Lindsey Vonn / Val d’Isère 2025 / GEPA pictures
Zauchensee women’s World Cup downhill start list: Olympic pressure rises as Vonn leads a wide-open field
Zauchensee is an interesting annual stop on the women’s World Cup tour and a true test of downhill skiing. The course opens with a pitch that immediately demands total commitment, then flows into a complex middle section marked by major directional changes. Those direction changes punish poor line choice immediately. After the final decisive left-foot turn, the track drops onto a fast pitch that builds speed rapidly, finishing with a big jump before the line. It is a track that asks clear questions from the first gate to the finish and rarely gives anything back.
Saturday’s race lands at a pivotal moment in an Olympic season. Zauchensee is the fourth of six downhill races before the Olympics and the fourth of nine downhill races on the 2025–26 World Cup calendar. For established stars, the focus is on sharpening form and building momentum. For most others, the window to earn Olympic selection from their national federations is narrowing quickly.
Women’s World Cup downhill podiums — 2025–26 season
| Race | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. Moritz DH 1 | 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (USA) | 🇦🇹 Magdalena Egger (AUT) | 🇦🇹 Mirjam Puchner (AUT) |
| St. Moritz DH 2 | 🇩🇪 Emma Aicher (GER) | 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (USA) | 🇮🇹 Sofia Goggia (ITA) |
| Val d’Isère DH | 🇦🇹 Cornelia Hütter (AUT) | 🇩🇪 Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (GER) | 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (USA) |
Through three races, the discipline has delivered three different winners, a clear signal of just how competitive the downhill picture remains. Only Lindsey Vonn has reached the podium more than once.
Stifel US Ski Team’s Vonn remains the defining storyline
Lindsey Vonn arrives in Zauchensee as the downhill points leader and one of the sport’s most compelling figures. Now 41, she returned from retirement last season and currently anchors the discipline with unmatched experience. Vonn entered Zauchensee with 69 career World Cup downhill podiums and 44 downhill victories, the most by any downhill skier in history.
She wears bib 6, placing her early in a start order stacked with contenders on a course that demands commitment from the opening meters.
The elite WCSL seven, ordered by bib (with 2026 DH season rank)
Federica Brignone does not appear on the Zauchensee start list as she continues her return from the injury she sustained last spring. She is back on the snow and skiing, but she will not race on Saturday. With Brignone out, the elite group effectively extends by one spot.
- Bib 6 — 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (1984) — DH Season Rank: 1 — HEAD / Oakley
- Bib 7 — 🇩🇪 Kira Weidle-Winkelmann (1996) — DH Season Rank: 5
- Bib 8 — 🇦🇹 Mirjam Puchner (1992) — DH Season Rank: 8 — Atomic
- Bib 10 — 🇮🇹 Laura Pirovano (1997) — DH Season Rank: 7 — HEAD
- Bib 11 — 🇩🇪 Emma Aicher (2003) — DH Season Rank: 2 — HEAD
- Bib 12 — 🇦🇹 Cornelia Hütter (1992) — DH Season Rank: 3 — HEAD
- Bib 15 — 🇮🇹 Sofia Goggia (1992) — DH Season Rank: 4 — Atomic
That sequence ensures the race will reveal itself early. Zauchensee’s terrain does not allow athletes to ease into rhythm; line choice and commitment are tested immediately, and mistakes compound quickly through the middle section.
🇺🇸 Stifel U.S. Ski Team starters
The Stifel U.S. Ski Team brings a deep roster to Zauchensee, joined by one American racing independently. All U.S. starters are listed below, ordered by bib, with year of birth, downhill season rank when applicable, and partner equipment only.
- Bib 6 — 🇺🇸 Lindsey Vonn (1984) — DH Rank: 1 — 240 pts — HEAD / Oakley
- Bib 13 — 🇺🇸 Breezy Johnson (1996) — DH Rank: 9 — 102 pts — Atomic
- Bib 16 — 🇺🇸 Jacqueline Wiles (1992) — DH Rank: 18 — 40 pts
- Bib 22 — 🇺🇸 Keely Cashman (1999) — DH Rank: 23 — 20 pts — HEAD
- Bib 28 — 🇺🇸 Allison Mollin (2004) — DH Rank: 22 — 22 pts — Atomic
- Bib 50 — 🇺🇸 Tricia Mangan (1998) — HEAD
- Bib 56 — 🇺🇸 Mary Bocock (2003)
Independent USA starter
- Bib 43 — 🇺🇸 Haley Cutler (1997) — DH Rank: 26 — 15 pts — Atomic
(Cutler races independently out of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.)
Why Zauchensee matters now
With only two Olympic-qualification downhills remaining after this weekend, Zauchensee represents more than another stop on the calendar. It is a measuring stick—one that separates athletes who are solidifying their place from those still fighting to earn Olympic selection from their national federations. The course demands commitment from the opening steep, discipline through the challenging middle section, and confidence at full speed into the finish.
The women’s downhill takes place on Saturday, January 10th, and begins at 5:30 a.m. ET / 12:30 a.m. PT. Fans in Great Britain can watch the race at 10:30
- United States: Live and replay coverage on Peacocktv
- Canada: Stream on CBC Sports
- Great Britain: Both races air live on Discovery+
Daily Program Women’s Downhill
Click on the image to download
Women’s Downhill Start List
About the Author: Peter Lange
