Lindsey Vonn ties all-time win record with 62nd victory

The clouds parted and the sun shone on the Cortina d’Ampezzo track just in time for Lindsey Vonn to win her third downhill of the season and the 62nd World Cup race of her career, finally tying the record held by Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell.

Mother Nature had not been on Vonn’s side over the course of the week. Three of the past four speed races were canceled due to bad weather, constantly putting Vonn’s chance to make history on hold. The course crew worked tirelessly all day and night to prepare the track for today’s race after a huge snowstorm blanketed Cortina on Saturday. But it finally all came together — the weather, the course, and her skiing — giving Vonn the record she has long coveted, with the majority of her family in the stands to cheer her on as she etched her name once again into the record books.

“I’m so excited, it was a tough day out there the snow was a little bit soft, but I did the best that I could, I fought really hard and to have the 62nd win, with my whole family here … it just feels amazing and it’s such a special day,” said an ecstatic Vonn. “My mom’s never been to a World Cup in Europe before, so this is a pretty special moment for me and for my family. It’s similar to the Olympics where these records mean a lot and mean a lot to me and to my family and it’s very special to have them here.”

For most of the morning it appeared that the race was going to go the way of the Italians yet again. Daniela Merighetti started early — bib 4 — and held off favorites Tina Maze, Anna Fenninger, and Friday’s winner, Elena Fanchini. But it was clear when Vonn, running bib 20, pushed out of the start that today was her day. She skied with precision and aggression and even with a few bobbles, but gained time at each interval and crossed the finish with a 0.54-second advantage over Merighetti. Her jubilation in the finish, matched with equal parts relief, were undeniable as she collapsed to the ground in celebration.

“The snow was really soft, and I’m not normally good when the snow is soft. I like it when it’s a bit firmer and you know, I’m a originally from Minnesota and we used to race on ice so it just was a little bit soft for me,” said Vonn. “I wasn’t very fast on the top. I don’t really know what I did exactly, but I maintained my speed on the bottom and that’s where I won the race.”

Elisabeth Goergl, running two positions after Vonn, nearly stole the show. She charged out of the start and held the lead at each interval through the upper two-thirds of the course. A small mistake on the bottom threw her off the line and pushed her back to second, but Goergl’s excitement with her result almost matched that of Vonn’s.

“I like courses with really nice turns, when you have to mix technique and speed, which is the way it is up here in Cortina. But there are still things I can improve on this course and I will watch Lindsey’s video to see where she was faster,” said Goergl. “I felt I was right on the money after the first gates. I did well on the top but it was overall a great run all the way down. I heard I was a little bit faster than Lindsey in the upper part, but it was so much fun. I’m for sure really happy.”

Merighetti, who upset Vonn back in 2012 on this same hill to claim her one-and-only World Cup victory, was in the driver’s seat yet again, but this time Vonn ended up on the faster side of the clock. Merighetti ultimately ended up third, landing on her first podium in two years and the fifth of her career. She led a strong showing by the Italians, with teammates Fanchini and Johanna Schnarf finishing fourth and seventh, respectively.

The Americans had another strong day in Cortina. Laurenne Ross skied a solid race to finish ninth. Alice McKennis started early with bib 3 and had her best World Cup race since severely injuring her knee in 2013, finishing 11th. Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso made it five Americans in the top 20, finishing 16th and 18th, respectively.

But the day was all Vonn’s to savor. It was fitting that the site of her record-tying win was also the place where she earned her first World Cup podium, all the way back in January 2004. Her first win would come later that same year, in November in Lake Louise. Since that first podium in Cortina, she has amassed her record 62 wins, but also an astounding 107 podiums, four of those coming this season.

“When I got my first podium here I never thought I would make it this far in my career,” said Vonn. “That was the first time where I really thought I could be a contender in World Cup and never in a million years would I believe that I would break, or at least tie, the wins record.”

At the start of the season many wondered how Vonn would do coming back from multiple injuries. Would she be able to get back to her winning ways? Would she have the same confidence and form that led her to overall titles and win after win? Those questions were quickly answered when she won her second race of the season in a downhill in Lake Louise, and she has not looked back since.

