Lindsey Vonn claimed her first World Cup victory since January 2013 on Saturday at Lake Louise, Alberta, winning a downhill and sharing the podium with a pair of Californians to lead the first U.S. sweep of the top three places in a World Cup race.
Stacey Cook was second, 0.49 of a second behind, and Julia Mancuso was third, 0.57 back.
“I’m extremely happy to be on the top of the podium again, and also, with my other two teammates,” Vonn told reporters in the finish area. “It really couldn’t be a better day.”
It was Vonn’s first victory since a giant slalom win in Maribor, Slovenia, 10 days before she blew out her right knee racing super-G at the 2013 world championships in Schladming, Austria. Vonn attempted to come back last season but reinjured the knee training at Copper Mountain that November, preventing her from racing in the Sochi Olympics.
The victory was Vonn’s 60th on the World Cup, putting her two behind the all-time women’s record held by Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria, and was her 15th at Lake Louise, sometimes dubbed “Lake Lindsey” because of her dominance there.
“It’s just finding my rhythm and finding my confidence,” Vonn said. “Every day has gotten better here, and today I went a little bit more aggressive than I did yesterday and took some more chances. I’m finally feeling confident going fast again. I’m finally back to where I feel confident and I’m pushing the limits. I want more speed, and I haven’t had that yet — until today.”
Vonn was eighth in Friday’s downhill, her first race in nearly a year. She analyzed video and made adjustments.
“I saw that was a little bit high in my tuck, I wasn’t pushing myself as hard as I know I can,” Vonn said. “I think that comes from not having trained that much. I made the adjustment, I tried to stay deeper in my tuck, I tried to be more aggressive in some turns and I think it paid off. I was just much faster all the way down.”
Vonn said the U.S. women’s speed team has “a good energy” now. Two seasons ago the U.S. women dominated downhill but last season in Vonn’s absence, the others struggled.
“We have a great team dynamic and everyone is excited for this season,” Vonn said. “I think also, having the world championships in Vail has made everyone really excited to try to get some medals in our hometown.”
Vonn may break Moser-Proell’s record before those world championships (Feb. 2-15) at Beaver Creek. She will have four World Cup downhills and five super-Gs before then, including Sunday’s super-G at Lake Louise.
“It’s always something that I kind of think about, but it’s mostly something that helps motivate me in the summer when I’m working hard in the gym,” Vonn said of the record. “Right now I’m just focused on trying to ski well (Sunday) and trying to keep improving. I haven’t had that much training, so I’m not expecting this kind of result all the time just yet, but it definitely gives me a lot of confidence for the season.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or
