Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn produced a stunning, on-edge downhill run in Garmisch on Saturday to win the historic 50th Audi FIS Alpine World Cup of her career.

“It’s crazy, I am at a loss for words,” said Vonn. “I already cried with one of the TV crews and that is enough crying for the day. Fifty World Cup wins is a huge mark for me in my career and more than I even thought possible.”

“This is pretty special, I’d actually call it emotional,” added Alex Hoedlmoser, the U.S. Ski Team women’s head coach. “This is a milestone.”

The victory, Vonn’s 25th in downhill, came after trailing at the first four race intervals and surviving a near crash on a bumpy side hill called the Ice Hang. Subzero temperatures of -13ºF forced racers to tape their faces to avoid frostbite, and Vonn wore a new U.S. Ski Team Spyder downhill suit for the victory. It was Vonn’s ninth win this season and places her soundly in the World Cup overall lead by nearly 500 points.

“That [the near crash] wasn’t part of the plan,” Vonn admitted. “I hit a bump and lost the inside edge of my ski and went onto my hip. From that point until the finish I skied well and was able to make up some time. It was a tough race.”

“Lindsey’s near crash happened about 20 meters from me. It actually stopped my heart a little bit becuase it’s not a good place to crash,” Hoedlmoser added. “She came in and dropped the hip a little bit then hit that super bumpy section. That little mistake almost ended in a crash, but she pulled it off like nobody else could and didn’t actually lose all that much speed there.”

Vonn now sits in third on the women’s all-time World Cup win list, behind Swiss racer Vreni Schneider, who has only five more, and Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria, the all-time record holder with 62. Vonn is now second in the downhill victory list behind Moser-Proell, who earned 36 downhill golds. She leads the World Cup downhill standings by 230 points and the women’s U.S. Ski Team leads the nations standings for downhill by 433 points over Austria.

Men’s racers with 50 or more wins are Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark (86), Austrian Hermann Maier (54) and the flamboyant Alberto Tomba of Italy (50).

“I am just so happy, every win is special, but 50 is a huge mark,” continued Vonn. “I feel like today will be a day when I look back at my career and see what I have achieved. I have a lot more to do, I have a lot more years of skiing in me, but Alberto Tomba has 50 ski wins and he is one of the best skiers of all time, I don’t see myself in that way, but to know that I have accomplished so much to this point is amazing.”

Three other U.S. women finished Saturday’s race in the top 15. Stacey Cook, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. was 9th, followed by Bend, Ore.’s Laurenne Ross in 10th and Julia Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif. 13th.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – Feb. 4, 2012
Women’s Downhill