SESTRIERE, Italy -- Lindsey Vonn joined Picabo Street and
Daron Rahlves as the most successful American downhill skiers.
Among current competitors, she has no equal.
Vonn blew away the field Saturday for her fourth win in seven
downhills this season. It was the ninth downhill victory of her
career, matching the mark of Street and Rahlves.
"Lindsey is pretty much unbeatable now," U.S. downhill coach
Alex Hoedlmoser said. "The only thing that could have beaten her
here was herself."
Using a much straighter line than any other skier, Vonn covered
the 1.84-mile Kandahar Banchetta course in 1 minute, 38.86 seconds.
The race announcer yelled, "She's a speed train!" as Vonn posted
one split time faster than another.
"I took some chances going into the forest, there's a couple
turns in there and I definitely went a little straighter," Vonn
said. "But I was out of my tuck and just being clean and solid but
definitely carrying speed down the fall line."
Vonn returned to the top of the overall World Cup standings,
three points ahead of Nicole Hosp, who finished 23rd.
With Bode Miller in front in the men's overall standings, this
is the first time Americans have led both the men's and women's
ranks since Tamara McKinney and Phil Mahre won overall titles in
1983.
On a clear and sunny day at the site of the 2006 Turin Olympics,
Vonn was followed by Canada's Kelly Vanderbeek, who was 0.62
behind, and Italy's Nadia Fanchini, 0.77 back.
Vanderbeek was only a couple hundredths of a second behind Vonn
at the course's midpoint, but lost time on the bottom section.
"She's really impressive in downhill right now," Vanderbeek
said. "She just has a feel and touch."
At 23, Vonn has 12 victories overall in her career and is
approaching McKinney's U.S. record of 18 wins in all disciplines.
"That's something I'm looking at a little bit," Vonn said.
"But it's not so much about records as just trying to ski my best
all the time, which means trying to win all the time. I'm still
really young, so I definitely have a lot of time to break more
records."
Vanderbeek extended the Canadian team's streak of having at
least one skier on the podium at every speed weekend this season,
along with Britt Janyk and Emily Brydon.
"If one of us doesn't do it, somebody else steps up,"
Vanderbeek said.
Fanchini was cleared to race again a month ago after being
sidelined in September for an irregular heart beat.
"I can't believe it. I'm only at 50 percent," she said, as she
hugged older sister and fellow racer Elena Fanchini.
"I'm unbelievable happy for her. After she was sidelined, she
approached depression," Elena said.
The Kandahar course was used for the men's downhill at the Turin
Games, while the women raced in nearby San Sicario.
Vonn said it doesn't matter which course she races on.
"I've been doing the same thing pretty much every race no
matter what hill it is, which is just skiing solid and clean and
trying not to make mistakes," Vonn said.
Austrian veteran Renate Goetschl finished tied for fourth with
Nadia Styger of Switzerland with 1:39.71.
In the downhill standings, Vonn leads Goetschl by 575-323. She
could wrap up the downhill title in the next race in Vancouver,
British Columbia, this month.
Another American, Chelsea Marshall, finished eighth in 1:40.03
for the best result of her career by far. In her three previous
World Cup races, Marshall had not placed higher than 34th.
"It was a little bumpy, but Lindsey radioed up a good course
report and my coaches gave me a good report, so I could go for
it," Marshall said.
Julia Mancuso lost control at the beginning of her run and
nearly fell, raising her right ski high to regain her balance. She
finished 22nd.
"I don't really know what happened. It happened too fast,"
Mancuso said. "I hit a bump and it jacked my ski."
Mancuso won four races last season but has struggled this season
with no victories.
"I'm just trying to figure out my equipment," Mancuso said.
"I've just been having a hard time finding my skis. They're just a
little more difficult to turn and it's difficult figuring out what
works."