One day later, Vonn shatters all-time win record with more to come

Two days. Two victories. And just like that Lindsey Vonn stands alone atop the record books with her 63rd career victory, passing Annemarie Moser-Proell and her 62 wins set 35 years ago. It was Vonn’s first super G win of the season on the final day of racing in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“I didn’t think it was going to get better than yesterday, but today just topped it,” said Vonn.

Soft snow still covered the track after heavy snowfall earlier in the week, but Vonn, who claimed yesterday that soft snow doesn’t usually suit her style, seemed to handle the conditions just fine yet again. In a race where the top 3 in the finish (Anna Fenninger, Tina Weirather and Tina Maze) were separated by a mere 0.14 seconds, Vonn with bib 22 was the last of the top seed to leave the start and left no doubt who was the best skier on the day. She blew the race wide open and took away the lead from Fenninger with a commanding 0.85-second advantage.

“Today I felt a lot better, a lot more loose, I had no pressure, I was just skiing and skiing the best that I could and I had a really good run and hopefully I can just continue moving forward like this,” said Vonn. “Like I said I feel a lot lighter and a lot less pressure on me and I can just ski my best.”

A day after her record-tying win and relieving herself of the stress of trying to match the record, Vonn appeared relaxed in the start and skied smooth and powerfully down the technically challenging Cortina course, looking for speed at every turn. She was clearly in a league of her own on her way to her first super G win of the season, her fifth in Cortina, and a women’s alpine record 21st super G win of her career. Only Hermann Maier has more wins in the discipline with 24. She was also given a nice surprise when she finished the race and was greeted by her boyfriend Tiger Woods, who just one day earlier was watching her race over the internet from his home in Florida.

“Yeah I am so surprised that he is here. He’s got training, he has a tournament in like a week so I didn’t expect him to be here at all and it’s really cool,” Vonn said “I tried my best and I was definitely pushing the limits the whole way down, sometimes I was a little bit out of control, but I maintained the speed, especially on the bottom part of the course. I’m so happy to finish the weekend with win number 63 and my family and Tiger here. It’s a really, really special day.”

The race was full of plenty excitement leading up to Vonn’s run. The soft conditions were not forgiving and any attempt at recoveries for athletes who were off-line caused trouble. There were several terrible crashes led by early runners Daniela Merighetti, who was on yesterday’s podium, and Dominique Gisin, but both were able to ski away seemingly unscathed at the time. Later reports confirmed that Merighetti is undergoing an MRI on her right knee in Zurich and that Gisin broke her jawbone in two places. In the end, there were a total of 17 DNF’s on the day due to the challenging set and snow.

The lead changed hands several times until the heavy hitters came in the late teens and early twenties. Anna Fenninger skied well to take the lead away from teammate Cornelia Huetter, who had held an early lead and ultimately ended up in a tie for fourth, the best World Cup super G result of her career. Fenninger held off the challenges of Maze and Weirather — barely — as they finished just behind in fourth and third overall, respectively. But then came Vonn, dashing Fenninger’s hopes for her first super G win of the season.

Weirather struggled at the start of the season, with only one podium — a third in the opening downhill in Lake Louise. She skied a solid, attacking run today and her excitement when she crossed the finish line in second, 0.07 behind Fenninger, was among the best of the day. She was eventually bumped back to third by Vonn, but was happy with her skiing and result.

Cortina has historically provided successful results for the Americans and today was no different, with the team landing four in the top 20. Julia Mancuso finished 12th, Laurenne Ross 17th, and Stacey Cook 19th. Members of the U.S. Ski Team, as well as Vonn’s family members, could be seen wearing record-breaking t-shirts with the number 63 on them in the finish following their runs. The women’s speed team, who finished first in the world two years ago but struggled last year in Vonn’s absence, has rebounded this season with several top-5 finishes and podiums — led by Vonn.

“I know it’s a big achievement (63 wins), but I have to focus on the skiing and I can’t let everyone else’s expectations get into my head,” said Vonn. “That was my goal this weekend was to try to ski my best and I thought I did a really good job in all three races.”

It many ways it is scary for the rest of the competition to see how confident and relaxed Vonn now looks and to consider how she will carry this momentum moving forward. In past seasons when she has found her form, as she clearly has now, she has gone on to dominating performances by winning race after race. While she is no longer the four-event threat she once was, Vonn is once again the most dominating force on the women’s speed tour.

Her win today was her first in super G victory since December of 2012, and it matched the Cortina super G record held by Renate Goetschl. She now has four wins on the season and the speed races continue next weekend in St. Moritz. It is then onto Vail/Beaver Creek for the 2015 World Championships where Vonn has set herself up as the favorite yet again.

“I feel like I’ve been skiing really well in super G, but I didn’t have much training in the preparation period and my timing was just a little bit off and now I finally feel like my timing is back,” admitted Vonn. “I had really good training in Beaver Creek before coming over to Europe this time and I have confidence so everything seems to be working well.”

See more photos from the race here.

The Scoop

By Hank McKee

1 Vonn, Head/Head/Head

2 Fenninger, Head/Head/Head

3 Weirather, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

4 Maze, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic

4 Huetter, Volkl/Tecnica/Marker

6 Gut, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

7 Kling, Head/Head/Head

8 Goergl, Head/Head/Head

8 Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange

10 Hosp, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer 

Women’s World Cup super G, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Jan. 19, 2015:

• The race was backed up one day when the Cortina downhill was delayed due to weather. … It is the 18^th of 34 races on the women’s 2015 World Cup schedule. … It is the fourth of eighth scheduled super G’s, the third to be held. … It is the 95^th World Cup race hosted by Cortina, the third this season. … It is the 30^th  World Cup super G at the site.
• It is the record-breaking 63^rd career World Cup win for Lindsey Vonn giving her more wins in history than any other female competitor. … She eclipses Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 35-year-old mark of 62 wins. … It is her 21^st career super G win, which is also a women’s record. … She trails only Hermann Maier’s 24 in super G wins. … It is her ninth World Cup win at Cortina and her fifth in super G. … Renate Goetschl won 10 times at Cortina. … Vonn and Goetschl each have five SG wins at the site.  It is Vonn’s fourth win of the season, her first in super G. … All of her finishes this season are top-10 placings. … The winning margin is .85 of a second. … Top five finishers are within the same second. … Top 10 are within two seconds.
• It is the 32^nd career World Cup podium for Anna Fenninger … her 15^th in super G. … It is her third podium at Cortina. … It is her fifth podium of the season, four of those being second-place finishes.
• It is the 18^th career World Cup podium for Tina Weirather … her seventh SG podium, her fourth Cortina podium, and her second podium of the season.
• It is the 155^th time Julia Mancuso has finished in the top 12 of a World Cup race … the sixth time this season. … It is the seventh score of the season for Laurenne Ross. … It is the 96^th career scoring finish for Stacey Cook and her seventh of the season.
• Tina Maze (fourth in race) maintains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 972-641 over Anna Fenninger. … Mikaela Shiffrin (did not race) holds third with 605pts. … Vonn moves to fourth with 538pts. … Larisa Yurkiw is the top Canadian overall in 28^th place with 177pts.
• Fenninger holds the lead of the super G standings 192-190 over Lara Gut (sixth in race). … Vonn is third with 180pts. … Mancuso is seventh in super G with 102pts. … Yurkiw is 32^nd with 13pts.  
• Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup standings 31169-1928 over the U,S. … Sweden is third with 15118pts. … Canada is ninth with 482pts. 

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