Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., stands atop the podium on Saturday after winning the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. She is flanked by World Cup Overall leader Tina Maze of Slovenia, left, and third place finisher Leanne Smith, of North Conway, N.H. (photo: Doug Haney/U.S. Ski Team)
World Cup

Vonn Returns to Top of World Cup Podium

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Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – Lindsey Vonn climbed back on the top step of the World Cup podium on Saturday, winning the Cortina downhill with teammate Leanne Smith third for her second podium of the season.

“It was a perfect day. Right away from inspection the sun was shining and the snow was perfect,” said Vonn. “I feel so comfortable here in Cortina and I knew it would be a good day. I just skied the best I could, executed my plan and it worked out.”

It was the 58th career Audi FIS Alpine World Cup win for Vonn, just four short of the women’s record held by Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell, and her fifth of the season. After fighting a bout of intestinal illness that left her hospitalized this fall, Vonn, of Vail, Colo., left the World Cup circuit last month and returned stateside for a three-week period of rest and recuperation. She only returned to the tour last weekend in St. Anton. Despite missing a large number of races due to her illness this season, Vonn still stands fourth in the World Cup overall.

Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., stands atop the podium on Saturday after winning the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. She is flanked by World Cup Overall leader Tina Maze of Slovenia, left, and third place finisher Leanne Smith, of North Conway, N.H. (photo: Doug Haney/U.S. Ski Team)
Lindsey Vonn, of Vail, Colo., stands atop the podium on Saturday after winning the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. She is flanked by World Cup Overall leader Tina Maze of Slovenia, left, and third place finisher Leanne Smith, of North Conway, N.H. (photo: Doug Haney/U.S. Ski Team)

“It feels good to be back on the podium especially with my teammate Leanne (Smith),” added Vonn, who stayed a half second ahead of the second place finisher, World Cup overall leader Tina Maze of Slovenia in the final World Cup downhill before the upcoming World Championships in Schladming, Austria. “It’s a great day for the Team.”

“It’s kind of nice to be on the U.S. Ski Team right now. We’re having fun,” Smith said of the current strength of the U.S. women’s team, four members of which now sit in the top six in the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup downhill standings. “We were joking about this yesterday on how to best answer this question. First we were like ‘we listen to Justin Bieber together, or we all sleep in one big bed every night, or we have these rituals.’ But, no…

“There’s a lot of hard workers on this team. Everybody wants to help each other out and see each other do well. The hard work – be it in the gym in the summer or Portillo or New Zealand in the summer – being confident in any sport, and skiing with all the variables, you need to be in the right mindset and be confident in your abilities. When you see a teammate come down and podium you say ‘Hey, I can do that, too.’ When you that with Lindsey (Vonn) and Julia (Mancuso) every day, you watch them ski and see what they do, you can emulate that. Obviously they’ve had a lot of success in the past so there’s a lot to be taken from them.”
Mancuso, of Squaw Valley, Calif., also finished inside the top 10 on Saturday in ninth. Alice McKennis, of Glenwood Springs, Colo., was 11th, followed by Mammoth Mountain’s Stacey Cook in 15th and Laurenne Ross, of Bend, Ore., 27th.

Super G is on tap for Sunday in Cortina.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – Jan. 19, 2013
Women’s Downhill

Rank Bib Name Year Nation Total Time FIS Points
 1  20 VONN Lindsey 1984 USA  1:38.25  0.00
 2  12 MAZE Tina 1983 SLO  1:38.68  6.00
 3  2 SMITH Leanne 1987 USA  1:39.14  12.41
 4  9 ROLLAND Marion 1982 FRA  1:39.33  15.06
 5  26 STERZ Regina 1985 AUT  1:39.50  17.43
 6  10 FENNINGER Anna 1989 AUT  1:39.65  19.52
 7  29 FANCHINI Elena 1985 ITA  1:39.79  21.47
 8  8 GUT Lara 1991 SUI  1:39.81  21.75
 9  21 MANCUSO Julia 1984 USA  1:39.89  22.87
 10  5 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina 1981 SPA  1:40.00  24.40

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