Vonn ‘happy and relieved’ after securing record downhill globe

The battle for the World Cup overall title raged on as Switzerland’s Lara Gut outpaced American Lindsey Vonn in the La Thuile super-G to slice the gap at the top of the standings to a mere 23 points on Sunday.

Vonn, who had previously shared the record of 19 titles with Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark who raced in the 1970s and 1980s, cut a much more cheerful figure after Friday’s controversy which followed her early exit from the first downhill at La Thuile.

Vonn followed the Swiss skier and although she got close to taking her 77th World Cup win she came up fractionally 00.14secs short.

Not content with an eye-catching appearance in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and wrapping up her 20th World Cup crystal globe, the American ski queen has had to issue an apology for a Facebook posting, later deleted, in which she was seen smashing her sponsored skis with a hammer.

Italy’s Daniele Merighetti finished third.

“I hope that the weather is a little bit better, but I’m looking forward to it”, she said.

HEAD Skis had not lost a women’s downhill all season between the successes of Lindsey Vonn and Lara Gut. “I charged. I attacked and it wasn’t ideal skiing, but I’m really happy with my second place”. Stacey Cook was 24th and Jacqueline Wiles ended up in the 33rd position.

Vonn will get the chance to show her strength on the slopes and extend her lead in the battle for the overall crystal globe in a super-G Sunday at the same venue.

On Saturday she wrapped up the season downhill title – the ninth of her career and 20th discipline globe, an all-time record.

‘I won’t fully grasp the magnitude of everything until I’m done with my career’. I’m skiing well, and starting to trust myself more.

“Also, the snow changed a lot and you know, I was really disappointed after yesterday, so I just kind of pushed the reset button and just tried it from new, and I think that worked well”.

This is the consistency I’ve been searching for the last few years.