> At a Glance
> – Lindsey Vonn won her second World Cup downhill in four races this season
> – She leads the season standings by 129 points after four of nine scheduled downhills
> – Five U.S. women finished in the top 20 on Saturday
> – Why it matters: Vonn’s resurgence at 41 positions her as a serious medal threat for the Feb. 8 Olympic race on the very Cortina slope she just conquered
Lindsey Vonn keeps proving age is just a number. On Saturday she blasted down a shortened Cortina d’Ampezzo course in under 67 seconds, clocking 130 kph to claim her 45th career downhill victory and extend the World Cup record she already owns.
How the Race Unfolded
Overcast skies and soft snow made the sprint tricky, yet Vonn finished 0.37 seconds ahead of Norway’s Kajsa Vickhoff Lie. Her teammate Jacqueline Wiles snatched third, 0.48 back, echoing the same 1-3 U.S. finish the pair posted here eight years ago.
> “It feels amazing. I try to enjoy every single second I am out here because it is just so fun to go fast,”
> Vonn said after punching the air at the finish.
U.S. Depth on Display
The Stars-and-Stripes filled five of the top 20 spots:
- Breezy Johnson – 7th
- Allison Mollin – career-best 14th at age 21
- Keely Cashman – tied 18th, less than a second behind Vonn
Injury Cloud Overshadows Podium
A 25-minute delay came after Austrian prospect Magdalena Egger crashed into the nets. Egger-who placed second behind Vonn at St. Moritz last month-suffered a torn right-knee ACL and will miss the rest of the season, the Austrian ski federation confirmed.
Medal Countdown Begins
Vonn now owns 84 World Cup wins, the most by any woman in history. A victory on Feb. 8 at the Milan-Cortina Olympics would add a second Olympic downhill gold to the one she captured in Vancouver 2010.
> “I knew what it was going to take to win today. It was a sprint and I had to give it everything I had,”
> she explained.
Season Standings Snapshot
| Athlete | Points | Gap to Vonn |
|---|---|---|
| Lindsey Vonn | 340* | – |
| Emma Aicher | 211 | -129 |
| Kajsa Vickhoff Lie | 180 | -160 |
\*After four of nine races
Key Takeaways
- Vonn leads the downhill crystal-globe chase by 129 points
- The shortened Cortina course still produced speeds of 130 kph
- Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champ, trailed Vonn by nearly a full second in 17th
- Defending Olympic champ Corinne Suter returned from injury and finished over a second behind
With five downhills left before the Olympics, Vonn’s titanium-reinforced knee is driving her toward another historic finish.
