Lindsey Vonn wins women’s World Cup downhill race

Extreme Sports, Misc | admin | February 26, 2011 at 7:21 am

Lindsey Vonn showed she is back to her best by winning a women’s World Cup downhill race on Saturday, just weeks after concussion curtailed her world championship campaign.
Lindsey Vonn was slightly behind Slovenia’s Tina Maze at the first time split on the Olympia course but won in one minute 40.93 sec. for her seventh win of the season and 40th overall — extending her American record for men and women.
“It’s still hard to believe I have 40 victories. It was tough conditions, pretty flat light and it was hard to see all the terrain and the speeds were high today,” the 26-year-old Vonn said. “It’s weird. I never thought I would be able to get 40 victories. It’s a big number, so I’m incredibly happy. I feel lucky that I’m able to do what I love every day.”
Maze finished 0.13 sec. behind Vonn in Saturday’s downhill, while overall World Cup leader Maria Riesch of Germany was 0.21 seconds back in third. Riesch won Friday’s super-combi, with Maze second.
Lindsey Vonn was racing for the first time since withdrawing from the latter part of the world championships because of a concussion in pre-competition training. She finished sixth in Friday’s super-combined race.
When she finished her run, Vonn clenched her fist and threw her head back in relief as she crossed the finish line in the Swedish resort of Are, then waved to the crowd.
Vonn admitted what she calls the “tabloid gossip” surrounding her concussion really got to her. She finished second behind Austria’s Elisabeth Goergl in downhill at the world championships, but then pulled out of the latter part of the worlds, missing the giant slalom and slalom, and also the team event.
“No one was really listening to what I was saying, either. It was definitely a really hard time for me,” she said. “Some people were saying that I shouldn’t race because it’s too dangerous, and some people were saying that I’m just making it up, that it’s not even true. You know, it’s like tabloid gossip.”