Lindsey Vonn, 41, earns 1st World Cup downhill win since 2018
ST. MORITZ, Switzerland — The queen of alpine skiing is indeed back. At 41, still faster than the others.
Lindsey Vonn cruised to an incredibly fast victory in a World Cup downhill race in St. Moritz on Friday to claim her first victory in almost eight years – and the first in her return with titanium implants in her right knee after a five-year retirement.
The great American skier took the lead with an astonishing 1.16 seconds ahead of Austrian Mirjam Puchner. Even crazier, Vonn was behind by 0.61 after the first two time checks in the Swiss station.
Vonn’s lead was then reduced to 0.98 – still a huge downhill margin – when the unheralded Magdalena Egger took second ahead of teammate Puchner.
“It was an incredible day. I couldn’t be happier, quite emotional,” Vonn told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I felt good this summer, but I wasn’t sure how fast I was. I guess I know now how fast I am.”
Shortly after, Vonn shed tears on the podium in the finish area when The Star-Spangled Banner played.
It was a perfect start to the Olympic season to secure a first victory since a descent in March 2018 in Are, Sweden.
Vonn’s superb debut working with new coach Aksel Lund Svindal, a major men’s downhill champion who won the title at the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympics, suggests their stellar partnership is paying off.
Her race Friday seemed routine when she fell tenths of a second off Puchner’s time on the upper half of the sunny Corviglia course, where the finish is at an altitude above 6,500 feet.
Vonn was then faster than anyone else during subsequent speed checks, reaching 74 mph, and posted the fastest times for the bottom half.
She skied through the finish area, bumped into the inflated guardrail, lay down in the snow and raised her arms when she saw her time.
Vonn stood up, punched the air with her right fist and screamed in joy before placing her hands on her left cheek in the style of Stephen Curry’s “night, night” gesture.
The 2010 Olympic champion is aiming for another gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February. Women’s Alpine skiing takes place on the famous Cortina d’Ampezzo course in the Dolomites, which Vonn mastered during her career with 12 World Cup victories.
“Obviously my target is Cortina, but if that’s how we start, I think I’m in a good position,” said Vonn, who will be favorite for another downhill victory on Saturday in St. Moritz.
44 victories in 24 years
Friday’s race was Vonn’s 125th World Cup downhill start in her storied career, 24 years after her first in Lake Louise, Canada.
She has now won a record 44, including in St. Moritz in 2012, and has 83 race victories across all World Cup disciplines.
Her previous victory in Are came a few weeks after Vonn won bronze in downhill at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games in South Korea, won by Sofia Goggia, who placed fourth on Friday. These Olympics were Vonn’s fourth and the last in which she competed.
She won gold in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2009 world championships in Val d’Isère, France.
Such is Vonn’s dominance in downhill that she has more World Cup victories in the fastest discipline than the other 60 riders combined who started Friday, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said.
Wounded rivals
A series of serious injuries this year deprived overall World Cup winners Federica Brignone and Lara Gut-Behrami, Olympic champion Corinne Suter and American hopeful Lauren Macuga from Friday’s race.
Double Olympic gold medalist Michelle Gisin underwent back surgery on Thursday after a serious fall during a training run on the fastest part of the St. Moritz course.
“I’m really sorry for Michelle, but that’s what ski racing is all about,” said Vonn, who suggested she skied even better in super-G, which is contested Sunday at the Swiss resort.
