‘Finally, I made it’: Brignone wins nerve-shredding first Downhill title as Vonn stuns World

Two of Alpine skiing most iconic figures of all time, Federica Brignone (ITA/Rossignol) and Lindsey Vonn (USA/Head) dominated the headlines in an electrifying day of Audi FIS World Cup Downhill racing in St. Anton, Austria on Saturday.

But ultimately, not even a sensational comeback performance from the 40-year-old Vonn could deny Brignone, who in her 15^th World Cup season start finally landed a Downhill title.

A speed crown was just about the only thing missing from the 34-year-old’s glittering CV. But despite grabbing the lead early after fellow favourites Conny Hütter (AUT/Head) and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI/HEAD) had struggled, Brignone was made to wait to celebrate yet another career-defining performance.

At the absolute opposite end of her career, Malorie Blanc (SUI/Atomic) produced a stunning performance in her first ever World Cup Downhill to grab second place having started in bib No.46. And the 21-year-old was just seven-hundredths of a second away from winning on her speed debut, as she ended in a time of 1:16.08.

All this after the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboard and Alpine skiing Super G champion Ester Ledecka (CZE/Kaestle) had used her multi-sport skills to grab a first Alpine ski World Cup podium in almost three years. The Czech superstar finishing third, 0.18 seconds back.