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Lindsey Vonn continued her remarkable comeback as she won her second World Cup downhill of the season on Saturday at Altenmarkt-Zauchensee in Austria.
Vonn, 41, who has had her right knee rebuilt using titanium implants, has proven that she is the standout downhill racer heading into her fifth Winter Olympics.
On a shortened course that took her fewer than 67 seconds to complete, Vonn still clocked 130 kph (81 mph) for one of the fastest speeds any women’s racer will hit this season. She was 0.37 seconds faster than Kajsa Vickoff Lie in tricky, overcast conditions.
“I knew what it was going to take to win today,” she said. “It was a sprint and I had to give it everything I had, definitely had to risk a little bit.”
Vonn returned to skiing after being in retirement for six years and said she might be in the best shape of her career despite having undergone partial knee replacement surgery. With each victory, Vonn extends her record as the oldest race winner in the 60-season history of the World Cup circuit. Her 84th career win on the circuit was her record-extending 45th in downhill.
LINDSEY VONN QUALIFIES FOR FIFTH WINTER OLYMPICS
Vonn extended her lead in the season-long World Cup downhill standings after finishing second and third in the other races. Saturday’s race was the fourth of nine scheduled downhills in the World Cup this season.
She earned 100 race points and now leads by 129 points from Emma Aicher of Germany, who placed sixth Saturday. Vonn is chasing a ninth World Cup downhill season title a full 10 years after her eighth, when she also won in Zauchensee.
“I felt like I was skiing better in super-G this summer,” she said, “but when I got to the races in St. Moritz everything was working really well right from the start.”
Vonn appears to be a strong contender for the gold medal race at the Milan Cortina Olympics, a race she won at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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