Vodka after a wild Super-G rodeo
Lindsey Vonn continues the comeback fairy tale with a spectacular ride
January 12, 2025, 1:07 p.m
Lindsey Vonn is simply unbelievable. The American skier is shaking up the world elite with her comeback. In the Super-G on an extremely rough slope in St. Anton, she narrowly missed the podium. Kira Weidle-Winkelmann also has reason to be in a good mood.
Lindsey Vonn is increasingly approaching the World Cup podium in her fairytale comeback. The former speed queen finished fourth in the Super-G in St. Anton one day after finishing sixth in the downhill. The 40-year-old missed the “stick” on which her teammate Lauren Macuga was at the top for the first time by 0.32 seconds. Three more hundredths of a second behind her, Kira Weidle-Winkelmann celebrated her best result of the season in sixth place.
The 22-year-old Macuga, who had never been on the podium before, prevailed ahead of Stephanie Venier from Austria (0.68 seconds behind), thanks to more favorable conditions and occasional sunshine. Downhill winner Federica Brignone (0.92) from Italy came third. Emma Aicher (2.02) came in 17th, Sofia Goggia from Italy was eliminated as in the premier discipline.
-After her “wild rodeo” with a near-miss, Vonn thought she was “certainly very slow,” as she confessed on ZDF, “I just fought” and saw almost nothing. Like her opponents, she received many hard blows and was often far from the ideal line. She wanted to ensure that things went well forward with “a few Red Bull vodkas”. Tactically she is back to her old self, Vonn added, “I know exactly where I have to give the line or go straight”, but the form is not yet at 100 percent. “But it was a step forward.”
The fact that she is convinced that she can go even faster is not good news for Vonn’s rivals. These include Goggia, who has been so strong in recent years, and the Austrian Cornelia Hütter, who won the downhill ranking last season. It seems to be only a matter of time before the 82-time World Cup winner will be on the podium again. Maybe next weekend in Cortina d’Ampezzo, where the 2010 Olympic champion and two-time world champion has already won twelve World Cup races in her career.
Weidle-Winkelmann said: “The skiing was good, there were good turns, I had a good feeling. I’ll take that with me and build on it over the next few weeks.” She was only better once in the Super-G; three weeks before the World Championships in Saalbach, she was already showing an upward trend in the downhill in twelfth place. The 28-year-old started the difficult race on an icy, rough slope with the ungrateful number 1. Their ride “wasn’t quite optimal,” more like “a wild ride” with a mistake right after the start.
Swiss
