Lindsey Vonn definitely underwent some crucial tests this weekend at Val d’Isère, the site of her maiden World Cup win on European snow nearly ten years ago. First, she perfectly confirmed her improving form on the demanding ‘OK’ course at La Daille to enjoy her 61st World Cup win in the third downhill of the season prior. The following day, she endured a bad crash as she was fighting for another triumph in the Super-G won by former double World Champion Elisabeth Goergl from Austria.
Lindsey has mostly fond memories from the French resort where she captured her first ever gold medals back in 2009 as she dominated the speed events of the FIS Alpine World Championships a few years after having received a very original present in occasion of one of her numerous victories in the famous ski area- a brown cow that she called Olympe and moved later on to Kirchberg, in Austria.
This time again she received an original prize after her downhill win – a one-month-young calf that she called ‘Winnie’ and that she adored from the first second she saw it. “This is the best prize for winning a race EVER!! I have a new addition to my growing herd…meet “Winnie” my one month old baby calf. #sohappy #mynewcutie #win61 #LiVetheClimb” she happily posted on her Facebook page.
“It’s even better because I get a cow,” Vonn told the press after the race. “I get a little baby cow, one month old. I have such great memories from Val d’Isère, now adding another great memory today,” the smiling skier from Vail added.
“Today was a really good test, I haven’t had a lot of mistakes in the races yet, where I really have to put every bit of weight on my knee. Today, I definitely had to do that, and it was perfect,” she commented on her victory.
“Lake Louise is a place where I’ve won so many times that sometimes people automatically assume that I’m going to win there,” the American also explained. “This was more for everyone else that they understand that I’m back to what I used to be. I feel like I did a few years ago, when I could make mistakes and still win.”
The next day, she was again skiing with great determination in that Super-G when she suddenly caught an edge and lost her balance after her skis violently touched each other when she was skiing over a roll. She tumbled spectacularly yet managed to soon stand-up after a while and reached the finish area by her own means.
Although Lindsey Vonn did no damage to her troublesome right knee injured twice in 2013, she landed heavily on her right elbow.
“I was risking everything and attacking the course,” she explained afterwards at the finish line. “That sometimes happens in Super-G, you don’t have any training runs and you have just one inspection,” Vonn added. “I hit my elbow, somehow funny. I have some ice on it. It’s just a little bit swollen but no big deal.”
After her victory in Saturday’s downhill, the 2010 Olympic Champion was obviously looking for a fourth consecutive podium finish and was a mere one hundredth of a second ahead of Lizzy Georgl’s time on the first intermediate check.
“I didn’t feel quite as sharp as I normally do, I was a little bit tired, yesterday was a very long day,” Lindsey also told the press at the arrival. “I was on the limit and hit some softer snow and lost a little bit of elevation, and then I wasn’t able to make the gate,” she explained. “The most important thing is my knees are good.”
The 30-year-old was for sure trying hard to equal the victory record of Austrian skiing legend Annemarie Moser-Proell who won 62 Worlds Cup events in the 1970s. But now Lindsey rather wishes to focus on her coming races than on that best mark of Annemarie that she personally met a few times including last spring in her home, in occasion of the “Vail Ski Classic” traditionally organized late March in the leading US ski area. At that occasion, the famous Austrian was honored by the community of Vail for her life-time achievements.
“The less I talk about it,” Vonn said of the record, “the faster I get there,” Lindsey Vonn commented on it with humor.
She needs to wait a few weeks now and hope to excel again at the next speed events planned at Bad Kleinkirchheim, in Austria, where a downhill and a Super-G are scheduled for Jan. 10th -11th – 2015.
After a quick trip by helicopter to Zurich where she attended a sports show on Swiss TV, Lindsey is flying back home to enjoy Christmas with her family and spend some time training on the slope of Vail.
