Lindsey Vonn might surpass Ingemar Stenmark, after all.
Vonn got her 84th career World Cup victory Saturday, Jan. 10 with a win in the downhill at Zauchensee, Austria. It’s her second win of the season, and puts her two behind Stenmark. Vonn has at least three more races before the Winter Olympics, including a super-G race Sunday.
‘I honestly thought with my start number, I had no chance,’ said Vonn, who started sixth. ‘There’s so much snow and there wasn’t really a track at No. 6. I thought I had to risk a lot with my line to stay in the hunt. I think I executed my plan really well.’
Snow has been an issue the last two days, with the second training run having to be canceled Friday because of it. More snow was falling Saturday, and Vonn said she raised the issue of the state of the course before the race. She was told that snow was being cleared.
But it could have been better, she said.
‘It’s tough. When you don’t trust the conditions, it’s safety and it’s also fairness,’ Vonn said. ‘It’s a hard line to walk. I think they could have had more slippers, more course crew. I think they could have done a better job, for sure.’
The conditions caused Vonn to take a different approach than other skiers. While others went wide through the turns, Vonn kept a tight, straight line. That allowed her to pick up time in the bottom section of the course, and pass previous leader Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway.
Vonn took the lead after the third interval, and extended it in the last section of the course. She glanced at the scoreboard after crossing the finish line, then gave a couple fist pumps as the crowd cheered. Her time of 1:06.24 was 0.37 seconds ahead of Vickhoff Lie.
‘I didn’t feel like I was doing anything crazy, but it definitely was a much different line than everyone else was taking,’ Vonn said. ‘I think that’s why I was able to ski a little bit faster than the rest.’
Fellow American Jackie Wiles was third, 0.48 behind Vonn. It was her first podium in almost two years, and first time since 2018 that the United States had two women on a downhill podium.
Three other U.S. women finished in the top 20, with Breezy Johnson seventh, Allison Mollin in 14th and Keely Cashman tying for 18th.
‘Being on the podium with her again, it’s super special. And Breezy is right there, too,’ Wiles said. ‘It’s a good day.’
The win extended Vonn’s lead in the season downhill standings, and moved her up to sixth in the overall race.
‘Not in downhill,’ Vonn said when asked if she expected this strong of a start. ‘I felt like I was skiing better in super-G this summer. But when I got to the races, everything was working really well right from the start.
‘I’m just trying to keep the confidence going, the good skiing going.’
This is Vonn’s second win in four downhill races this season, making what was already a remarkable comeback story simply stunning.
Vonn, now 41, retired in 2019 because of the toll a series of serious injuries had taken on her body. But a partial knee replacement in the spring of 2024 had Vonn feeling so good she wondered if she could race again. She returned to the World Cup circuit in December of 2024, and her first season was one of mixed results before she finished with a silver medal in the super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.
With an entire off-season to train and fine-tune her equipment, though, Vonn has been dominant. She’s been fourth or better in every race, and been on the podium in each of her four downhill races. She also was third in her most recent super-G, at Val d’Isère, France.
Her early success this season puts Stenmark back in Vonn’s sights. The Swedish great won a then-record 86 races, and Vonn had hoped to beat that. But she was three shy when she retired in 2019.
Mikaela Shiffrin has since broken Stenmark’s record, getting her 87th victory in 2023. She’s put that mark out of reach, probably forever, now at 106 World Cup wins.