LAKE LOUISE, AB (Dec. 6) – Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) reclaimed her title as Queen of the Downhill at Lake Louise on Saturday, winning her 60th Audi FIS Ski World Cup and capping a first-ever U.S. Ski Team podium sweep. At the World Cup dubbed Lake Lindsey, she regained her crown as she pulled out the win by almost a half second. Early-running Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) took the lead and held it until Vonn bumped her into second. Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) rounded out the podium in third. It was the best finish in two seasons for all three athletes.
Out of her 60 career World Cup wins, 15 of Vonn’s first places have come in Lake Louise and she did it again. Vonn looked fast and strong, keeping her speed up throughout the run and never losing the lead. When she crossed through the finish and looked up at the time, she let out a scream of excitement, thrilled to be back in action. “Every day has gotten better here,” Vonn said in the finish. “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.”
It was the first ever all-American podium in alpine World Cup ski racing. It also marked four Americans in the top ten, with Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) in sixth.
The rest of the Americans had to deal with a dark, snowy course, but had good results. Also coming back from multiple knee surgeries, Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO) took 18th. Jackie Wiles (Aurora, OR) 37th and Katie Ryan (Aspen, CO) 46th. Julia Ford (Plymouth, NH) did not finish.
The women will look to make more history in tomorrow's super G race, starting at 1:00 p.m. EST, with Universal Sports airing live.
QUOTES
Lindsey Vonn
Every day has gotten better here. Today, I went a little bit more aggressive than I did yesterday and took some more chances. I’m finally feeling confident again going fast. I’m pushing the limits and I want more speed. I haven’t had that yet until today
There’s been some changing terrain here over the last couple days. Every day is a little bit different. I tried to pay a little more attention to that because obviously you couldn’t see it today. The light was really bad, but I know this course really well. It was a matter of looking at the snow conditions and the terrain.
Stacey Cook
I always thought this was something possible with our team. I really wanted to be a part of it when it happened. It’s a good day to step up. I’m so excited for Lindsey too. It’s a cool day.
Sometimes I get intimidated by the thought of racing the whole world. So today, I tried to keep it within our team. We race against our team in training and I tried to keep that same feeling. Today, I just went out there and I knew that there is so much talent in this group, so I felt like I was just racing against them. It took a lot of pressure away from me, so I just let it flow.
I don’t think much has changed on the team. We’ve had ups and we’ve had downs. I think every team will go through that. It’s just unfortunate that our down was in the spotlight of the Olympics. But, we’re really great friends and it really helps having Lindsey back and her competitiveness and enthusiasm for this sport. It pushes us and we thrive when we push each other.
After my last podiums here, I took off after that. I didn’t get more podiums that year, but I had consistency, which I hadn’t had before. With a little more experience under my belt, I’ll have the confidence to keep fighting for podiums the rest of the year.
Julia Mancuso
The new team dynamic has made us take a step back and not make training so serious. It’s serious because we need to be out there and working on something, but it’s not serious because it’s not a race. We save all that energy and all those good things we learn while training for race day.
I didn’t even watch anyone else’s video last night because I watched mine. I realized that I have another gear and that I need to reach that other gear to meet my potential and to do the best I can in this race. Of course, it takes a little bit of luck on how other girls ski. I think a lot of other girls maybe had their best run yesterday, but for us, we were still hungry and wanted more.
It’s cool because both of the girls on the podium with me are my age. We’re all the same age—born in ’84—and we’re veterans of the World Cup. We’ve all been working very hard and I’ve grown up with both of them. It’s an awesome day!
Patrick Riml, Alpine Director
Great start for the ladies in Lake Louise yesterday and what a performance today! They got some confidence from yesterday's results and skied incredible today. Sweeping the podium for the first time in U.S. skiing history is amazing. Kudos to the athletes for an unbelievable job on and off the hill and to the staff for providing top preparation and training for the athletes!
RESULTS
Official Results
