CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — I won the downhill Saturday, and winning in Cortina is really special. Cortina was already special for me because it was where I got my first World Cup podium four years ago.
It’s a classic on the women’s circuit, like Kitzbuehel or Wengen for the men. It has been around for a really long time and it is a very coveted title, a very special race to win. All the great racers have won here, so it’s pretty cool to add my name to the list.
It also was a favorite of my role model and mentor, Picabo Street, who won here in 1995. She always talked a lot about Cortina and how much she liked it.
I now have 11 World Cup wins, eight in downhill. Picabo had nine World Cup wins, all in downhill. To be right with the woman who was my idol growing up is amazing. I feel really honored. I can’t believe I’m doing it, because she seemed so untouchable when I was growing up. She was just the best American woman ever in ski racing. Now my records are going beyond what she did, so I’m flabbergasted.
I reached the U.S. Ski Team just as her career was ending, and she went out of her way to help me. She believed I was going to be a great ski racer. She helped me with inspecting courses, with learning how to deal with the World Cup grind, lots of things. She gave me a lot of guidance and a lot of confidence. It really was a springboard. She helped me get to where I am.
I won Saturday by a substantial margin, .83 of a second. It was pretty close to a perfect run, and I was pretty happy.
I was a little frustrated with the two super-Gs, though. On Sunday I was fifth, only .02 of a second off the podium, and Monday I was fourth, only .01 off the podium. It was a bummer to be so close to third place two days in a row. On Monday — it was a make-up for the super-G canceled in Aspen on Dec. 8 — I made a huge mistake in the middle section, catching an edge on a bump that threw me way off line. I was happy to be fourth with an error like that, but it was frustrating because I was leading all the splits until then and had a chance to win.
Lindsey Vonn, a former Ski Club Vail member and the leading downhiller on the women’s World Cup, reports regularly from the tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer. Vonn is ranked No. 2 in the World Cup overall standings.
