course in Monday's giant slalom, suffered a bone bruise to her left arm, which was placed in a splint. Despite the injury, Vonn pushed ahead to maintain her lead in the overall World Cup standings.

"All things considered, it was OK," said Vonn. "I couldn't really be aggressive and it's not the way I like to ski but I was able to finish the race and get a result."

For Wagner, Vonn's ability to race the day after a crash was impressive.

"Lindsey did a great job. For her it was a mental success being able to go out there after such a bad crash and ski down the first run, feel out the skis and feel out the snow," Wagner said "Second run she had some mistakes in the bottom, but it was good skiing."

Vonn was particularly happy to see teammate Schleper do so well in Lienz.

"It was so awesome to see Sarah race today. She's been working so hard and is building confidence every week. It's pretty inspiring to see what she's doing right now," Vonn said.

The women's next slalom is Jan. 3 in Zagreb, Slovenia.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 AUDI FIS WORLD CUP
Lienz, Austria - Dec. 29, 2009
Women's Slalom

1. Marlies Schild, Austria, 1:57.65
2. Sandrine Aubert, France, 1:59.48
3. Kathrin Zettel, Austria, 1:59.84
4. Tina Maze, Slovenia, 1:59.99
5. Sarah Schleper, Vail, CO, 2:00.43
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18. Lindsey Vonn, Vail, CO, 2:02.07
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39. Sterling Grant, Amery, WI
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DNF1: Julia Mancuso, Olympic Valley, CA; Kaylin Richardson, Edina, MN; Hailey Duke, Boise, ID
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