Lindsey Vonn on Friday caught an edge with her left ski and was certain she was crashing.
Somehow, she recovered. The mistake hardly even slowed her down as the US standout was her dominant self on a hill that has become like a second home.
Vonn won the season-opening World Cup downhill on Friday for her 16th victory at Lake Louise. She finished in 1 minute, 50.5 seconds, edging Cornelia Huetter of Austria by 0.58 seconds. Another Austrian, Ramona Siebenhofer, was third.
Photo: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY
“I think every race here is special, even when I am not winning,” said Vonn, who has 13 downhill victories and three super-G wins at the Alberta resort. “I kind of felt relieved to be on the top step of the podium again today and to reassert myself as someone who is not going away in the speed events.”
A win by Vonn at this venue is never a surprise. Her recovery after a mistake, though, was quite impressive.
Midway through her run, Vonn caught an edge that sent her left ski wide. However, she did not panic and stayed upright. After crossing the finish line, she dropped to the snow and pumped her ski poles.
“That was not planned,” Vonn said of her misstep. “I should probably not do that [again]. I came in there with a really direct line — probably a little bit too direct, and I caught my edge funny.”
“I thought I was going down, then I somehow managed to stay on my feet. When I realized I was still in the course, I just got back into my tuck and tried to make up as much time as I could on the bottom,” she added.
Last season, Vonn made her comeback at Lake Louise from a serious right knee injury that kept her out of last year’s Sochi Olympics. She did well in her return, too, leading the way for a US sweep, with Stacey Cook taking second and Julia Mancuso third.
The US could not pull off that same feat again in this race as Cook finished fifth. Mancuso is out for the season after having hip surgery.
Vonn now has 68 overall World Cup wins.
The super-G today is to see Mikaela Shiffrin make her speed debut. The reigning Olympic and world slalom champion has been studying races from Lake Louise, just to get a feel for the course.
“I am really excited to see what World Cup speed is all about, try to learn as much as I can from the other US girls, from Lindsey. We will see how it goes,” Shiffrin said.
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