The queen of downhill skiing is well and truly back. At age 41, still faster than the rest.
Lindsey Vonn raced to a stunningly fast win in a World Cup downhill at St. Moritz on Friday to earn her first victory in nearly eight years — and the first in her comeback with titanium implants in her right knee after a five-year retirement.
The United States ski great seized the lead by an astonishing 1.16 seconds ahead of Mirjam Puchner of Austria. Even wilder was that Vonn trailed by 0.61 after the first two time checks at the Swiss resort.
Vonn’s lead was later cut to 0.98 — still a massive margin in downhill — when unheralded Magdalena Egger took second place from teammate Puchner.
“It was an amazing day, I couldn’t be happier, pretty 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.”
Soon after, Vonn shed tears on the podium in the finish area when The Star-Spangled Banner played.
It was a perfect start to her Olympic season to get a first victory since a downhill in March 2018 at Are, Sweden.
Vonn’s superb debut working with new coach Aksel Lund Svindal, a men’s downhill great who won the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics title, suggests their stellar partnership is paying off.
Her run Friday looked routine when she dropped tenths of seconds to Puchner’s time on the top half of the sunbathed Corviglia course, where the finish is at altitude above 2,000 meters (6,500 feet).
Vonn then was faster than anyone through the next speed checks, touching 119 kph (74 mph), and posted the fastest time splits for the bottom half.
She skied through the finish area and bumped against the inflated safety barrier, lay down in the snow and raised her arms on seeing her time.
Night, night
Vonn got up, punched the air with her right fist and shrieked with joy before putting her hands to her left cheek in the style of Steph Curry’s “Night, night” gesture.
The 2010 Olympic champion is targeting another gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Games in February. Women’s Alpine skiing is at the storied Cortina d’Ampezzo course in the Dolomites, which Vonn has mastered in her career with 12 World Cup race wins.
“Obviously my goal is Cortina but if this is the way we start I think I’m in a good spot,” said Vonn, who will be favored for another downhill win Saturday at St. Moritz.
44 wins across 24 years
Friday’s race was Vonn’s 125th start in World Cup downhill in her storied career, 24 years after the first at Lake Louise, Canada.
She has now won a record-extending 44 of them, including at St. Moritz in 2012, and has 83 race victories across all World Cup disciplines.
Her previous win at Are came weeks after Vonn took bronze in downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea won by Sofia Goggia, who placed fourth Friday. That Olympics was Vonn’s fourth and the last she attended.
She also won gold in downhill at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, and at the 2009 world championships at Val d’Isere, France.
Such is Vonn’s dominance in downhill, she has more World Cup wins in the fastest discipline than the other 60 racers combined who started Friday, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation said.
Injured rivals
A series of serious injuries this year robbed Friday’s race of World Cup overall winners Federica Brignone and Lara Gut-Behrami, Olympic champion Corinne Suter and emerging U.S. prospect Lauren Macuga.
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Michelle Gisin had surgery on her back Thursday, after crashing hard in a training run at the fastest part of the St. Moritz course.
“I feel so sorry for Michelle, but that’s ski racing,” said Vonn, who suggested she is skiing even better in super-G, which is raced Sunday at the Swiss resort.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.