American skiing legend Lindsey Vonn continued her remarkable comeback season by securing a podium finish for the fifth consecutive downhill race, significantly extending her lead in the World Cup standings.
Delago Delights Home Crowd with Maiden Victory
The women's World Cup downhill in Tarvisio, Italy, was won in dramatic fashion by local favourite Nicol Delago. Racing with bib number three, the 30-year-old from Val Gardena clocked a winning time of 1:46.28 to secure her first-ever victory on the elite circuit.
This triumph marks Delago's first podium since a third-place finish in Saalbach back in March 2024. Her younger sister, Nadia—the Olympic downhill bronze medallist from 2022—finished tenth, leading to an emotional embrace between the siblings at the finish line.
Vonn Defies Age and Conditions for Podium
Starting from 11th position, Lindsey Vonn produced a characteristically powerful run to claim third place. She finished 0.26 seconds behind Delago, with Germany's Kira Weidle-Winkelmann splitting the pair in second, just 0.20 seconds off the pace.
The race was run on the Di Prampero piste, which was shrouded in thick fog for the middle section. This challenging visibility did little to halt the 41-year-old Vonn, who is building formidable momentum ahead of her Olympic comeback at next month's Milano Cortina Games.
Standings Tighten Ahead of Cortina Olympics
With this result, Vonn has stretched her lead at the top of the downhill standings to a formidable 144 points over her nearest rival, Germany's Emma Aicher. The American's season record is now impeccable: two wins, one second place, and two third-place finishes from the five downhills held so far.
"The snow was really soft, it was really hard to see in the middle and I made a pretty big mistake but I'm happy to be on the podium again," Vonn said after the race. "For me what's important is to be consistent and I'm really happy that I could do that despite the conditions."
Despite having won a World Cup super-G in Tarvisio back in 2011, Vonn joked that she held no advantage from prior experience, quipping: "It's not an advantage because I don't remember it."
The Tarvisio event marked the first World Cup race on the slope in 15 years. The women's circuit now has one more downhill scheduled, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland on 30 January, before the focus shifts completely to the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
Tarvisio will host a women's super-G event on Sunday, offering another chance for athletes to fine-tune their form before the Games.
