This girl is on fire: Vonn secures downhill title in La Thuile

HEAD Skis had not lost a women’s downhill all season between the successes of Lindsey Vonn and Lara Gut.

That is, until Saturday, when Vonn finished in second place in the La Thuile downhill behind Italian and Dynastar athlete Nadia Fanchini. Still, the American speedster was able to secure her eighth World Cup downhill title and small crystal globe in the discipline.

“It feels really good, especially after all my injuries, to be able to win globes again is really nice and of course, downhill’s always been my favorite discipline, so this title means a lot to me,” Vonn said. “And it’s also my 20th total globe, so it’s kind of more than I ever dreamed was possible and I think it was also nice to comeback after crashing yesterday and to be able to get on the podium and secure the title. That was really important for my self-confidence.”

The American also regained the overall points lead ahead of Gut, gaining a 43-point advantage in the nail-biting race for the big globe.

Not to be overshadowed by Vonn’s globe, Fanchini took advantage of the home crowd energy and an early starting position, skiing the fastest time of the day in 1:24.80. Fanchini had not won a World Cup race since the 2008 Lake Louise super G, and this marked her first-ever downhill victory.

“I still can’t believe it,” Fanchini said through a translator about beating Vonn. “For me, and for everyone on paper, she’s the strongest woman of all time in this sport. I’m incredibly happy. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Lindsey Vonn was going down the course and she was behind and there was red. It was unbelievable.”

Vonn skied as clean a run as anyone, but couldn’t catch the leading Italian, ending up 0.14 seconds off the winning time. 

In third place was another Italian, Daniela Merighetti, affectionately known on the circuit as “Dada”. This marks her best World Cup finish since she podiumed at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, last season before suffering a series of injuries including a broken jaw and a spiral fracture of the fibula. Fanchini and Merighetti led a solid Italian showing on the day with four skiers placing inside the top 10. 

Not far behind Merighetti was American Laurenne Ross who finished in fifth place, repeating her performance from Friday’s downhill and marking her fifth top-10 finish of the season. Her teammate Alice McKennis tied Gut, finishing in 11th place and earning a season-best result. Stacey Cook was 24th and Jacqueline Wiles ended up in the 33rd position. 

Vonn will be hunting for career win number 77 in Sunday’s super G at La Thuile, starting at 11:15 a.m. CET.

“I hope that the weather is a little bit better, but I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “It’s going to be a technical super G and I like it.”

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The Scoop
by Hank McKee

1. Fanchini, Dynastar/Lange/Look
2. Vonn, Head/Head/Head
3. Merighetti, Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
4. Yurkiw, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol
5. Ross, Volkl/Lange/Marker
6. Suter, Dynastar/Lange/Dynastar
7. Marsaglia, Volkl/Fischer/Marker
8. Miklos, Head/Head/Head
9. Curtoni, Head/Head/Head
10. Rebensburg, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic

• Women’s World Cup downhill, La Thuile, Italy, Feb. 20, 2016. … It is the 27^th race of the women’s 41 race schedule, the eighth of nine downhills on the women’s schedule. … It is the second World Cup race conducted at La Thuile.
• It is the second career World Cup win for Nadia Fanchini, the first coming at Lake Louise in SG Dec. 7, 2008. … It is the third Italian win of the season, the first since Peter Fill won the Kitzbuehel DH Jan. 23. … The winning margin is 0.14 of a second. … Top four skier are within the same second. … Top 14 within two seconds.
• It is the 125^th career World Cup podium for Lindsey Vonn. … Her 12^th of the season.
• It is the sixth career World Cup podium for Daniela Merighetti and her first of the season. … Her best previously this season had been 15^th.
• It is the seventh career top four World Cup placing for Larisa Yurkiw, her fifth this season. … It is the fifth best career World Cup placing for Laurenne Ross and her eighth trip to the top five. … (she has placed fifth four times). … Alice McKennis matches her 12^th best career World Cup result. … It is the 12^th score of the season for Stacey Cook.
• Vonn regains the lead of the World Cup overall standings 1140-1097 over Lara Gut (11^th in race). … Viktoria Rebensburg (10th in race) is third overall at 878pts. … Larisa Yurkiw makes the top 10 with 455pts.
• It is Vonn over Yurkiw 580-407 in the downhill standings with Cornelia Huetter (18^th in race) third with 387pts. … Laurenne Ross is eighth in the DH standings with 208.
• Austria leads the women’s Nations Cup 3311-2951 over Italy. … Switzerland is third with 2654pts, the U.S. fourth with 2373pts and Canada eighth with 948pts.

Official Results