Bansko, Bulgaria – Vail, Colo.’s Lindsey Vonn made up an astounding .61-second deficit on the bottom half of a bumpy Bansko speed track to notch a historic 18th career super G win on Sunday and pass Austrian Renate Goetschl in the women’s Audi FIS Alpine World Cup tour record books.

“I didn’t know that I had passed Renate for super G wins. That definitely feels good,” said a pleased Vonn. “I think that’s the only record that I’m at the top of for World Cup.”

Tina Weirather of Lichtenstein was second, a mere .05 behind Vonn. Daniela Merighetti of Italy completed the podium in third.

Vonn’s win did not come without risk, as she nearly lost her line at a tricky gate. “I tried to give myself a lot of direction for that gate because I was on a pretty bumpy sidehill and I just hit one of the bumps funny and went shooting downhill in the opposite direction that I wanted,” she said. “I was way offline and had to chuck it sideways, but thankfully the pitch was pretty steep and I was able to accellerate out of that mistake. I had to really push the line and take a lot of risk from there down. It was a little bit more direct than I had inspected. I would have liked to have not risked that much, but it worked out.”

The super G victory, Vonn’s 10th this season, rocketed the American ski racer to a 94-point discipline lead going into the season’s last race at World Cup Finals and boosted her overall World Cup lead over Slovenian Tina Maze to 528 with nine races left on the calendar. She now has 51 career World Cup wins to her credit. Maze finished just off Sunday’s podium in fourth.

“There’s a lot of giant slalom races left so I’m looking forward to hopefully get another win this season to try and get the giant slalom globe,” added Vonn. “But today was big points for the super G title and again for the overall title. Things are shaping up really well.”

Americans put a total of five racers in the World Cup points on Sunday. Squaw Valley, Calif.’s Julia Mancuso, winner of last week’s slalom in downtown Moscow, Russia, was eighth, followed by Leanne Smith of North Conway, N.H. in 18th, Bend, Ore.’s Laurenne Ross 24th and Stacey Cook, of Mammoth Mountain, Calif., 29th.

Vonn, Mancuso and Smith have qualified in super G for for the March 11-18 World Cup Finals in Schladming, Austria.

“Lindsey [Vonn] and Julia [Mancuso] will join the tech team in Ofterschwang later this week for two giant slalom races and a slalom, but the other athletes will head home for a break before World Cup Finals,” explained Alex Hoedlmoser, head women’s coach for the U.S. Ski Team. “It’s a huge accomplishment to have so many qualify for finals, so they’ll get some rest and then head back over for a training camp before Schladming.”

Canada’s two entrants in Sunday’s race, Marie-Pier Prefontaine and Larisa Yurkiw, both went out in the first run.

The women’s alpine World Cup tour now moves to Ofterschwang, Germany for a slalom and two giant slalom races.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Audi FIS Alpine World Cup
Bansko, Bulgaria – Feb. 26, 2012
Women’s Super G