LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Lindsey Vonn is quickly getting up to speed, just not fast enough to catch up to Tina Maze in the women’s World Cup downhill opener Friday.
The Slovenian standout finished in 1 minute, 50.98 seconds, beating Anna Fenninger of Austria by 0.45 of a second. Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein placed third.
Vonn wound up in eighth place, 0.85 of a second behind the winning time, as she returned to the World Cup circuit following a second knee operation that kept her out of the Sochi Olympics last winter. It was her first race since last December in Val d’Isere, France, where she failed to finish a downhill.
The four-time overall World Cup champion labeled her performance as “OK.”
That’s because this is a course Vonn typically dominates. Of her 59 career World Cup race victories, 14 have come at Lake Louise.
“I think I skied really well on the technical parts, and definitely can clean up some turns,” Vonn said. “It was a really solid start. I’m happy with it.”
The Americans had a strong showing, placing four skiers in the top nine.
Laurenne Ross led the way as she placed fourth, barely missing a spot on the podium. Julia Mancuso finished seventh and Stacey Cook placed ninth.
“I didn’t really expect anything out of today, but it does feel good to come down and know I can be right in there with the best girls,” Ross said.
Alice McKennis of Glenwood Springs finished 28th. Katie Ryan of Aspen was 45th.
There’s another downhill race Saturday and a super-G competition Sunday.
Footnote. Four World Cup ski races scheduled in the French Alps next week have been canceled because of a lack of snow and rescheduled in Sweden.
The International Ski Federation said the warm temperature in the resorts of Val d’Isere and Courchevel was a concern and decided to move the events to the Swedish resort of Are.
A men’s World Cup giant slalom and slalom were scheduled for Dec. 13-14 in Val d’Isere, while Courchevel was set to host two technical races over the same weekend on the women’s World Cup circuit.