“Of course, the last two years have been pretty tough and a lot of people counted me out and a lot of people thought I would never reach this record and a lot of people thought that I would never win again,” admitted Vonn. “I never stopped believing in myself, and I think I proved everyone wrong.”

She has not finished worse than 10th all season and has won three of the five downhills contested. If not for all the cancellations as of late, the record could have been broken sooner. Two days after finishing 10th on a shortened, foggy course where Vonn said she “felt the pressure” to break the record, she did just that and will now have the remainder of the season to ski free of pressure to see what more she can accomplish.

“I think 62 is more important to me (than 63). You know, now I feel like from here on out I’m already tied for number one so I’m just going to continue to try to win races, and I’m skiing for another three years so there is a lot of racing left in me. So I’ll just keep doing my best,” admitted Vonn. “That’s what I always kind of joked about as a child (winning the most World Cups), but I never really thought it would happen. Now I’m just focused on winning and doing the best I can in every race that I enter.”

The women have a super G tomorrow in Cortina and then move onto St. Moritz for the final race series before the 2015 Vail/Beaver Creek World Championships.

See more photos from the race here.

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

1 Vonn, Head/Head/Head

2 Goergl, Head/Head/Head

3 Merighetti, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

4 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look

5 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic

6 Gisin, Dynastar/Lange/

7 Schnarf, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer

8 Gut, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

9 Ross, Volkl/Lange/Marker

9 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head

Women’s World Cup downhill, Cortina d‘Ampezzo, Italy, Jan. 18, 2015:

• It is the 17^th of 34 races on the women’s World Cup calendar. … It is the fifth of eight scheduled downhills. … It is the originally scheduled Cortina downhill … and is the 94^th World Cup race hosted by Cortina, the 39^th downhill. … It is the second downhill held at the site this season, the first two days ago was won by Elena Fanchini. … The race was bumped one day because of heavy snowfall.
• It is the record-tying 62^nd career World Cup win for Lindsey Vonn. … She matches the 35-year-old all-time women’s World Cup win mark of 62 held by Annemarie Moser-Proell. Her 32^nd downhill win leaves her four behind Moser-Proell’s all-time downhill win mark of 36. … It is the 279^th U.S. World Cup win, the 84^th downhill win.
• The winning margin is .32 of a second. … Top six are within the same second. … Top 19 within two seconds. It is Vonn’s eighth win at Cortina, all since 2008. She is two shy of Renate Goetschl’s win mark at the site.
• It is the 41^st career World Cup podium for Elisabeth Goergl … her 13^th in downhill … and her sixth Cortina podium. … It is her third podium of the season.
• It is the fifth career World Cup podium for Daniella Merighetti … her first of the season. … And her second at Cortina where she won Jan. 14, 2012.
• It is the ninth career World Cup top 10 for Laurenne Ross … her fourth of the season … and second at Cortina this season. … Alice McKennis matches her eighth best career World Cup result. … She has placed 11^th four times, twice at Lake Louise and twice at Cortina. … It is her best placing of four scoring results this season. … It is the tenth best of 20 placings at Cortina for Stacey Cook. … It  is 31^st best of 38 Cortina scoring finishes for Julia Mancuso. … It is the 14^th best of 19 career scoring finishes for Larisa Yurkiw … her sixth score of the season.
• Tina Maze (fifth in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 922-605 over Mikaela Shiffrin (did not race). … Anna Fenninger (ninth in race) is third overall with 561pts. … Vonn is sixth with 438ts. … Yurkiw now leads all Canadians in 26^th place with 177pts.
• Vonn leads the downhill standings 358-233 over Maze. … Viktoria Rebensburg (23^rd in race) is third with 219pts. … Laurenne Ross is seventh with 169pts, Larisa Yurkiw is eighth with 166, and Julia Mancuso is ninth with 157pts.
• Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup standings 2953-1780 over the U.S. … Sweden is third with 1482pts. …Canada is eighth with 482pts. … The U.S. leads the downhill standings 876-750 over Austria.

Results