In her one hundred and twenty fifth profession World Cup downhill begin, 24 years after her debut and eight years since her final main win, Lindsey Vonn sped to a shocking victory in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Friday.
It was as if Vonn introduced to the world that not solely is she again after a six-year retirement, the 41-year-old American slopes legend is able to rule downhill snowboarding once more on the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
And it got here solely six weeks after she informed The Instances that she “had nothing to show.” In October she in contrast her comeback to that of Michael Jordan, saying that his return from retirement isn’t “a part of his legacy in any respect.”
“I’ve already succeeded,” Vonn continued. “I’ve already received. I used to be on the rostrum. I’ve the document for the oldest medalist in World Cup by seven years. I really feel like this journey has been unimaginable.”
Lindsey Vonn, middle, celebrates her FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Ladies’s Downhill win in St Moritz, Switzerland.
(Mateo Sgambato/Getty Photos)
Vonn’s math is appropriate. She actually is the oldest girl to win a World Cup race and has 83 victories throughout all World Cup disciplines. Federica Brignone of Italy set a document a yr in the past when she received a World Cup race — she received 10, truly — at age 34. Brignone is just not racing this weekend due to an harm.
Vonn is the one American girl to win an Olympics gold medal in downhill, having completed so on the 2010 Vancouver Video games. She additionally received bronze medals within the super-G 2010 and downhill in 2018.
Oh, and he or she is the primary World Cup winner with titanium implants in her proper knee.
Vonn completed with a flourish Friday, taking the lead by 1.16 seconds forward of Mirjam Puchner of Austria regardless of trailing by 0.61 after the primary two time checks. Vonn’s eventual victory was by 0.98 seconds when upstart Austrian Magdalena Egger took second place.
After a ho-hum first half, Vonn posted the quickest occasions of anybody by the underside half, reaching 74 mph and finishing the course in 1 minute, 29.63 seconds.
“It was a tremendous day, I couldn’t be happier, fairly emotional,” Vonn informed Swiss broadcaster RTS. “I felt good this summer season however I wasn’t positive how briskly I used to be. I assume I do know now how briskly I’m.”
After laying within the snow past the end line, Vonn noticed her time and raised her arms. She stood and yelped, then positioned her palms to her left cheek in a purely American gesture, mimicking NBA star Steph Curry’s “Evening, night time.”
Lindsey Vonn takes 1st place throughout the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Ladies’s Downhill.
(Alain Grosclaude/Getty Photos)
“In my thoughts, I used to be considering, ‘OK, effectively, I simply must ski the pitch actually clear and carry my velocity down,’” Vonn informed reporters after the race. “I nonetheless didn’t ski the most effective that I might have on the compression on the backside, however I attempted to be dynamic, tried to be clear, the best way I’ve been snowboarding and coaching, and it was fairly stable.”
Vonn has been working with a brand new coach, 36-time World Cup winner Aksel Lund Svindal. The partnership is already proving promising.
“We labored actually laborious, not simply me however my complete workforce, from the gear to the bodily coaching, additionally employed Aksel,” Vonn mentioned. “I knew I used to be snowboarding quick, however you by no means know till the primary race. I believe I used to be slightly sooner than I anticipated. I believe I had an amazing run, however I additionally made some errors, so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
Vonn will participate in one other downhill race Saturday and a super-G on Sunday.
