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Lindsey Vonn’s extraordinary comeback from retirement and serious knee surgery gathered pace on Friday when she became the oldest skier to win a World Cup race at the age of 41.
The American, who had not raced for five years until she returned to the circuit last year, destroyed the women’s downhill field in San Moritz to win by nearly a second.
It was Vonn’s first downhill victory for nearly eight years, and the first in her comeback with titanium implants in her right knee. And it establishes her as one of the favourites for the downhill in February’s Winter Olympics in Milan–Cortina, the event she won her only gold medal in, back in Vancouver in 2010.
“It was an amazing day, I couldn’t be happier, pretty emotional,” Vonn said. “I felt good this summer but I wasn’t sure how fast I was. I guess I know now how fast I am.”
Vonn led by 1.16sec after a storming first run and she consolidated her advantage in the second to secure her 44th career win in World Cup downhills – and her 83rd World Cup victory of her career – with Austria’s Magdalena Egger in second place, 0.98sec back.
After her victory was confirmed, Vonn first collapsed into the snow before thrusting her ski poles in the air to celebrate. It was a perfect start to her Olympic season to get a first victory since a downhill in March 2018 at Are, Sweden.
“Obviously my goal is Cortina but if this is the way we start I think I’m in a good spot,” she admitted.
The American has another downhill on Saturday followed by a Super-G on Sunday – and the ominous news for her rivals is that she thinks there is still room for improvement.
“I still didn’t ski the best I could have on the compression on the bottom but I just tried to be dynamic, tried to be clean, the way I’ve been skiing in training and it was pretty solid,” she said.
“I’m actually really excited for Super-G because I’m skiing better in Super-G than I am in downhill.”
The previous oldest World Cup race winner was Switzerland’s Didier Cuche at 37 in a men’s Super-G in 2012. Italy’s Federica Brignone was the oldest previous female winner at 34 last season.
