Lindsey Vonn makes history: at 41 years old she wins the Alpine skiing World Cup

Achievement by Lindsey Vonn who, at 41, became the ‘oldest’ skier in history to win an Alpine Skiing World Cup race. The American champion won the first downhill race of the Olympic season, in Sankt Moritz in Switzerland, thus achieving victory number 83 in her career (139 total podiums and 218 placings in the top ten in 20 Cup seasons). The previous record was that of Federica Brignone, winner at 34 years and 8 months.

Vonn, after her second debut in the Cup after more than six years which took place on 21 December last year with a fourteenth place in the super-G on the snow of Sankt Moritz, today returned to victory 2830 days after her last one, the one seven and a half years earlier (14 March 2018) in the Aare downhill in Sweden. At the foot of Maloja, the mountain of Sankt Moritz, Lindsey Vonn preceded the Austrians Magdalena Egger, who descended with bib number 27, by almost a second (98 hundredths) and Mirjam Puchner by 1″16.

The Italian Sofia Goggia was fourth at 1″31 after losing precious tenths in the initial stretch of the ‘Corviglia’ slope. Eighth was Laura Pirovano at 1″58, twelfth Nicol Delago at 1″94. For Vonn today’s downhill victory is the sixth victory in Sankt Moritz after those of 31 January 2019 in super-G, 27 and 28 January 2012 in super combined and downhill, 8 December 2012 in super-G and 25 January 2015 again in super-G.

Another descent is scheduled for tomorrow in Sankt Moritz (10.45 am) while on Sunday the super-giant. The overall World Cup ranking is led by the American Mikaela Shiffrin with 458 points (she did not compete today) ahead of the Italian competing for Albania, Lara Colturi (302) and the New Zealander Alice Robinson (292).