Sochi, Russia – With a month still remaining in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup calendar, Vail, Colo.’s Lindsey Vonn clinched a record fifth straight downhill title with a third place finish on Saturday in Rosa Khutor on the 2014 Sochi Olympic course behind the season’s second place finisher, Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, who won Saturday’s race.

Vonn held a 231-point lead over Hoefl-Riesch with just two events remaining and 100 points up for grabs at each. With her 13th career World Cup title Vonn matched the mark of the legendary Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, who won five straight from 1971-75.  She joined an elite group of only four athletes who have won five downhill titles including Moser-Proell (who has seven total), Austrian Renate Goetschl and Austrian Franz Klammer.

“I’m excited I was able to secure the downhill title today,” Vonn said. “That’s always a big goal of mine. It means a lot to me to be able to have the numbers that those legends of skiing have. But (Annemarie) Moeser-Proell is the pinnacle of our sport and I have a ways to go before that. I’m just going to try to keep winning. Downhill is the most important title to me other than the overall. Annemarie is above me – way above me!

“Downhill is my favorite event and it’s always nice to wrap up a title before the end of the season, before the last races,” she added. “It puts a little less pressure on me.”

“It’s an amazing performance to take five straight titles,” U.S. Ski Team women’s Head Coach Alex Hoedlmoser said of Vonn’s success. “I’m almost not able to explain it in words because it’s an unbelievable achievement. I’m just proud of her and our coaches. They’re doing a fantastic job on a daily basis.”

Vonn’s achievement crowned a day on which American women rewrote the record books. In addition to Vonn’s third-place finish, Squaw Valley, Calif.’s Julia Mancuso finished sixth and Stacey Cook of Mammoth Mountain, Calif. crossed the finish line in ninth just ahead of Glenwood Springs, Colo.’s Alice McKennis in 10th to place four American women in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill top 10 for the first time in history. The last time U.S. women placed four in a World Cup top 10 was on March 17, 1985 during a giant slalom in Waterville Valley, N.H. Laurenne Ross, of Bend, Ore. finished 18th and North Conway, N.H.’s Leanne Smith 26th as all U.S. women entered in Saturday’s race finished with World Cup points awarded to the top 30 finishers.

“Any one of the girls on our team could have one this race,” said a proud Vonn. “Our speed group is incredibly strong and we have been the past few years. It says a lot about how hard we work and how much we love ski racing. It’s a great group to be around and we all support each other. To have a performance like we did today is pretty special.”

“There’s still a few places that I can clean up, but we’ll still get three training runs for the Olympics, so I’ll have good chance to find out where I can make up some time,” Mancuso said of the course in Sochi. “I like to dream big, ski fast and dream about all of those powder days at Squaw Valley that helped me to get to this place that I am now. Being a professtional skier and being able to ski in the Olympics is a pretty big honor, so I’m hoping to be back here in 2014.”

“I definitely didn’t expect to be in the top 10 today, especially after the way I’ve been training this week,” Cook admitted. “I’m not really sure what happened today. I’ve been fast in training runs this season and my downhill has been going really well, so I knew it was possible. It makes me really excited for the Olympics in two years. I kinda wish we could come back to Sochi next year. A couple of more runs down this hill wouldn’t hurt.”

Canada’s Larisa Yurkiw continued her comeback from injury on Saturday to place 33rd, outside of World Cup points.

“Today was very close. It’s hard to be within reach, but consistently out of the top 30,” said Yurkiw, of Owen Sound, Ontario, whose previous best downhill World Cup result this season was a 38^th-place finish in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Jan. 28. “Specifically for this course, I did not finish either of my training runs so today I had to fix some important things and I did that so I’m content with my position.”

Yurkiw’s teammate Kelly VanderBeek, of Kitchener, Ontario, who is also working her way back from a serious knee injury, recovered from a crash in Friday’s training run to finish 49^th. Marie-Michèle Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Quebec, who was set to take part in her first World Cup downhill since 2010, didn’t get to race as thick fog descended on the course and the last 15 racers didn’t start.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Sochi, Russia – Feb. 18, 2012
Women’s Downhill