US ski queen Lindsey Vonn is set to star at the alpine world championships open as the women’s Super-G began yesterday.
With the worlds back at the posh Colorado resorts of Vail and Beaver Creek for the first time in 16 years, US ski fans will have reason to cheer as Vonn, who last month became the most successful women’s skier of all time with 64 career World Cup wins, looks to add to a sparkling resume on home snow.
The spotlight is unlikely to stray far from Vonn during two weeks of racing, prompting the skier to keep a low profile in the buildup to her first event on the Raptor racecourse.
Photo: EPA
“Windy out there today for the first downhill training run but still had fun,” Vonn tweeted on Monday.
“Looking forward to the super-g race tomorrow!!” she added.
Vonn has been in sizzling form after topping the podium at the past two World Cup Super-Gs in St Moritz, Switzerland, and Cortina, Italy, crossing just ahead of Austrian rival Anna Fenninger, who is bidding to add the world championship crown to her Olympic title.
The field also includes the past three world champions in the event, Vonn taking the gold in 2009 with Austrian Elisabeth Goergl the winner in 2011 and Slovenia’s Tina Maze in 2013.
While Vonn has plenty of World Cup crystal and a world championship gold to show for her work in the discipline, the Super-G has not always been kind to the 30-year-old American.
At the 2013 championships in Schladming, Austria, Vonn left the course on a stretcher dangling beneath a helicopter after a devastating high-speed crash left her with shredded knee ligaments, a broken leg and her racing future in doubt.
“The fact that she has had a such a long, strong career and to have her come back so strong this season, I have a lot of appreciation for what she has done,” said slalom Olympic and world champion Mikaela Shiffrin, Vonn’s young US teammate. “Lindsey is the best speed skier in the world. I am really excited that she broke the record, I think she deserved it and it was only a matter of time.”
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