Vonn Takes Career Win Number 80 in Garmisch

By Published On: February 3rd, 2018Comments Off on Vonn Takes Career Win Number 80 in Garmisch

Six wins. That’s all that separates Lindsey Vonn from the record of 86 World Cup victories set by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark that has stood for the last 29 years. Once thought untouchable, Vonn now has one hand on Stenmark’s record and is poised to rewrite the history books once again after winning her 80th career World Cup on Saturday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Vonn bested second-place finisher Sofia Goggia of Italy in the downhill by a scant 0.02 seconds on a shortened course due to having to also run a training run that morning. The normal training runs scheduled for Thursday and Friday were both cancelled due to weather and course conditions, forcing organizers to run a morning training run and a shortened race in the afternoon.

After a solid runner-up finish in the training run, Vonn was poised for the win later in the day.

“It was a little bit more difficult with the shorter start,” explained Vonn after the race. “I had to make sure I was pushing the line on the top, but on the bottom I executed the line that I inspected. I carried the speed really well down to the bottom and I skied better I think in the race than I did in the training run. All-in-all, it was a solid run. I know I can ski better for the race tomorrow and I’m probably going to have to because Sofia is gonna be chasing after me but it was a really good day and I’m really happy.”

After a tough series in Cortina that saw Goggia take a win and two crashes in the three-race weekend, the hard-charging Italian was all smiles in the finish despite losing out on another win by such a slim margin. Goggia also currently leads the downhill standings by 43 points over Vonn.

“I’m always not so happy when we have a lower start in downhill because I really do like to ski two minutes or however long it lasts.” she said. “You really have to use all your nerves and start really well even though I have some difficulties because I’m not so coordinated. I’m happy about my skiing, it’s really fun to have this rivalry with Lindsey. I really like it and I hope that tomorrow I can give her those two hundredths.”

Third place went to Austria’s Cornelia Huetter as she continues her comeback from a knee injury suffered a year ago. Huetter also had a strong training result and used that momentum to reach the podium in the afternoon.

“After the tough weekend in Cortina I have my speed again,” Huetter said. “I’m really self-confident also from the first training. I like the track and I have the pressure on the skis again and that makes me happy. It’s really good to be on the podium again, the third in my comeback season, so that is really cool.”

Narrowly missing the podium in fourth was young rising American star Breezy Johnson. Johnson’s previous best World Cup finish was a 10th place from earlier this season in Lake Louise. Johnson charged to the fastest time in the training run and knew exactly what she had to do in order to match her fast skiing from the morning.

“It felt great,” an excited Johnson shared in the finish. “I won the training run so expectations went pretty high and I really just wanted to ski really well and as well as I did in the training run. After that training run I knew what to do and I knew that I just had to ski as clean as I could and do what I did with more of a race mentality. I think I did a pretty good job of that, it was a little bit of a lowered start so I’m hoping that tomorrow with the higher start I can maybe even do a little better. It was great for what I was expecting and coming into this is awesome.”

Johnson narrowly missed the podium in fourth. Image Credit: GEPA Pictures/Daniel Goetzhaber

Unfortunately for the American team, Jaqueline Wiles took a hard fall after running a late line and trying to hold on before being catapulted out of the course. Wiles was helicoptered off of the hill with an unspecified injury and her current condition is unknown.

“I’ve been texting her and we’re trying to figure out the situation right now and trying to get her set up as best as we can, get her the best doctors,” Vonn said of her teammate. “I’m praying so hard that she’s not injured but it doesn’t look good. I’m mad at her, I’m going to tell her that, she should have just pulled out but she’s a fighter and she tried to finish and that’s what makes her special and that’s why I always supported her because she’s like me.”

For the rest of the Americans, Alice McKennis finished in 17th, Stacey Cook finished 22nd, and Alice Merryweather finished 37th. Laurenne Ross also did not finish after sliding out on a steep turn but skied to the bottom on her own and was uninjured.

The women will race one more downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on Sunday, Feb. 4.


