Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, reacts in the finish area following her run in the women’s World Cup downhill ski race at Lake Louise, Alberta, Friday, Dec. 4, 2015.
Advertisement
The 70th win of her record-breaking career also earned Vonn, 31, another 100 points and vaulted her into first in the overall World Cup chase with 300 points this season.
Vonn kneed herself in the face and crossed the finish line with blood dribbling from her mouth when she won a downhill in Lake Louise in 2009.
Gut was looking for her third consecutive super G victory at the venue, but her run – 1.77 seconds off Vonn’s winning pace – proved only good enough for seventh place. “I’m sure once she gets the hang of it, she’s going to be risky. I felt super comfortable, and both of them were left-footed turns into the jumps, so just flattening out the skis the timing was fine”, she noted. “Lake Louise has proven again it’s my favourite place on the tour and I’m leaving here with a lot of confidence”.
Don’t look now, but Vonn is in striking distance of Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 career World Cup victories, a mark for many years believed to be untouchable.
“I nearly went down pretty hard there. Even though I can’t see the ground, I’m still in my tuck trying to go faster”.
“It’s something I can fix for tomorrow and I’m definitely happy about that”. Franck Fife Getty Images Vonn emulates former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow as she kneels before taking the podium after winning the women’s super-G on the Birds of Prey at the Audi FIS World Cup on December 7, 2011 in Beaver Creek, Colo.
“I watched her run and I thought she did really well”, Vonn said.
Fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin, fresh from record-breaking slalom victories in Aspen last week, made her World Cup super-G debut on Sunday. I did my best, took full advantage of my starting number and had a flawless run. The Austrian who is already having the speed season of her career after only two races wasn’t even a skier until the age of 10. “It was a really fast super G today and I think that is a little bit for me”.
However, Vonn spent the week playing down her early-season success.
Larisa Yurkiw’s best results in ski racing have come while operating as a team of one. Huetter’s teammate Ramona Siebenhofer was 1.07 seconds back in third.
Advertisement
The strength of the Canadian women’s ski team shifted in recent years from speed events to the technical races of slalom and giant slalom.
