Zauchensee, Austria – The women’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup shifts to speed this weekend with a downhill and super G set for Zauchensee, Austria, a course on which Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso have combined for five podiums in their last four starts.nMancuso, of Olympic Valley, Calif., doubled down in Zauchensee,a tiny mountain village nestled above Altenmarkt, in the region south of Salzburg, in 2007 with a super combined win, preceded by a third in downhill with Vail, Colo.’s Vonn matching the feat in 2009. Olympians Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, Calif.), Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, Vt.), Leanne Smith (Conway, N.H.) and World Cup rookie Laurenne Ross (Klamath Falls, Ore.) will also start Saturday’s downhill.

Notably absent is Olympian Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, Colo.), who will miss the remainder of the season following a super G training crash early in the New Year. According to U.S. Ski Team Medical Director Kyle Wilkens, McKennis underwent successful surgery on Thursday for a fractured left tibial plateau.

“The snow in Zauchensee is absolutely perfect for downhill,” said Vonn after winning the final downhill training run Friday. “It’s a little bit turny and there are some really good jumps. I’ve felt confident in both training runs and it should be a good race.”

The Kalberloch downhill starts with an immediate plunge as racers accelerate from zero to 60 in less than four seconds. It then snakes over a series of two significant jumps before diving into the forest and over another jump tucked into a series of technical turns that caused havoc for numerous racers during training.

At the exit of the forest, the course gets a speed boost winding across open snow before the finish jump directly in front of the stadium crowd. Upwards of 12,000 are expected to pack the tiny Austrian village throughout the weekend.

“The first two gates are right in your face and you get up to speed really fast, then if you can nail the turns and be clean off the jumps, then you’re set – it’s so awesome here,” said Ross after finishing 16th in Thursday’s training.

“I’m definitely in the hunt for tomorrow,” said Vonn, “but so is Maria Riesch and Anja Paerson and I think Anna Fenninger is skiing really well, so we’ll see – it’s going to be a good race.”

Start time for Saturday’s downhill and Sunday’s super G is 5:45 a.m. ET