Top 10

  1. Lindsey Vonn (USA) – Head/Head/Head
  2. Sofia Goggia (ITA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  3. Cornelia Huetter (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
  4. Breezy Johnson (USA) – Atomic/Atomic/Atomic
  5. Anna Veith (AUT) – Head/Head/Head
  6. Lara Gut (SUI) – Head/Head/Head
  7. Tina Weirather (LIE) – Head/Head/Head
  8. Raghnild Mowinckel (NOR) – Head/Head/Head
  9. Nicole Schmidhofer (AUT) – Fischer/Fischer/Fischer
  10. Nadia Fanchini (ITA) – Dynastar/Lange/Look

Official Results

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Total Time Diff. FIS Points WC Points
 1  9  537544 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:12.84  0.00  100
 2  7  298323 GOGGIA Sofia 1992 ITA  1:12.86  +0.02  0.34  80
 3  3  56128 HUETTER Cornelia 1992 AUT  1:12.97  +0.13  2.23  60
 4  4  6535455 JOHNSON Breezy 1996 USA  1:13.18  +0.34  5.83  50
 5  12  55947 VEITH Anna 1989 AUT  1:13.31  +0.47  8.07  45
 6  1  516138 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:13.50  +0.66  11.33  40
 7  5  355050 WEIRATHER Tina 1989 LIE  1:13.58  +0.74  12.70  36
 8  8  425929 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 1992 NOR  1:13.65  +0.81  13.90  32
 9  19  55970 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 1989 AUT  1:13.70  +0.86  14.76  29
 10  20  296729 FANCHINI Nadia 1986 ITA  1:13.93  +1.09  18.71  26
 11  11  205218 REBENSBURG Viktoria 1989 GER  1:13.94  +1.10  18.88  24
 12  26  516219 NUFER Priska 1992 SUI  1:14.00  +1.16  19.91  22
 13  18  56087 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 1991 AUT  1:14.01  +1.17  20.08  20
 14  17  516284 GISIN Michelle 1993 SUI  1:14.04  +1.20  20.59  18
 14  2  296427 SCHNARF Johanna 1984 ITA  1:14.04  +1.20  20.59  18
 16  24  197383 GAUTHIER Tiffany 1993 FRA  1:14.12  +1.28  21.97  15
 17  21  538685 MCKENNIS Alice 1989 USA  1:14.15  +1.31  22.48  14
 18  14  56198 SCHEYER Christine 1994 AUT  1:14.26  +1.42  24.37  13
 19  44  206520 DORSCH Patrizia 1994 GER  1:14.27  +1.43  24.54  12
 20  6  516248 FLURY Jasmine 1993 SUI  1:14.29  +1.45  24.88  11
 21  37  56328 ORTLIEB Nina 1996 AUT  1:14.38  +1.54  26.43  10
 22  16  537582 COOK Stacey 1984 USA  1:14.43  +1.59  27.29  9
 23  15  56177 VENIER Stephanie 1993 AUT  1:14.49  +1.65  28.32  8
 24  28  516319 SUTER Corinne 1994 SUI  1:14.53  +1.69  29.00  7
 25  42  197641 GAUCHE Laura 1995 FRA  1:14.54  +1.70  29.17  6
 26  22  516185 HAEHLEN Joana 1992 SUI  1:14.63  +1.79  30.72  5
 27  36  206652 PFISTER Meike 1996 GER  1:14.64  +1.80  30.89  4
 28  41  375018 COLETTI Alexandra 1983 MON  1:14.72  +1.88  32.26  3
 29  29  56088 TIPPLER Tamara 1991 AUT  1:14.73  +1.89  32.43  2
 29  25  299466 DELAGO Nicol 1996 ITA  1:14.73  +1.89  32.43  2
 31  33  297195 HOFER Anna 1988 ITA  1:15.07  +2.23  38.27  0
 32  32  506701 HOERNBLAD Lisa 1996 SWE  1:15.32  +2.48  42.56  0
 33  40  298767 SOSIO Federica 1994 ITA  1:15.43  +2.59  44.45  0
 34  27  206668 WEIDLE Kira 1996 GER  1:15.44  +2.60  44.62  0
 35  30  296431 STUFFER Verena 1984 ITA  1:15.51  +2.67  45.82  0
 36  43  506718 IVARSSON Lin 1996 SWE  1:15.65  +2.81  48.22  0
 37  35  6535600 MERRYWEATHER Alice 1996 USA  1:15.76  +2.92  50.11  0
 38  39  196726 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 1988 FRA  1:16.08  +3.24  55.60  0
Did not finish 1st run
 34  56311 REISINGER Elisabeth 1996 AUT  0
 31  197497 MIRADOLI Romane 1994 FRA  0
 23  206460 WENIG Michaela 1992 GER  0
 13  539536 WILES Jacqueline 1992 USA  0
 10  538573 ROSS Laurenne 1988 USA  0
Did not start 1st run
 38  197295 PIOT Jennifer 1992 FRA  0

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About the Author: Sean Higgins

A Lake Tahoe native and University of Vermont graduate, Higgins was a member of the Catamounts' 2012 NCAA title winning squad and earned first team All-American honors in 2013. Prior to coming to Ski Racing Media, he coached U14s for the Squaw Valley Ski Team.