Vonn edges closer to Downhill record

Her margin of victory in the downhills was just over a second Saturday and half a second Friday.

“It was a big deal”, said Vonn.

“I wasn’t getting any reports about that, but I definitely was shocked by it when I went off of it and I was kind of in the backseat a little bit, landed on my tails, and was slightly anxious for a second there that I was going to go out right before the finish – which I have done before”. She swept all three races in 2011 and 2012.

“I still don’t think I’m quite to the form that I was in 2012”, Vonn said.

The women race super-G on Sunday.

Her prior wins at Lake Louise include her first two World Cup triumphs in 2004 and 2005 downhills, followed by a host of victories down the years in downhill and Super-G.

With Austria’s Anna Fenninger and Slovenia’s Tina Maze not racing this season, the 20-year-old Shiffrin will be one of Vonn’s challengers for a fifth overall crown. Maze, the 2013 champion, is taking a season off.

Vonn will have more company in the super-G on Sunday as Olympic and world slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin makes her World Cup speed debut.

“It was so fun”. Vonn learned another as she avoided a crash Friday. “When I go out in the morning and put my skis on and my goggles down, all that stuff falls away”. As one of the oldest and most experienced racers in the field, she drew from her deep well of experience in Lake Louise going back to the first win of her career in 2003. But down the pitch, onto the flats, I felt like I carried some good speed.

“I was invited back”, she said. People say it’s because she’s taller and stronger than everyone else. “We’ll just hopefully both be kicking ass”.

What’s more, she now has 14 downhill victories and four super-G wins at a place that’s referred to as “Lake Lindsey” because of her dominance.

The super-G victor of last December’s World Cup race and February’s World Championships on the Birds of Prey slope, Hannes Reichelt of Austria, was neither able to challenge Hirscher’s lead time. She heads to Val-d’Isere, France, for a pair of downhills December 18-19.

“I feel like I’m pretty confident right now”. Courtesy Red Bull Vonn takes first place during the FIS Alpine Women’s Skiing World Cup Downhill event on February 9, 2008 in Sestriere, Italy.

Lindsey Vonn, the 2010 Female Athlete of the Year, holds the Stars and Stripes during the flower ceremony for the Women’s super-G at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia. Having proved for two seasons she can pay for herself to ski fast, Yurkiw is surprised how much harder it is to come up with the money. “I’m happy with my run and nearly got a top-15”.