Speed queen Vonn triumphs in second race back from lengthy injury layoff
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Former Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn stormed to victory in a women’s World Cup downhill at the German resort of Garmisch Partenkirchen in only her second race since returning from an 11-month injury layoff.
The American four times overall world cup champion and 2010 Olympic downhill gold medallist was fastest at every intermediate checkpoint on the Kanadahar course to celebrate her 77th career win on the elite circuit.
The 32-year-old, who returned to action for the first time in Austria last weekend but finished 13th, is now just nine victories shy of the all-time record set by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark.
She was 0.15 seconds faster than Switzerland’s Lara Gut who made a slight mistake towards the end of the course.
But with her runners up finish Gut, last year’s overall world cup winner, has reduced Mikaela Shiffrin’s lead in the general standings to 235 points.
The German crowd had something to celebrate on the day when Viktoria Rebensburg took third place to round out the podium.
After winning the first three downhills of the season Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia could only managed eighth place, but she remains at the top of the discipline standings with Gut in second 117 points behind.